The Campus

America has long been the land of opportunity and the beacon of hope. It has cultivated a unique breed of pragmatic citizens who are independent, individualistic and inventive. Nevertheless, it has also made her citizens derelict of the natural resources around them. Frederick Turner, an American historian of nineteenth century, argued that this American character was shaped by the presence of the "frontier." For Turner, it was the unexplored western lands of the early nineteenth century. The frontier today is much less tangible.

The American frontier has long been like a fast flowing river. It has had the high points of opportunity and hope (waves of inspired immigrant workers) as well as the low points of greed and selfishness (labor abuses and sweatshops). It has discovered the channels of western lands, northern industries, and faraway battlefields while exploring new ones to continue its flow. And so we endeavor into the issue of healthcare, an issue argued vehemently by all those in favor of universal healthcare.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care sector is going to add 4 million new jobs by the year 2016 - the highest percent increase for the next decade. This is partly because of an aging population and partly because of increased life expectancy. There is no doubt that heath care will be the newest frontier for many Americans in the coming years. However, the question we need to ask ourselves now is: Should we foster the abuses and the greed of healthcare mafias as we have promoted many in the previous frontiers?

Today, the inflation in health care is skyrocketing. Health insurance companies have harvested a sizable amount of profit in the last few years while other business institutions have been on the brink of financial collapse. Studies conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reveal that "the employer sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate three times faster than wage." Yet, Americans aren't any healthier for what they pay.

Financial incentives from insurance companies also have an adverse effect on medical decision-making. As insurance companies tend to reimburse for surgeries at a higher rate than for primary care, doctors prefer complex surgeries over simple therapies and preventive care medicine. In the book How Doctors Think, Dr. Jerome Groopman pointed out the fact that spinal surgeons are increasingly prescribing fusion surgery over simple discectomy only because it earns them $15,000 more than the latter procedure. "The fusion surgery has no dramatic impact on their [patients'] health or mobility," wrote Dr. Groopman. After the insurance firm, pharmaceutical companies are the next to have a stake in the health care crisis. They promote false advertisements that portray their drugs as a panacea for all health conditions.

On September 25, 2009, the New York Times addressed a similar issue in an article titled "Health Concerns Over Popular Contraceptives." According to the coverage, Anne Marie Eakins, a thirty-four-year-old mother, lost partial use of her right lung from the side effects of a birth control pill named Yaz. In 2007, Anne Eakins began using Yaz because many commercials assured that it would also control her periods and acne, a claim for which the drug is not approved. Unfortunately, the false advertisements attracted many young women to the usage of Yaz and a fate similar to Anne Eakins' may be waiting upon them.

Financial incentives and risk-taking are the economic pawns of the capitalist realm. The current healthcare proposals made by President Obama and Senator Baucus represent the prudent pawns of opportunity and equality. Today, the battle of health reform is fought between corporate greed and social justice, not remotely between capitalism and socialism. One can hope that the righteous ones win the fight against injustice. We pray they will secure America's character for future generations in the days to come.

Article Tools