by Haven Logan PH.D

Can an entire country take an anger management course?
If so, where do we enroll the United States?”

Judith Timson, The Globe and Mail, August 17, 2009

        
I was visiting Vancouver, Canada this summer when I read a column that began with the quote above. It appeared at the height of the American town hall meetings on health care. The Canadians I met were eager to discuss what was going on with their southern neighbors and shocked at the anger they saw played out on television. Ms. Timson ended her column by imagining what would make Canadians as angry as Americans now were. She concluded that it would be “if the government ever decreed it was taking away our medicare (i.e. the Canadian national health-care system) and making our health-care system as financially punitive as the U.S. system, that’s when our rage would hit the road. That is when we would have our own town ‘hells.’”

It is always eye opening to view one’s own country from the perspective of those living in another system. Michael Moore’s movie Sicko does just that. He interviewed every day people from France, England, Canada and other countries about their health-care systems. Perhaps the most poignant scene in the movie involved a group of 9/11 “First Responders” with debilitating illnesses who had been denied care in the United States. When Moore took them to the impoverished nation of Cuba, however, they received excellent health care at little or no cost.

Looking from a perspective outside at the United States makes one question why we are so angry and afraid of changing the health-care system we have. There seem to be so many other models around the world that are working quite well. People in countries with national health-care do not live in fear of bankruptcy and death because they cannot afford health care. Their systems are not perfect but they certainly seem better than the profit-driven one we have.

One explanation for our anger is the normal fear of change. Health issues touch us at the deepest levels. Those of us with health insurance may cling to the present health system because a new one could be worse. We could loose whatever we currently have. On the other hand, those of us without insurance or with premiums we can’t afford, live with the fear that no real change is going to happen. While we now have the opportunity to survive many of the illnesses that killed our ancestors, these surgeries and medications come at a high price. Except for the very rich, anyone in this country can be bankrupted by the costs of a catastrophic illness. In one way or another, we all live in fear. This fear fuels our anger.

Beyond fear and anger in the health reform debate, and even more complicated, is our country’s belief and investment in capitalism. Why shouldn’t medical providers, hospitals, insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies make as much money as they possibly can? Isn’t this the American way? The humanitarian argument against this philosophy is that profit should not be based on the ill health of our citizens. We don’t ask individuals to pay directly for the police to protect them or the fire department to put out the flames if their houses are burning down. Why, then, isn’t health care provided as an equitable service, a right for all citizens?

What Can You Do?

The Healthy Living column has always focused on what the individual can do for his or her own physical and emotional health. The collective question of health care reform, however, can not be ignored by this writer. As exhausting as the debates in progress are, we need to face the issues. I believe that we can work for a better system while still taking care of ourselves. Here are a few ideas:

• Keep informed.
• Write and call your senators and congressmen expressing your views.
• Take care of your own health by eating well, staying active and managing your stress.
• Hold a positive imagine for the evolution of our health-care system. May it become one which supports all of us living healthier lives.
  
  

 

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Visit Haven Logan’s website at: www.HealthyLivingforEveryone.com where you can download all past Healthy Living columns.
Haven is a psychotherapist in private practice in Ukiah. She is the author of two books, Choosing to Be Well: A Conscious Approach to a Healthier Lifestyle and The California Wine Country Diet: The Indulgent Approach to Managing Your Weight.