Healthcare For All?

On political issues I lean libertarian, but healthcare, especially for those unable to obtain it in the market, has always been the chink in my armor.  I see healthcare as a right equal to free speech and private property, and I can’t understand how a society that protects other basic rights so jealously would let so many in need suffer with conditions easily treatable for those able to secure insurance.  If the human rights argument is not strong enough, then perhaps the cost saving to society of avoiding expensive bad results by providing inexpensive basic care could be enough to persuade more conservative critics of health care for all.

I spent years sick in desperate attempts to acquire health insurance that covers mental illness.  Without assistance to afford treatment I never would have recovered.  How many lives are wasted by a system that discards those too ill to participate in programs beyond their limited resources to afford or even understand such coverage in a complicated, expensive system?  The answer many states have found is Medicaid expansion.

I’m sure there are conservative alternatives to Medicaid expansion that do not place an undue burden on those with serious mental illness.  I just haven’t been able to find this information, as much as I would like to.  I’d like this site to foster a conversation between competing caring ideas and ideals.  So if you’re aware of workable solutions to take care of the most needy and most ill-treated among us, please air your case here through the comment link.  Or email me at george@practicingmentalillness.org.  I’ll be sure to present every potential solution in the blog.  I especially invite conservative voices to participate in the discussion.

We’re all unreasonably polarized, and while we all re-trench into tired, broken positions, people with serious mental illness are being treated as expendable and less worthy than their more adaptive peers.