Health care: a right or a privilege
By The Bakersfield Californian
Well, of course Kern County was right to latch on to federal health care dollars to help pay for indigent medical care.
The county is legally required to provide care for the poor. Passing up those federal dollars based on some anti "Obamacare" political philosophy would have been foolish and downright fiscally irresponsible.
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The reason I bring it up is some people on the far right want to make political hay out of our all-Republican Board of Supervisors agreeing to join in a program, which, yes, involves money from the Affordable Care Act.
The money is intended to create a care system for low-income, uninsured people who aren't covered by Medi-Cal, typically childless adults. That's about 63,000 people in Kern County.
I repeat, the county is required to provide care for this population no matter what. And costs can be astronomical as many have no option but to rely on emergency rooms as their primary MDs.
Our choices were to either use local tax dollars only or get some of our own federal taxes back to ease the burden.
It's a no-brainer to me and I applaud the Supervisors for acting pragmatically rather than sticking to some rigid political ideology.
I wish I could say the same for Congressman Kevin McCarthy who answered that "Obamacare is not the answer," when I sent him a note asking him to comment on the apparent disconnect between his position against the Affordable Care Act and the county's desperate need for help with health care.
"Preventative programs are an important piece to addressing our broken healthcare system, but under Obamacare, states are mandated to expand an already burdened Medicaid system or lose all federal matching funds. This is not a real choice..."
OK, so what's the answer then?
"Eventually it all comes down to the a basic, inherent difference of opinion between people who think health care is a right and those who think it's a privilege," said Stephen Schilling, director of Clinica Sierra Vista, one of the participants in low-income health insurance program.
"That's the real dividing line in this country right now."
No kidding.
We don't seem to have the same angst about our public education system. We may not think it's in perfect working order, but I'd be willing to bet almost all of us believe in the need for public education.
Somehow that doesn't translate to health care.
In all honesty, I'm not so keen on paying the freight for other people's health care either (particularly when some ills are caused by lifestyle choices.) But the reality is I do exactly that even under my private, employer-provided health care.
None of us stands alone and pretending we do for the sake of political theory doesn't get us any closer to a real solution.
***
Switching gears, I give big kudos to the Bakersfield Police Department and Occupy Bakersfield protestors.
Local residents have been having their say against corporate greed, lame government and what not at the corner of Truxtun and Chester avenues since mid-October and not once has Bakersfield been the subject of a viral video!
Can't say the same for UC Davis, nor even little old Eureka (check it out here if you haven't already http://gawker.com/5857791/reporters-quest-to-learn-who-pooped-on-the-bank-ends-on-an-awkward-note).
Bakersfield's relative dignity is likely the result of the Occupiers' decision not to camp out on public spaces and to inform police prior to any large scale demonstrations, according to Occupier Jarrett Newhouse.
"They've been so awesome with us," Newhouse said of Bakersfield Police. "They've lended their support and provided us with security. The only thing they told us was about public sanitation, to clean up after ourselves, which we did."
He said protestors felt camping would be too disruptive and impinge on their message, which is still a bit of a mystery to some people.
While emotions between police and protestors have run high in other cities, Newhouse said Occupiers here see police as part of the "99 percent" who've suffered layoffs, pay cuts and pension cuts right along with everyone else.
"They're part of us and we felt working in solidarity was a better avenue."
This, my friends, is how it should be done.
Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at http://www.bakersfield.com, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com Lois Henry
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