Brief comment on health care reform...

A number have asked me what my thoughts are, so a figure a few brief comments...

1. The United States is the most prosperous nation in the world, so it is a scandal that there are so many without access to basic health care.
2. The cost of health care has sky-rocketed in recent decades... coincidentally this is when medical care has also first been treated as a "commodity." This is the first time that we see hospitals ran as for-profit institutions, whereas before they were most often not-for-profit institutions (very often sponsored by religious organizations -- just look at the number of Catholic hospitals). So it makes sense that part of the reform of health-care is whether or not medical care should be treated as a for-profit commodity.
3. After living in a country with government sponsored health care for two years, I can just say from experience we do not want to go there (i.e. health care rationing [do you want a government agency deciding when you get your chemo?] and oddly there is greatly inequality in access to health care [the government hospitals are vastly sub-standard, and the private hospitals are beyond the means of the vast majority of citizens]).
4. Last point -- no reform of health care can violate the rights of conscience of medical professionals and sponsoring institutions (very often religious). The right to conscience is not made up by the "right" but has long standing in our political tradition (remember conscious objection from the Vietnam war era? -- it is pretty much the same thing here). That being said any law that would require employers or insurance to cover procedures (abortions/sterilizations) or treatments (contraceptives/embryonic stem cell research) that violate the conscience of said employer or insurer is inherently unjust. It is even more unjust than the situation from point 1 -- since freedom of conscience is more basic a right than the duty of society (society is greater than the state - are there any non-government solutions being proposed? - honest question, let me know) to provide health care.

These points being stated -- health care reform is complicated business, but these guidelines seem pretty reasonable to just about anybody. While the need to provide health-care for all is real and pressing, it ought not be done at the sacrifice of a free conscience -- after all our nation was founded to protect freedom of conscience.