The Best Care Money Can Buy

I was recently reading about Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. And about how she’s making great progress after that shooting. That even with the incredible brain damage she suffered, she’s improving with leaps and bounds. She’s even considering a run for the senate. That’s pretty cool.

Last week a friend was telling me about her cousin who is in her 40’s. She suffered a stroke, I believe, and was left with significant damage to her speech, her motor skills, and her thought processes. She had a couple of therapy sessions, but then the insurance ran out. The family doesn’t have much money, so she’s done with therapy. And this is probably just about as “healed” as she’ll get.

I find these two cases interesting. One woman gets the best health care money can buy. And is recovering. The other one gets, well, NOT the best health care money can buy. And is NOT recovering.

Now if I have a better job than you, if I make more money than you, then there’s a good chance that I’ll have a better car than you. I’ve earned that, by virtue of my income. We all understand that.

So, is health care like a car? The people who make more money, the people with better jobs, get better health care? Well, apparently, it is, at least in this country.

But should it be? I’m not sure. I know we can’t afford to pay complete health care costs for every single individual in this country. I understand that. I'm not saying we should have free, unlimited health care for all. That I'm not sure about. Yet, somehow it seems that good health is somehow different from a Mercedes convertible.

At least, you would think so.