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The Head in the Sand Approach to Others' Problems |
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 Recently conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was rushed to a hospital in Hawaii for chest pains. After Limbaugh was treated he made a statement to the press. Not only did Limbaugh relate what had happened to him and express gratitude for the treatment he received, he then went on to reveal that his head is deeply buried in the sand when he views the world. Drawing from his experience in Hawaii, Limbaugh said: "Based on what happened here to me, I don't think there's one thing wrong with the American health care system. It is working just fine, just dandy."
As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, too many Republicans see the world in this way. They draw from their own personal experience to make generalizations about the world around them. It isn't necessarily mean. Rather, it is just myopic.
Based on his own limited view, the talk show host was right. He received high quality care and didn't have to worry about the cost. But the experience of Rush Limbaugh, who was staying at a Honolulu resort and is a multi-millionaire, is not one shared by many people in our nation.
Limbaugh concluded that he wasn't treated any differently than anyone else. He's right that he wasn't treated differently than anyone else with a lot of money to pay. Nobody seriously questioned him when he went to the hospital as to whether he had the means to pay. That was a given. How many of the rest of us get that kind of treatment Every time I go to a doctor, the first question I'm asked is how I will pay. And it doesn't take long for that question to be asked in the emergency room either. Limbaugh got a very myopic view of our health care system.
Let's go over what Limbaugh didn't see:
Limbaugh didn't see that the many other people in that emergency room go there because they don't have health insurance and rely on our most expensive form of coverage -- the emergency room -- for their basic care. That drives up costs for the rest of us.
He didn't see that that while he probably paid a relatively small co-pay for his visit to the doctor (particularly for him), even a check up with some blood work can run into hundreds of dollars for a person without insurance. When the choice comes down to paying all the monthly bills or going to the doctor for a check up, most people skip the doctor.
Limbaugh didn't see that insurance premiums have skyrocketed in recent years and have no signs of abating. He didn't see that many small businesses are unable to cover their employees any more and are dropping their health care coverage. As a result, many more families are ending up with no coverage.
He didn't see that doctors are seeing more and more patients come in for acute problems that could have been handled by preventive care. Why don't they come in sooner Someone counting the costs of a doctor visit can't afford to go until they feel they just can't wait any longer.
Of course, Limbaugh talked about that. He advised others not to wait to get treatment. He told the press: "Don't mess with it. Any time you have heart pain or chest pain and you have no idea what it is and it's something you've never experienced before, turn it over to professionals right off the bat."
That's great advice, for those who can afford it. But for the unemployed family breadwinner or the person who is employed but works for a company that ended their health coverage because of high premiums, that advice is ludicrous. They can't even afford a primary care physician, much less the fee of a heart specialist.
Fifteen percent of Americans lack health insurance. In numbers, that means 46 million Americans don't have health care insurance. That percentage goes up by a third for African Americans and doubles for Latino families. Of course, Limbaugh probably didn't see too many of those families while he was staying at his posh Honolulu hotel.
Limbaugh also didn't see the fact that doctors are experiencing a financial gap between the cost of care for Medicaid and Medicare patients and the amount they are compensated by the government. They're facing a painful choice between losing money or not taking these patients anymore.
We can all debate about the solutions to these problems -- public option, mandates, exchanges, etc. But we shouldn't be debating that there actually is a problem. However, that is one reason health care reform -- in whatever form it ultimately takes -- is opposed by these people who have a limited view of the world. It isn't that people like Limbaugh propose other solutions. They just can't see a problem in the first place. They take a head-in-the-sand approach. They conclude: "If I can't see it, it just doesn't exist." Is this kind of person conservatives, or anyone for that matter, should be turning to for policy guidance
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