Well, it really ain't over because it ain't really over and no fat lady is singing. But I suppose that today's sweeping legislation will enable that corpulent soprano to get liposuction or a stomach stapling at some prestigious high cost medical center where Congressional leaders currently buy their cosmetic surgery.
Like many Americans, I am tired of the healthcare debate...which in spite of the soundbytes is not novel to this current administration. Healthcare reform has been vigorously debated throughout most of my medical career. As a point of reference, the year that I graduated from medical school a U.S. President resigned his office over a bit of national ugliness named after an office complex in northwest D.C. Like the healthcare debate, the building still stands long after the former president departed the pattern.
But maybe now I'll get a little respite from the, "Doc, what's your take on the current healthcare debate?" questions I have fielded over the years.. How many different ways can one say, "Don't know, and don't care."
Well, not entirely true. I do care, and I know a bit. I do believe that every American citizen should have equal access to high quality healthcare, regardless of his or her socioeconomic status. And I even (gasp!) believe some redistribution of wealth may be justified in order to pay for it.
But until we finally rid ourselves of insurance companies and tort lawyers; until we finally revise our fundamental American paradigm to address HEALTH care vice disease care, government alone will never really effect substantial reform.
("Ma'am, have you tried simple diet and exercise for your morbid obesity?")
Public debate and tinkering around the edges of the system will endure, perhaps even cleverly crafted by well-meaning, dedicated politicians. But without changing our society's basic assumptions or tolerances, in the end it will merely be theater.
And - like today's televised debate - not even good theater at that.
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