doctors within borders

That clever title really brings home the pathetic reality here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/150846

When I think "Doctors Without Borders," I think kind-hearted professionals temporarily and heroically abandoning the comforts of Western life to lend a hand to the neediest of individuals suffering from painful maladies in God-forsaken Third World countries. Somehow, it's not so heart-warming when the same practice is necessary right here in the US. Props to these folks for taking the healthcare problem into their own hands and doing what little they can to alleviate the various pains of the masses. But what does it say for our country when the Doctors Without Borders program has to be applied to our own people? According to Newsweek, "(Virginia Governor Tim) Kaine points to the fact that two-thirds of the 46 million uninsured in the United States have jobs but can't afford health insurance. 'This is a matter of political will,' he says. 'Other nations have a lower GDP than we do, and they've made a political decision that their people are going to have health coverage, but we keep deciding not to.'"

This is where I get the most hoots and hollers whenever I enter a health insurance "conversation" with many other students I know (affluent, covered, already fiscally conservative...). "Europe is so socialist, and their taxes are through the roof." "The private sector can and should handle insurance." Isn't the point here that private insurance powerhouses don't work? Isn't that what this crisis is about? Isn't that what all those stories about insurance brokers getting paid more to turn down insurance money for individuals seeking expensive medical care are trying to tell us? I don't have a perfect solution, and I know everyone wants to hold onto as much of their own money as possible, but obviously this system does not work. What good is it to be the most powerful country in the world (right now...) if we have to rely on a small number of benevolent doctors to care for our citizens like they were living in a Third-World country? For the time being, and considering how reluctant so many people are to overhaul our healthcare system, maybe we could apply some of Bill Gates' creative capitalism (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1828069,00.html) to tackle the problem. Maybe that would be more acceptable to some of my friends...