Narrowed Horizons

Narrowed Horizons

Ernest Hemingway asserts: “America is the land of wide lawns and narrow minds.” In some ways, Hemingway can be correct. For instance, the recent issue of Time Magazine tackles in its cover story “The Sorry State of American Health.” Alice Park reports: “The biggest problem with the U.S. health-care system is that it has long been designed to respond to illness rather than prevent it. According to an analysis by the Commonwealth Fund, a foundation that funds health-care research, half of American adults in 2005 did not receive recommended preventive care, which includes vaccinations, cancer screenings and blood-pressure checks.” One can say that America seems to be fighting the wrong war on health. Wide lawns and narrow minds, Hemingway may be right.

In the process of responding to illness, America seems to be fighting the Health wars of other countries. One can say that America aims to protect every person living in this land, whether the status might be legal or illegal.

Case Management on most hospitals would say that the funds for Medicare and Medi-Cal are dwindling. Such contention can never be further from the truth. Once America consider a person as homeless, destitute and would need welfare, such person will be a beneficiary of the taxpayers. Ironically, tax payers would work more than 80 hours a week, and homeless people, bums, lazy people, couples with four or more children would benefit from the hard earned dollars of diligent people. It seems as if laziness is a modern virtue to be rewarded by the people and for the people. In this regard, one may agree in Hemingway's position (see introductory quotation).

Is this the land of opportunities? Or some rules are turning most homeless people, bums into opportunistic parasites? Most Americans can not even get ultimate healthcare. In order to achieve such status, a person must be extravagantly rich or be a high end criminal. Liberals suggests that it is cruel and unusual punishment to let a prisoner suffer from illness. That's right; criminals have the privilege to have a health plan that covers everything. As such, the diligent taxpayers are the sponsors for healthcare.

Art Spander opines: "The great thing about democracy is that it gives every voter a chance to do something stupid." Sometimes, the decision of the majority would reflect narrow-minded and hasty decision making process. It would seem that the response of America to homelessness, destitution, illegal immigration is comparable to wide lawns having narrow horizons.

Source

Time.com