We send aid to Haiti but ignore suffering here
Americans, as a nation, are probably the most giving people on the planet. This was proven once again by our generous outpouring of aid to Haitians suffering in the wake of last week’s devastating earthquake.
Images from that ravaged island moved us to give all we could, as we always do when natural disasters strike poor countries both distant and on our doorstep. But why don’t we respond to the everyday suffering of our fellow citizens? We tend to ignore those in our midst who have lost jobs and homes or have had to file for bankruptcy. We look away from people forced to live in their cars, from beggars with signs on street corners. We even pass laws to ban panhandling and sleeping in parks.
How is it that a nation founded by immigrants seems to fear immigrants? Do people of other cultures and religions challenge our values? Or do we fear they will take something we think we’ve earned for ourselves?
Or are those others a threat to our cherished individualism? We send help to them in their native countries but refuse to help them here. I admit I really don’t get it.
In our own country we ignore suffering if it doesn’t touch us personally. I think this may be what we’re seeing in the venomous healthcare debate, which may have reached a tipping point this week.
Polling numbers (which I rarely trust) would indicate that Americans oppose healthcare reform. But when I ask about this, people with health insurance say they worry their coverage will be degraded in some way, or that it might be taxed. Medicare recipients fear cuts designed to pay for coverage for those who don’t have it.
It seems the only ones who say they’re willing to pay some tax or give up some benefit are those whose close relatives are caught up in the inequities of our health insurance system.That brings it home.
In the interests of full disclosure, I admit that I have several close relatives with significant pre-existing conditions. One, who would never qualify for an individual policy, is currently covered through a labor union. Two have employer-supplied policies that might be altered or taxed. One will be eligible for Medicare in a few years. Some of the proposed reforms would affect them in various ways. Two are staunch Republicans and say they wish the whole issue would disappear.
But if I ask them if they think the current insurance system is fair, they say, “Hell no.” Even though they oppose government regulation in principle, they think deceptive and discriminatory insurance industry practices should be reined in.
The union member was horrified that her family policy could be taxed 40 percent to help pay for the uninsured. Or that being unable to afford the tax (paid by insurers but surely passed along to policyholders), she would have to settle for a cheaper policy with fewer benefits.
Her sister works for a multinational company that makes medical devices. She fears the proposed tax on the company’s products may force cutbacks that might cost her job. Losing employer-based health insurance could be devastating for her, even though she thinks large companies shouldn’t be forced to provide it for their workers.
The polls showing wide public disapproval of healthcare reform may just be a reflection of national disgust with the legislative process. We rarely see just how ruthlessly lawmakers bargain to gain advantages for their own narrow interests. Mainly getting themselves (and other members of their party) reelected.
Hence, they are trying to reconcile two versions of a needlessly complicated bill full of loopholes, exemptions, delays in starting dates and bursting at the seams with pork. No wonder people are disgusted with it. It’s the proverbial sausage-making at its worst.
So now what we’ve come to, the aforementioned tipping point, is an eleventh-hour election for the senate seat of the late Ted Kennedy, who spent most of his public life helping the disadvantaged and working for universal healthcare. In the heavily Democratic state of Massachusetts, which already has comprehensive healthcare, a Republican contender threatens to derail healthcare reform for the rest of us. And we don’t see the irony of this?
Democratic strategists say if the GOP wins that senate seat, the House would have to accept the Senate version in its entirety, without reconciliation, for reform to pass. The Senate plan would, among other things, leave more people uninsured.
So we turn our attention to poor people in other countries. Send another check to relieve suffering in Haiti. And will that assuage our guilt as we cheer for our respective sides in the political debate while looking away from those among us who are suffering?