The Psychopolitics of Health Care

By Dr. Brian Russell

We’ve all heard a lot of debate about health care this year, most of it about the practicality of one proposed reform after another, but at the root of it all is this — as an expert in human behavior (Ph.D. in psychology), the regulation of human behavior (J.D.), and the channeling of human behavior into productivity (M.B.A.), I can tell you with absolute certainty that while there’s no way for any society to guarantee that every member’s every need will be met every day, capitalism is, far and away, the very best way to guarantee the highest standard of living (including health care) to the greatest number of people within a society (by 1) empowering most members to be productive enough to obtain what they need on their own, and 2) empowering many members to be productive enough not only to meet their own needs but also to generously contribute to meeting the needs of the relatively few truly incapable members). All you have to do to understand that is to look at how the United States of America, in just a couple of centuries, surpassed the standards of living (including health care) of every other nation on Earth, including nations that have existed for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Capitalism did that. The results aren’t perfect, but they’re far superior to anything you could ever hope to get from socialism.

I had a chance to talk with U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Kansas  about health care and other issues, and it sounded like he understood some of the major flaws in the proposed health care reform bill.  Now, if only I could get the rest of Congress to get it!

Finally tonight, study this: A new study confirms that pessimism can be hazardous to people’s health, exacerbating and accelerating conditions such as heart disease. Hmmm, wonder if maybe some of the many Americans who aren’t acutely or chronically ill but are still disgruntled with the current health care system spent a little more time thinking about what they do have and a little less time thinking about what they don’t have, they wouldn’t need as much health care in the long run!

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