Editor's Note: This is Cal LeMon's final column for Springfield Business Journal. We thank him for a decade of provoking higher thought on national and business issues that affect life in the Ozarks. LeMon plans to focus on writing two books.I cannot wait!
In just one year, I will be eligible to sign up for this massive, government-run health care program known as Medicare.
What has been missing in all the verbiage and vibrato about a "government option" health care program is the one we already have, Medicare, the sanctum sanctorum for senior adults.
I loved what I read the other day. A senior adult at a town hall meeting shouted into the floor microphone at a particularly emotional moment, "And when you get back to Washington, tell the government to keep their filthy hands off my Medicare."
Well, the "government's" fingerprints are all over it because the government created and manages this health care intervention that people 65 and older eagerly use every time they visit a doctor, specialist, pharmacy or hospital. Even though Medicare does not cover all medical expenses, this program provides peace of mind while dealing with the inevitable health challenges at the end of life.
Maybe, in the mayhem of this health care debate, we need to take a deep breath and smell the coffers of the government.
We begin with a dose of reality: We are the government. With a conservative estimate of 14.6 million employees, not including the military, the U.S. federal government has become the largest employer in our nation, according to the Washington Post.
What confuses me is when we have this national conversation about the "bloated federal government," I get a very clear message: If the "bloated bureaucracy" diminishes "my standard of living" or "the balance in my checkbook" then the response is "keep your filthy hands off."
Let's see, where should we start to slash and cut?
Since I am on an airplane almost every day, do I want to slim down the federal government by deep-sixing the Federal Aviation Agency? You know, the people who make sure airplane maintenance is done on time and pilots are adequately trained?
Or how about handing pink slips to everyone at the Transportation Safety Administration who make you take off your shoes, coats and almost all of your clothing to guarantee some nefarious person will not try a rerun of Sept. 11?
While we are in the mood, let's eliminate the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the National Weather Service, the Missile Defense Agency, the Office of Federal Student Aid, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, the Office on Violence Against Women, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the National Institutes of Health, the Coast Guard, and the National Park Service.
Before we start screaming at each other, let's agree on these three assumptions about the intrusion of the federal government in our lives.
First, the government becomes a viable option when, left to our own agenda or greed, we start victimizing each other. For instance, if your skin color determines where you can purchase a home and what neighborhood you can live in, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity may become a resolution.
Second, because government can be a reflection of the best and worst of our humanity, federal government departments can become territorial, dictatorial and incredibly inefficient. Is there waste in the federal government? Of course.
Third, our government is always healing itself. When we recognize we have created a monster, we have a history of taming it or taking its life. Recently, we watched in horror when the Veterans Health Administration had to admit its care of our soldiers returning from Iraq was tragically substandard. Heads rolled and Walter Reed Army Hospital once again squeaked with cleanliness and care.
So, right now our great nation is debating a public option for health care. I want to know what is so offensive about our nation openly admitting it has failed 47 million of our fellow citizens who cannot afford health care and the additional millions who have been denied coverage because a profit-driven insurance industry has to turn a 300 percent profit this year?
What is so wrong about our government giving the public a choice? I have nothing to gain by taking this position.
You see, in one year I will have a new insurance company, that disgusting, bloated, inefficient government-run health care program called Medicare.
And I can't wait![[In-content Ad]]
Cal LeMon of Springfield-based Executive Enrichment Inc. solves organizational problems with customized training and consulting. He can be reached at execenrichment@aol.com.
