Calling All Writers

In today's day and age, it seems no issue of importance can be discussed rationally anymore. Extremist political rhetoric has polarized our nation, to the point where anyone who doesn't think in terms of 'red' or 'blue' is considered an imbecile, a traitor, or a madman.

But there are some issues that just can't wait for the divisiveness to end, and a compromise to eventually be reached. There are some matters so grave - in the literal sense - that we cannot abide the partisan bickering and wait for a dreamed-of agreement to be made in some far-off 'someday'.

For that reason, I believe that our best recourse, as a people, for one particular issue, is to expose the idiocy of the debate for what it is.

At this moment, there are approximately 49 million Americans who have absolutely no health insurance. That would be about one in six people.

Worse still, of those who do have coverage, the vast majority are not so well prepared as they might think. How many stories have we all heard, and not just from word-of-mouth, but on the news, about people whose claims for life-saving procedures had been denied.

The girl in California who was told her liver transplant was "experimental". The man who had to choose which of his fingers he'd like to keep. The grandmother who, in the midst of a heart attack, was not allowed to board an ambulance until she made her copay up front. The little girl who died of a 104 degree fever because the only hospital in her town was not "on the approved list".

The tales of tragedy go on and on, all in the name of Profit. How many more must suffer? How many more must die before we realize our folly?

Opponents of universal health care proposals argue that these programs would undermine the capitalist principles that power our economy; that they would "socialize" medicine.

To them, I say, "Who cares?" Does it matter to me if I'm not doing my "patriotic duty" by spending thousands on a deductible if my own child's life is in danger? Not one bit. What good is our exalted economy, if we've not the lives to enjoy it? Does our GDP matter even the slightest if just one life is lost because of sheer greed?

There are a number of arguments that opponents of these proposals like to use, every one of them fallacious. They speak of dark and dire times ahead, if health care should fall into the vile clutches of "socialism".

But, let me ask you this: what was the last time you had to pay a deductible for a police visit? What was the last time you needed to make a copay to send your child to school? What was the last time you were told you couldn't check out a book from the local library because it hadn't been sufficiently tested for side-effects? When has anyone ever been told, with their home in flames, that their local fire department is not in "the network", or that a response might take a few days for "underwriting approval"?

The fact is that every one of these vital services are already "socialized". The whole community pays for them, because they benefit the whole community. What's more, in the case of emergency services, you can never predict when you might need them, and how much it might cost. The only rational solution is to provide these services, at community expense, so that they can respond at any time to anyone who needs them.

The sole exception to this efficient, effective, and logical system is health care. And the only barrier to fixing this deadly omission is politics.

So, to make it plain how utterly ridiculous our present situation is, I've agreed to edit an anthology of short stories about this very matter. Any writer is invited to submit (though acceptance cannot be guaranteed, obviously), and all those who are selected for publication will share equally in the royalties.

The working title of the collection is "The Free Market". Each story can be as long as its writer feels is appropriate, and should focus on a 'what if' scenario where one or more of our country's essential services are no longer publicly available ("socialized"), but are instead governed by the same "free market" forces that currently control our health care industry. They can be of any genre, with any additional subject matter, so long as the theme is central to the plot.

To summarize, each story should ask 'what if the same absurdities that apply to medicine today affected other vital services?'

So grab your pens, keyboards, or stone tablets, and start writing. Together, we can show America just how important having universal health care really is.

Check www.BelradUniverse.com for updates, and feel free to send me any questions about this project at Belrad@BelradUniverse.com

Thank you.