by Stephen Dreyfus

Created on: October 09, 2009

The Ping Pong Debate Over Health Care Reform

Ping Pong?

What does Ping Pong have to do with health care reform? Very simply, whenever there is a debate between keeping things as they are, or adopting one of many different possible changes, it is always easier to support the status-quo (no matter how bad) than to agree as to what changes should be made.

I saw this principle illustrated when our Table Tennis (a.k.a. Ping Pong) club was debating which new system should be adopted to prevent some players from staying on the tables too long, while others spent too much time waiting to play. Almost everyone agreed the current system (or lack of one) was unfair, and the vast majority of club members wanted some sort of reform. The problem was that the majority that wanted change couldn't agree as to which of several possible solutions should be adopted. Consequently, the minority who didn't want change prevailed. In spite of vigorous suggestions and debate, in the end nothing happened. After all the talk of needed reform, the weaker players still end up sitting on the sidelines far more than the stronger players.

Everybody doesn't want or need health care reform. Some, such as super-rich CEOs of health care corporations, will do anything to keep the goose that lays the golden egg. Others, like my parents, are fortunate enough to have a Cadillac health care plan that covers everything under the sun. And even if they didn't, they would still have Medicare to back them up. As for myself, I, like millions of other Americans, now have no health insurance. Around the time the Clinton's were advocating health care reform, I had good health insurance. When I had to be rushed to the hospital for kidney stone surgery, the least of my worries was medical bills. Today, if such a crisis occurred I could be wiped out financially.

Our country's system for providing health care has deteriorated drastically over the last decade. Today this system (or lack of one) is in a severe crisis. Our Titanic health care system is heading directly toward a deadly iceberg. Most of us can see the danger; we just can't agree which way to turn.

There were signs. A few years ago, just after the Fourth of July, I experienced severe pains in my side, and went to the doctor the next day. Knowing I had a history of kidney stones, he recommended I get a CAT scan. I was leery of unnecessary tests. This meant I would have to miss work and I didn't feel the problem was a kidney stone. Nevertheless, I figured

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