Sunday, January 21, 2007

BYBS: Healthcare

In this context I mean "members of the community helping sick members become well again." While I could spew out that sentence fragment every time I used that concept, or perhaps come up with an acronym (MCHSMBWA), I will use the term healthcare to refer to this. Now then, on with the article…

A great blessing in my life is that, if I become ill, others will help me become well again.

This is a pretty universal concept among human beings, although it takes many forms and different societies place more or less emphasis on it. Regardless, in all societies that I am aware of, if someone gets sick other members of the community will help that person until they get well.

There is a great deal of variation in how this is done. The US uses a mix of private companies (i.e., health insurance) and the government (Medicare, etc.) to administer a hugely complex system. Other countries use a government-oriented approach (socialized medicine).

There is also a great deal of variation in how much time and effort should be spent on healthcare. The US spends over 16% of its GNP on healthcare, whereas in Europe it is more like 10%.

Less developed nations use a much more informal approach: family and friends try to help sick members of the community.

While there is debate about how much time and effort should be put into healthcare, I think that everyone will agree that it is a major part of what it means to be in a community. One of the points of working together is that we are better off than if we did things as individuals.

I myself am a big fan of cooperation and community. I think these things set human beings apart from other living creatures; they make us special.

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Note: I wrote and uploaded this article last week with the idea that, when next Sunday rolls around, I can just publish the article and thereby get it out on time instead of having to write it at the spur of the moment. Please mention in your comment whether you think it is "stale" or at least moreso that my usual stuff.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good article - by no means stale.

Happy BYB Sunday

Unknown said...

It didn't seem stale, I live in the UK where we are supposedly "blessed" with the National health service, not so good if you look at the facts however.

Happy BLB Sunday.

kuanyin333 said...

I don't think it's stale. Good job. Happy BYB Sunday!

Blue Panther said...

Hey!

I think that Healthcare is a great blessing and I think the informal approach where you are surrounded by your family and friends is better than the more formal environment of a hospital, though the latter has its importance too.

Health is an important aspect of a person's life, so healthcare is of vital importance and a good healthcare system is a blessing.

The Post did not seem stale in any way. Have a great week!

Whatever said...

Many thanks for the kind words. Now if I can just get myself to write more...

Unknown said...

MCHSMBWA
kek

reminds me somewhat of some woogie-speak :P

dont force yourself to write too much! otherwise your hand might be injured forcing yourself to have to go for some healthcare XD

not a bad post at all. might wanna consider changing the post date tho.

Whatever said...

HA! I figured out how to change the date on the post! I learns something new every day, yes I do...

Thanks for pointing that out Stev :-)

Anonymous said...

Why do you think you "felt nothing" about the activity?