hospital impact

by Nick Jacobs

Sometimes we all have to chug down a big glass of reality and begin to take a hard look at where we are, what we have become and what we need to do to take charge of those things about which we may have some control. We are well aware of the challenges that we, as a nation and a world, are facing every day. Yet, in the last election approximately 65% of us didn't bother to vote, again. Admittedly, in the presidential election about 50% of us may vote, but not this time.

If the premise of James Surowiecki's 2004 book, The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, is as he argues, then decisions made by groups are often better than could have been made by any single member of the group. Maybe 65% of us know something that the other 35% don't know, but in this case, I sincerely hope not.

It is my strong belief that we have simply allowed apathy to take over. Furthermore, it seems evident that some elected officials have grown to count on the fact that we don't care enough to vote. They continue doing business as usual because of our lack of commitment to endorse those things about which we should be passionate.

Where's this all coming from? It's coming from the fact that every day our emergency rooms are still dealing with the 47M uninsured human beings who are called Americans. Yet, even the very poorest countries in the rest of the industrialized world do a better job than we do of making sure that their citizens are cared for in some way.

So, the wisdom of crowds says, get an education, get your flu shot, don't drink and drive, look both ways before you cross the street and allow your country to continue endorsing a system that does not provide for nearly 50 M people? We endorse those elected officials in our country and states that have not paid serious attention to tort reform, that embrace a system of health care that is not adjusting from acute to chronic illness and that compensates some pediatricians and family practice physicians less than many blue collar professions.

Be it children's health care, health care for single, under employed mothers with children, or those who just fall between the cracks, something must happen in the next election.

It can still be about supporting capitalism, but we must find a more equitable way to embrace our fellow man.