More socialism, less bureaucracy!

By Cliff Colpitts

For the past two years I have attempted to get dental care here in this neck of the woods, Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It is either cash, or if you are very, very lucky charity.

I had Medicaid for a short time, but not one private dentist would see me because they all claimed that Medicaid would not pay enough - even to pull one tooth. And I phoned almost every single dentist in Sheboygan.

At this time, I have three left above the gums that must go, and six that are impacted beneath the gums. And an actual physician has told me that the next abscess I have might very well affect my heart itself.

I tried the Veterans Administration but to no avail. One of the strange aspects of the Veterans Administrations is that in terms of medical treatment the organization will treat every single aspect of your medical conditions, but not the teeth. Dental treatment must be service connected. What does that mean? Well, that means that they would be willing to give me a liver transplant at a phenomenally high cost, but not put ten teeth! So it is not a money problem, it is a bureaucracy problem that goes all the way up to Congress. Believe it or not, because of Congress, I can get a new liver but not have ten teeth pulled.

In this particular case, the inner commitment is not there because of rules and regulations from above, and because our leaders, along with our society does not have a social commitment when it comes to medicine. Our AVP video informs us that the United States is number 37 from the top on the medical care for its citizen list and we are the richest country on Earth, and we spend more on health care than any other country on Earth.

Another bureaucracy I had dealings with is the dental school at Marquette University. They have a charity line that is too long and only open once a year. And dealing with their bureaucracy is mind-boggling. You would think that they are shelling out gold.

If you want to learn about ritualistic behavior, let your teeth go and get on the charity line at Marquette University, or better yet if you are a lucky United States Veteran, try talking to a Veterans Administration dentist.

The problem is not just one bureaucracy; it is an attitude that our society has involving the concept of socialism. If our culture allowed more true socialism into our society, we would move from that infamous 37 to the top of the list.

In terms of medicine, and this is just two aspects of productivity, billions of dollars would be saved because of not losing work hours due to illness. And billions ff dollars would be saved because of easy access to preventative medical care.

If we had more socialism in our cultures, there would be less forced ritualistic behavior because the folks at most medical bureaucracies would be able to say, “Come on in and get those teeth fixed,” and not “Get lost pauper!”

Based on mathematics and an ingrained fear of something in our culture, at least one of my readers must be thinking, “That punk must be a communist.” Let me look inside my wallet and make sure. Yep, it is still there. And it is beautiful, unlike the ten rotten teeth in my mouth (I am open for debate.)