If we were to design a healthcare system from scratch, putting ourselves in the original position, I am sure that we would want to be assured that no matter how we find ourselves years from now, we would be able to get and afford basic healthcare, regardless of whether we were mentally ill, unemployed, physically disabled, or impoverished.
I want to live in a society where, somehow, we arrange for this to happen. I start with the goal of universal access to healthcare as a First Principle, from which we then figure out how to make it work and how to pay for it.
I admit that this is very idealistic, perhaps naive, but I believe strongly that this is a valid way of approaching the idea of whether we should have universal access to healthcare.
Now I can go back to fishing in peace, when my mind is empty while casting for the beautiful trout which I can’t see in the bubbling water in front of me. Whether you agree with my ideas or not, I would be happy to take you fishing.
Dr. Brasington is professor of medicine and rheumatology fellowship program director at Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine and an associate editor of The Rheumatologist.
