We all know the medical care we receive in this country could be the best in the world.  But, it isn't.  Not by a long shot.  As a nation, the US ranks very low in quality outcomes in medical care and the cost is the highest in the world.  The care we get is definitely not cost effective.  Now it seems we also rank highest in the developed world in internet access cost and have the slowest internet service in developed countries.  Seems the technology and medical communities have collaborated to gouge us in costs and not deliver a good product. 

I am not a socialist, but it is interesting to note that our legislators want to make sure the government stays out of health care and the internet, and leave everything to private enterprise and the so called Free Market economy.  Doesn't seem to be working too well.

Insanity is sometimes defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time.  Methinks, our approach to medical care and internet access is a pretty good example of insanity.

If we want to remain a strong nation, we must have healthy citizens, people who know they can get decent medical treatment.  If we want to compete on the world market, we must have a populace that not only has access to the internet, but equal access to the best possible internet in the world.  At the present time, we have neither.

I hear people yell the government shouldn't be the entity to designate a person's health care provider.  Insurance companies do this routinely.  Try going out of your health insurance company's accepted providers and see what happens.  I had a prescription drug insurance pharmacy tech refuse to fill a prescription for a super cheap medication, which had been on the market more than 50 years, and the insurer decided I didn't need that particular med because I was also taking another of the same class of drugs for a serious heart condition.  I had to make a special appointment with my cardiologist, and have a note written, that my medical condition required both meds.  I had been taking the two drugs for more than ten years, but suddenly an insurance company bureaucrat decided they were better at prescribing medication and seeing to my health than a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. 

Many people in rural or poor urban areas of the country don't have access to the internet, or if they have access, it is slow, erratic and very expensive.  Children who don't have access have a decided disadvantage in education.  Florida now requires at least one credit of Virtual School in order to get a high school diploma.  Many children don't have access, and must either stay after school or find some way to get that credit.  The district in which I live has 58 percent of the students on free and reduced price lunches.  Between buying a computer, finding one at a library or church, or if they have a computer, finding a free wi-fi hotspot, or accessing the internet at home is at the very least, difficult.  Having accessible broadband should be a public responsibility, the same as decent roads and streets and electricity.

Our nation is putting itself at serious security risk by not having a good health care program for all and good internet access for all.  A healthy, informed electorate and populace is the only way a nation can maintain its place in the world. 

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