The Minds approach: Addressing humans as Rational— Economic/Scientific.

The Hearts approach: Addressing humans as Emotional— Humanistic.

Humans are both; not completely Rational as in the economic “rational actor”model. Emotional: in terms of values, beliefs, and sentiments.

Typically, the single-payer movement has said things along the lines of: “Our diagnosis is supply-side waste. Our prescription is single-payer.”

That is an analysis based solely on costs: Minds—rationality, without either recognizing or addressing a Hearts—emotional dimension.

Here are other diagnoses of the current system:

Life: Unnecessary death in current system: Life: Inalienable right—Jefferson, Declaration of Independence. Give me medical care or give me death. UHS better addresses this value of life.Hearts emphasis.

Liberty: Restricted ability to get needed care; Inability to have complete, free choice of providers. UHS better addresses this value of Liberty. Hearts emphasis.

Pursuit of Happiness:Akin to unnecessary death, there is an unnecessary reduced and limited pursuit of happiness: Unnecessary suffering, maladies, limitations on life-style, permanent disability and chronic illness All of these affect quality of life and perhaps quality of life in general—Pursuit of Happiness—and arise because of inability to get needed medical care, or timely care. UHS better addresses this value of the Pursuit of Happiness.Hearts emphasis.

Equality: Inequality via non-universal coverage; inequality via unequal coverage policies; inequality via inability to access the same levels of quality care provision. A universal, equal coverage system provides for equal opportunity to access medical care treatment. UHS better addresses this value of Equality. Hearts emphasis.

Democracy: The power dimensions in system are organized around wealth, expertise (providers), non-medical policy-makers, and administrators. A Health Care Republic of Rule by Elites, not A Health Care Democracy of Rule by the People. This Rule by Elites has produced a system largely based on personal ability to pay for many medical treatments. Health Care Democracy entails a relation to liberty by empowering we the people in health care policymaking more so than presently. UHS doesn’t eliminate need for reliance on medical expertise—any medical system will depend on the expert, technical knowledge of medical professionals, but UHS can make the policy-making dimension more democratic by taking away the influence of non-medical professional elites, especially regarding moral aspects and values (“moral knowledge”) and interests (“virtue”). (See: “Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance and Guardianship” in Writings section for further discussion). UHS better addresses this value of Democracy. Hearts emphasis.

The Central Truism of Progressive Reform: Two Interpretations

Health Care isn’t a Commodity (ought not to be: Right of Life) Hearts
Health Care isn’t a Commodity (is not: Market Economics) Minds

Many progressive reform advocates make that claim that health care isn’t a commodity. There are two ways to understand that claim. One is the normative approach in which the statement means “Health care should not be treated as a commodity.” This is the Hearts interpretation. The second interpretation is an empirical approach in which the statement means “Health care is not a commodity by the rules of market economics.” This is the Minds interpretation. We believe that both interpretations are correct but recognize that some will accept only one of the interpretations as correct, and some none at all. The progressive reform movement is best served by advocating based on both the Hearts and the Minds interpretations.

We at UHS believe that the progressive health reform movement has heretofore not adequately addressed a Hearts approach to recognizing the problems with our current health system and the solutions to those problems. Once can’t present a prescription when the diagnosis of a problem has not been recognized. The non-economic, political-value problems in our present system need to be emphasized to a far greater degree than they have this far and brought into the center of the health policy debate.

In in many progressive health reform proposals, such as single-payer/universal coverage, solutions to some of these problems are inherent, but they are not explicitly recognized and represented. We here at UHS promote a more adequate understanding and representation of Hearts issues and advocacy that is focused more so on both Hearts and Minds dimensions.

A “united health system” is a prescription for these Hearts and Minds problems in our present system.