Public Spark

This is the an excellent commencement speech that was given by Bill Gates at the Harvard Graduation.

Bill Gates Commencement Speech

One of the elements that stuck with me was the part where he had addressed inequities with medical care. He states, “We [Bill and Melinda Gates] had just assumed that if millions of children were dying every day and they could be saved, the world would make it a priority to discover and deliver medicines to save them. But it did not….How could the world let these children die? The answer is simple and harsh. The market did not reward saving the lives of these children, and governments don’t subsidize.”

This aspect made me think of how it is in the United States. One would think that if our rich government is not reaching out as much to the poor countries, then our rich government must surely be taking care of their own citizens. This logical notion is not reality. Inequality exists within our own country as well, although it may not be as harsh or apparent as in poorer countries. What about the insured and the uninsured? Is that fair? The insured will get better treatment for the same illness as someone who is uninsured, merely because they can afford it. What is stopping the United States from having a Universal Health care system? Perhaps I can even use Bill Gates quote to address this inability to change. “The barrier to change is not too little caring: it is too much complexity.” He goes on to further address solutions and hope and the responsibility we have to make changes.