Let me be quick to recognize that it is right to receive service and it is quite proper to pay for that service. Care is the consenting commitment of citizens to one another. Care cannot be produced, provided, managed, organized, administered, or commodified. Care is the only thing a system cannot produce. Every institutional effort to replace the real thing is a counterfeit.
Care is, indeed, the manifestation of a community.
For us to be consenting citizens committed to one another, we first need to humbly recognize that we cannot live in isolation from each other. We need our community. Often I've seen health professionals cry over a patient who did not respond as well as expected. And, I've seen shared joy over a positive outcome. Patients and professionals sharing joy and sorrow have become equals, true community.