One story told about a nurse who fought for her husband to get treatment for cancer at the very hospital she worked at and was denied. One story told of a 9/11 volunteer who could barely afford her respiratory medication from problems she developed while sorting through rubble. One story was about a mother who begged doctors to treat her young daughter for a high fever, who later passed away from not being helped.
On March 21, 2010, the House passed the bill for national, universal health care. Three years before, Michael Moore released his newest documentary, “Sicko,” concentrating on the Americans who do have health care and what the insurance companies lack in support. I watched this movie in class this week and was brought to tears.
The basic human needs are food, shelter and clothing. But I feel as though there is another need and that is to be taken care of when ill. A person should be given hospital care when needed without worrying, how am I going to pay for this or waiting five or plus hours in the waiting room, just to even see a doctor. No one should wonder, how am I going to pay for my medication? How am I even going to survive with these medical bills?
In five short months, I am going to graduate from college and will be thrust out into that scary, haunting place known as “the real world.” I started a “life fund” (currently Romeo’s “pee-pee” fund until he is neutered) recently, because I have no idea where my next job will be, what my next step will be. I won’t know where my health insurance will be coming from, since the universal health care won’t be brought into production until 2014, when I will be out of college for three years.
A year ago this week, I was trying to hide my tears in the middle of a Walmart as I found out one of my medications was $150 for a three month supply. Yes, from Walmart, who claims that most of their prescriptions are $10 or less. I left the store, not knowing what to do but to call my mommy who assured me she would pay for it. But $150?
If I lived in France, U.K., Cuba or Canada, I would probably have to pay little to no money to get the same medication. These are all countries with universal health care. In fact, in Sicko, Michael Moore asks questions to citizens of these countries about deductibles, waiting time for the emergency room and billing departments in the hospital and they all looked at him as if he were speaking Martian. The most expensive medication was $10 in American money for 120 pills, there were no billing departments in the hospitals and the longest wait for the emergency room was 45 minutes. My little brother had a spine injury and had to wait in the emergency room for 5 hours and my dog’s medication, alone, costs more than $10.
What is wrong with a country that privatizes health care? It treats its sick people as bad product and denies them the coverage they pay for when it’s not convenient for the company.
I leave you with a quote from someone I consider a great man:
We won. And by 2014, Americans with or without health care, will be benefited.
Alas, I wish this were true. When our bureaucracy gets involved, things get mucked up. Health insurance is a scary thing to be without, and even those of us with it are having to pay the price of higher deductibles and less things covered. Every "well baby" visit of Max's came out of our pockets. All of his vaccinations were uncovered, to the tune of $600. I could have gone to public health and gotten them for free, but I sincerely believed that, if I could pay for it, I should. However, our country does have systems in place currently to assist those in need. Working with the needy every day opened my eyes to the many arms of assistance that are offered.
ReplyDeleteThe issue is more the underinsured... those who fly just above the poverty line for whom our country's welfare system does not work...those who are bankrupted by serious illness. I hope this new system will work for them the most.
As for Michael Moore, he gets to pick and choose what ends up on the cutting-room floor. There are issues with national health care plans that would not have fit into the perspective of his film. He tends to run his documentaries with very little balance.
Have you seen John Q.? That movie made me cry like a baby.