National Healthcare Now.
Last week, a fellow blogger Miss Britt wrote on the question of healthcare as a right versus healthcare as a privilege. I responded to her outstanding post with the following:
I believe healthcare is a right. In a supposedly evolved and civilized society, it is abominable that so many do not have health insurance or have mediocre health insurance. Sure we all have the right to healthcare, but only if we are able to afford the bills that follow. I am one of those American citizens who have health insurance, through my employer, but do not have good health insurance.
My deductible is so high that even with monthly physician visits and prescriptions, an ER visit, and various medical tests throughout the year, I will never get my deductible paid off and so am barely making ends meet with medical expenses on top of normal monthly expenses. I work in a bankruptcy firm where many clients either have insurance issues like my own or do not have insurance but have health conditions, a sick kid, or have some other medical-related issue come up. People end up in bankruptcy because of their medical bills alone in this country and that is alarming.
It is astounding to me that many other countries have national healthcare (or are working to implement it now), but we do not. Politicians, the media, and Conservatives will claim that national healthcare would simply not work or is socialism in action; however I have seen information proving that it is indeed working very well in Canada, England, France, and even Cuba, for doctors and patients alike. Look at the data before claiming it doesn’t work. Socialism? The way I look at it our country is based upon “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” right? Then explain to me how healthcare for all does not provide greater quality of life and a greater chance at the pursuit of happiness.
The non-existence of a national healthcare system in this country very likely has more to do with lobbyists and corporate interests than the question of if one would be of benefit to the people or would be a valid solution to healthcare troubles.
I hope to God that Obama is elected and is able to do something, with Congress’ help, to fix the American healthcare system. It is broken and it is breaking us.
With 45.7 million uninsured in this country and 11.4 million of the nation’s uninsured “working-age adults with one or more chronic illnesses, including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and cancer,” we absolutely must fix the healthcare system in this country.
For an industrialized nation, it is unacceptable that “The United States ranks highest in preventable deaths among 19 developed nations, and the Institute of Medicine estimates that 18,000 Americans die unnecessarily each year because they lack health insurance.” Those who have insurance are not necessarily much better off with high premiums, large deductibles, extensive regulations, and battles with bureaucracy. I am one of the underinsured.
In February I had a seizure and ended up in the Emergency Room, taken in an ambulance. Even with my current Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance, I was left with a $411 ambulance bill and a $110 emergency room bill. I was able to pay the $110 bill quickly, but the $411 bill has remained a weight on me and I hope to have it paid off by December.
I have a psychiatrist bill that I have been paying down for a year or more, the amount going toward my large deductible. The bill is for regular visits, every two to three months, to continue for an undetermined amount of time. I hope to have that bill finally paid in full by December as well.
I have regular prescriptions that even with the co-pays I question each month if I can afford them. I have not picked up one of the prescriptions in close to two months because of the cost. The other prescription I cannot do without, I’ve tried, so I continue to pay for it each month reluctantly.
My chronic health conditions will continue to result in medical bills for years to come. I fear another ambulance ride, another emergency room visit, and still more unexpected medical costs. I can’t imagine trying to pay medical bills as an underinsured person with cancer.
For the uninsured and the underinsured, we need to put in place a national healthcare system. We are the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare. It is time to change this, it is time for change.
Bonus Links:
- A Conservative Case for Universal Health Care
- Physicians for a National Health Program
- Universal Health Care Action Network
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Tags: Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Health, Health care, Health care in the United States, Health insurance, Insurance, National Health Care, National Healthcare, United States, Universal health care, Universal Healthcare
October 25th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Sister,
your story is all too common and this is the basic problem of the American HC system. the other problem is that Sen. Obama’s plan won’t solve it. While Obama’s plan will make progress to insure uninsured Americans, and to help ease some of the cost of healthcare for the rest of us the basic contradictions of a market-based health care system will remain intact. It is a shame that the last serious proposal that the US has made to solve the healthcare problem came in 1948. I hope that the current financial crisis will, if nothing else, alert people to the very real need our country has for a universal healthcare system that really takes care of all US citizens.
October 26th, 2008 at 7:25 am
Yes!
National health care is the answer.
In the US we pay more than any other industrialized country, and have the worst health care system.
Brians last blog post..Velocity
October 26th, 2008 at 9:25 am
G – couldn’t read this in IE, fwiw.
Also, I agree that there are major problems with the health insurance state in this country. However, I’m not 100% convinced that systems like they have in Canada or the UK are the answer: from what I hear from people who live there, if you have chronic health problems that are not immediately life-threatening, you may be waiting 6+ months for healthcare (IE, I know people who had to have jaw surgery for a cleft palate, but had MAJOR complications from that and had to go 6 months before they could do ANOTHER surgery to start repairing those complications, and then ANOTHER six months plus for further repairs, plus the dental work, etc.).
I’ve also been told that when it comes to care, you get what they give you: you do not get the choice of who you see or what medications to go on. If there’s some new cutting-edge treatment that you want to try, you don’t get it (unless you have extra insurance): you get what they give you, and nothing more.
We need major improvements to the system, though: that is one thing I think all of us agree on.
tanyas last blog post..Life in Teaching Mode
October 26th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’m so glad to see more and more people talking about this.
What amazes me is when people say “oh people in other countries don’t get to choose sometimes.”
People in this country don’t get to choose either – because they can’t afford it.
Miss Britts last blog post..I’m sure everyone had an ugly duckling phase, right? RIGHT?!?!
October 26th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
People don’t always get to choose in this country, even with insurance, because of the HMO they are involved with and requirements of selecting from a certain list of approved physicians.
Thanks for all the great comments! Let’s keep the dialogue open and perhaps someday our words will be heard by the Powers That Be and changes will be made.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:09 am
I understand all of your concerns. Yet, how is Healthcare a right? Where do we stop with that argument. If we take it to the logical conclusion, then isn’t shelter and food a right?
For the moment, we are not a socialist country. We were built on individual responsibility and hard work. When people prioritize themselves and turn off the cell phone and cable to pay for health insurance, then there is more to talk about.
We can not afford to pay for everyone’s needs and wants in this country. Something has to give, as our welfare state is just getting us more and more mortgaged for the future.
My employes spend a net of $30 a month for health insurance premium for Blue Cross. Anyone can afford this, its just a priortiy. Yet, government, in my humble opinion just needs to make sure that the uninsurable, those with major pre-existing conditions, are able to be insured.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I am going to play devils advocate for a second. Not because I disagree with you but just because I am a pain like that and I think the most important thing is honest dialog. And just for fun I am going to make it one giant paragraph! Woohoo!
How is it that Healthcare is a RIGHT? What is the mandate and justification for this right? Most of the rights embedded in our constitution are things based on so-called natural law, things we would have even if their was no government. And if you believe in a theological source then these are the things that God gave us in the natural state of things. Things like free speech, freedom to assemble, freedom of religion, freedom to bear arms(to protect oneself). This is a part of the social contract, guaranteeing us the things that we enjoy in the natural world(all in the spirit of “Don’t Tread on Me”). Healthcare, however, is NOT a component of the natural order of things. In nature, you have no right or expectation to healthcare. In some species they take care of their own, in others they are savage towards the weak and sickly. So if it is not some kind of god given or natural right then what is it? I hesitate to use the word privilege as I don’t think that is a correct view either. My best guess is that healthcare is a wise move for the advancement and overall well-being of a society. A nation of sick people, unnecessarily crippled, or diseased citizens is not good for anyone. So, from a utilitarian perspective I think it is in a societies best interest to provide comprehensive medical resources to everyone. Alright, if we are agreed on that point then the question becomes whose job is it to implement and run such a system? Is it the governments? There is certainly no mandate in the constitution for any such obligation on their part. If it is, then some problems arise. I hate seeing the nonsense about government programs not being run well, after working in the healthcare field I know for a fact that Medicare is FAR better to deal with than any other insurance company. But the truth of the matter, sad as it is, is that bureaucracy and inefficiency create employment. What do you then do with the hundreds of thousands of people suddenly without a job when all the UHC and Blue Cross’s close down. The direct employees, the consultants, the medical side admin people, the suppliers of materials and services to these companies… all of a sudden you have shut down an entire industry at a time when unemployment is already growing. This loss of tax revenue could be huge, add that to the billions of dollars needed by offering healthcare and you have put quite a huge cost on a government budget that already overspends and is a disaster. Cut military spending perhaps? I’d love to see that… but again that would lead to a lot of unemployment as all the high paying and often unionized jobs at places like Boeing, Raytheon, GE, and so on are eliminated with the government contracts disappearing. So you have found a way to pay for healthcare but you have now dismantled two entire industries to do it. I’m not saying it couldn’t be done, or that in the long run it wouldn’t be a much better thing than it is now. But our political system is set up on the short term goals. What politician is going to vote for such a law if those are the consequences? Especially reps from districts with a large constituent base in insurance and military contracting industries(nevermind the giant lobbying of the military contractors and insurance industry). It would be a political death sentence for their careers. They would never support it. What a giant mess we have created! So, then what do we do? If you were running for president then what would you propose?
October 27th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Great post.
I think healthcare should be a right, but in a flexible way. Meaning, that if your work employer provides coverage, you can keep that, but if you lose your job, then universal care takes over. If you have an emergency and you are working, but you reach your out of pocket maximum, then universal kicks in.
I see nothing socialistic about universal health care. I see it taking care of those that need health care and regular visits to stay healthy a needed change for this country.
martymankinss last blog post..Scooter Sunday #28