So! About that health (s)care debate that has been sweeping the lands of the free for what seems to be a few months too many…
I have seen a lot of bullshit in my life! A LOT! After living through almost eight years of code orange (WTF?), walking through the airport security line almost stripped to the bare essentials, having shampoo, lotions (thank you SFO, I am sure one of your TSA agents is still enjoying smelling like roses) and water confiscated, begging the terminal shop clerk to give me her small zip lock bag because I had once again forgotten to pack my hand sanitizer and emergency toothpaste into one before rushing to the gate, wondering if shady figures in black suits would one day show up at my front door because I liked to check out the Al Jazeera website just to get a glimpse at their perspective, trying my hardest to translate into proper English what the then President was telling us, and wondering what exactly his sidekick was up to, I thought that on January 20th, 2009 ridiculousness had finally retired. We should be so lucky!
And not only has ridiculousness not retired, it has been elevated to a whole new level! Nation! We are no longer fighting the War on Terror (WTF?), we are now fighting the War on Death Panels (WTF?). Yes, that’s right, and I am sure you have heard of them, unless you have been hiding under a rock. If you have, stay there until it’s all over! If ever! But hopefully soon! Because while the deba(te)cle seems to be going on endlessly your grandma might not die as she has GOVERNMENT RUN health insurance and care but your daughter might, because she had bronchitis as a child that left her with scar tissue that insurance giants in this country of ours deemed a “pre existing condition”, even though she had two full physicals, three CT scans (that showed as much as zero changes within one year), notes from two different doctors that explain that what we are looking at is benign and not a health risk, even though she is an avid runner that finishes races, including marathons, in the top in her age groups.*
But I am rambling.
It is not so much that the disagreement about “public option” has me all miffed, no, what really ticks me of is the amount of misinformation, misconception, PRE conception, and fear mongering that has been making its way through the ranks of the uninformed. But then I have to remind myself that the majority of our fellow citizens cannot name one branch of government, nor do they realize the state they reside in has two senators, and let’s not even ask them who their representative is, because it might leave you weeping…
So here we are, in the 21st Century, and there are still people out there who take pride in a health “care” system that on average leaves 46 million Americans uninsured (86 million at any given time in any given year). Forty Six Million!!!! In fact some are so proud they will defend it with a gun. A big gun! (Although I am not foolish enough to believe that those proud gun toters are showing up in public with assault rifles because it is their constitutional given right. But that’s for another post). If that does not leave you nauseous from disgust I do not know what will.
Here we are, the wealthiest country on earth, a country that prides itself as setting the example for the rest of the free world, while millions of its citizens go without the medical care they desperately need. It blows my mind that some here actually argue that this is OK. That the uninsured somehow deserve to go without medical treatments, but don’t touch grandma, who at 88 years old has terminal cancer and needs a hip replacement, paid for by Medicare, a GOVERNMENT RUN health insurance program. Oh no, don’t you dare take that away from the frail and dying elderly. After all, it is our moral obligation to give them every single treatment they need no matter how outrageously useless it is in the long run, and how much it prolongs suffering and the inevitable. The hypocrisy is not lost on me.
These days I often think back to the times of my child- and early adulthood in Germany, a country that has (GASP!) universal health care. Not single payer! But universal, which means that every German citizen has health insurance and access to medical care! Every. Single. One! No one can be excluded based on health status. And no, it is not a single payer system like Canada and the UK. It is insurance based not unlike the system in the US, but insurance is provided on a non-profit basis. That insurance is paid for by payroll deduction, similar to the way we pay for Social Security coverage. And the German government, unlike the British government, does not own or operate hospitals and doctors are in private practice or are employees of hospitals. Workers and employers split the costs, with each contributing approximately 8% of payroll to 200 different “sickness funds”. Coverage includes dental, prescription drugs and long-term care. Germany spends 10.7% of GDP on health care, or an average of $3673 per citizen.
I cannot remember one time while I was growing up that anyone hesitated to go see their doctor(s) if they were sick or injured because they were worried about not being covered, out of pocket expenses and the bill that would be send to them afterwards. In fact no one ever saw a bill. Ever! If you needed to see a doctor, no matter what specialty, you would set up an appointment. If it was an emergency you would be seen the same day, in non emergency cases usually within a week or two (mostly within a week). You would show up to your appointment, give the front desk person your insurance information, got treated, send on your way with or without a prescription, and were done. There was no EOBs to look at, no bills to pay, nothing. If you needed a prescription filled you would go to the neighborhood pharmacy and get you medication, usually for a copay of approximately $2. If the doctor thought you needed to see a different specialist you would be referred and could see the specialist within a couple of weeks tops. And, btw, the same rules applied to dentistry, which is a whole other nightmare in this country.
People opposed to or skeptical of universal healthcare often bring up the fact that maybe I was just lucky I never had a major illness and therefore was spared the horrendous nightmarish scene a system would offer that provides health insurance to all, insurance and care that actually will not force you into bankruptcy. Or maybe I always had emergencies and therefore was seen promptly. What about anything elective or non emergency related? Well, I can guarantee you that I only had one emergency in my life, when I broke my cheekbone in 2nd Grade and my parents did not have to think twice about taking me to the emergency room, nor did they have to worry about the bill for a 10 day stay. The rest of my medical visits? All what one would call “elective” in this fine nation.
Yes, the doubters say, but what about hip replacements (for some reason hip replacements are always used as the prime example of shoddy practices in countries with universal health care. Maybe if Americans moved more they would not need to obsess so much about artificial joints!)? Admittedly, no one in my family has had to have a hip or two replaced, my grandmother however did have glaucoma and had to have individual surgeries in both eyes. Now, a cynic might tell you that she probably had to wait a year, if not longer for this surgery as it posed to emergent risk. Well here is news for you, cynic! Both were scheduled within a couple of weeks with one of the then best eye surgeons in Germany who happened to have his clinic just around the corner from where we lived.
Oh, they say, that was then, 20 years ago, it has probably all changed, universal health care is the death of old people after all. Let’s revisit an incident two years ago, when my dad, age 72, had to have a triple bypass. Was he put on a death panel list? Far from it. He was immediately transferred from the small hospital in the small town he lives in to a major cardiac center, where he received top of the line care. Then he was put into a cardiac rehab clinic that he referred to as the “Ritz Cardiac”, all for the out of pocket cost of a whopping $100. Did I mention he was 72 at the time?
So, understandably I have a very hard time with the pundits from the other side who want us to believe that providing health insurance to all Americans is going to kill grandma and and will make you wait in line for years when you need your hip replaced (there it is again!), if they replace it at all. Which brings me to the apparent nightmare that our neighbors up north have to deal with. The Canadian single payer system, which is supposed to be the death of all, but especially the old and frail as they are no longer an asset to society, a society that also owns more guns than the US but has far less shooting victims (good thing Dick Cheney never lived there to screw with their statistics). If I read the numbers from the Canadian Joint Replacement Registry correctly, there are more hip and knee replacements being done on 75-84 year olds than any other age group… Should we not stop and think about this for a minute? Or shall we just choose to continuously ignore the facts and run amok in a constant barrage of shouting matches and bold faced lies from the opponents, who by the looks of things have actually never lived anywhere but their own neighborhood. Or right wing politicians who take every opportunity they got to warn us that a public government run health insurance option might actually be popular. THE NERVE!!!
So, as the President prepares for his speech to Congress tomorrow night, let’s just take a moment and really think about what it is we are actually vilifying debating: making sure that every single American has access to medical care without going broke or dying in the process! Because that’s really what it’s all about and anyone who is against this, well, maybe they should take this opportunity to have their head examined! If they can afford to do so!
*true story, because unfortunately we don't need to make this stuff up in America.
Today’s Running Tip: Preventing injuries!
Since a lot of us cannot afford to run to the doctor every week, it is important that we all prevent injuries in the first place, especially those that can be avoided. Runner’s World has a vast variety and tip of the trade on their website that are worth exploring!
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