universal health care is NOT communism
There was a time in American history when a lot of our contemporary services were for-profit, free market industries. Americans learned that a centralized banking system, pensions for the elderly, fire protection and many other former ‘industries’ should have some degree of government regulation if not complete federal governance. This served everyone and not just those who could afford it.
Like police protection, fire protection, and so forth; health care as a human right should be provided to all citizens, not just those whose employers decide to provide it. The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies are raping US citizens and making record profits doing so. This has to stop. I have been dealing with these for-profit bastard companies and groups for almost 2 years now and it is almost as torturous and inhumane as the chronic pain that afflicts me.
Opponents of single-payer universal health care claim the government would limit your doctor selection and you’d have to wait exorbitant lengths for care you could receive in a more timely fashion here. I have been dealing with an HMO and I have to wait weeks to months for specialists and my selection of doctors is EXTREMELY limited. When I need to see a specialist that my group doesn’t employ (which is frequent) I have to go through a bureaucratic mess and usually pay hundreds of dollars still per visit, some over a thousand dollars for a 30 minute consultation!
Health care is and should always be a human right and its time the US populace was given factual information about the realities of health care and the deceit and corruption pervasive in our current system.
SiCKO is a fantastic, accessible resource that shows the poverty of the ‘richest’ nations treatment of their poorer half and then juxtaposes that with the ease and inexpensive nature of universal health care utilized by every other western or industrialized nation.
For-profit health care is an anachronistic system strangled by the insurance and pharmaceutical companies and until us citizens here demand change from our representatives, nearly 50 million will remain uninsured and us fortunate ones with insurance will continue getting robbed and worse.
Very well said! So… how does one go about affecting this change?
Amen.
I think public awareness is the first step. SiCKO is a great example of an opportunity for millions to get informed, or just break your leg and ride the wave of medical bills until you crash into bankruptcy. That should show you how expensive, bureaucratic and inhumane this system is
Secondly we need a populace that is demanding accountability of their representatives therefore the level of democratic participation must rise beyond watching two televised debates and voting every few years.
Thirdly, as Americans we have to separate our social necessities from our predatory economic system. Of course, I think we can do better than capitalism, but at very least, we need to take care of the old, the handicapped, the sick, the indigent and so forth and not let the economic hitmen get their paychecks.
[...] really deserves health care? from Fighting the right with my cane Like police protection, fire protection, and so forth; health care as a human right should be [...]
Who, really deserves health care? « Provoking Thought said this on August 6, 2007 at 7:04 pm |
Opponents of single-payer universal health care claim the government would limit your doctor selection and you’d have to wait exorbitant lengths for care you could receive in a more timely fashion here. I have been dealing with an HMO and I have to wait weeks to months for specialists and my selection of doctors is EXTREMELY limited. When I need to see a specialist that my group doesn’t employ (which is frequent) I have to go through a bureaucratic mess and usually pay hundreds of dollars still per visit, some over a thousand dollars for a 30 minute consultation!
how about waiting months … if not years to see that specialist? the one whom you really, honestly had no choice over, due to the incredible shortage of specialists and docs in general? how about dying, while waiting for life-saving surgery? how about waiting months for a diagnostic procedure which will diagnose your cancer? and then several more weeks, or maybe months … to get into the oncology clinic for treatment? how about dying in the waiting room, b/c the universally accessible health care system cannot meet your health care needs, by sheer physical limitations? i could go on … but clearly you see my point … the grass is always greener on the other side. its corrupt and SICKO here, too. trust someone who’s seen it from the inside out. and walked away from it, despite the huge pay ….
just thought you’d like a perspective from the other side … nothing about this canadian health care system is really universal, its only called that. we like deluding ourselves. ;^)
18,000 people a year die here from not having coverage, does that happen in Canada?
I’m not sure when I claimed Canada had a perfect system, my point was that health care is a human right that all people need to have, period.
If we took a fraction of the military budget (which is the size of the REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED) we could easily insure everyone and perhaps piss off one less country per year by not bombing them.
The pharmaceutical and insurance companies are reaping huge profits from denying care that PEOPLE HAVE PAID FOR! Do police stations make profits? Does social security? Fire protection?
Also, in regards to my situation, I consider myself lucky even after waiting 18 fucking months in horrible pain while every couple months I get another test or procedure that shows or does nothing. I have insurance and it helps out a great deal with MOST procedures and medications but what about the 50 million who don’t? or the thousands who are denied necessary procedures by their insurance providers?
I have writhed in pain for hours in hospital waiting rooms only to get a bill that is more than a month’s rent of my last apartment and still leave in a wheelchair because they are concerned about giving me too much medication but in reality what they are denying me is relief and dignity …sorry that is a totally unrelated topic.
Anyway, health care currently in the US is LUCRATIVE and that is criminal in my eyes. I used to lifeguard and I can’t imagine asking a drowning person if they had the money to pay for the rescue.
Thought you might be interested in this campaign
Physicians for a National Health Program and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today launched the first in a series of broadcast and internet ads in Iowa challenging the leading Democratic candidates to take a more meaningful stand on health care by endorsing a single-payer style, guaranteed healthcare for all, system.
http://www.pnhp.org/multimedia/speechless_ads_from_iowa.php
thanks a lot! I think those are the only campaign ad videos that didn’t make need some IV zofran or compazine.
I agree that there is a major health care crisis; however I believe that universal health care IS communist and is NOT the solution. The solution is to restore a competitive market to drive down prices and eliminate the need for insurance in the first place (HMO’s, for example, were forced upon us and have only made things worse) and allow the patient and the Dr. to determine what treatment is necessary, not the government or insurance companies.
My heart goes out to you and all others who have chronic pain or illness and have to deal with this broken system. However, personally I believe that the solution is eliminating inflated costs and insurance completely. Before you think I’m nuts, please do a little research into the origins of health insurance and the health care environment before inflated costs.
Thanks and God Bless.
For Liberty,
Crystal M.
I appreciate the kind words Crystal but saying “universal health care is communism” doesn’t make it so. I am referring to single payer health care. This is NOT socialized medicine. In socialized medicine the government determines everything for you, your doctor, what you can have done, it sets prices, etc.
In contrast, with single payer, it is essentially the same set-up as our country except instead of doctors paying half a dozen assistants to sort through the the 150 insurance possibilities, they have only one: basically medicaid/medicare for all without the corporate bullshit. Doctors have more time to treat patients instead of arguing with insurance companies who deny the service anyway.
I would love to look in to how health care could work here without insurance but I don’t know where to look. I hope to hear from you again!
-Brad