Healthcare

I usually try to avoid delving too deep into politics, especially in a public or semi-public forum, mostly because it seems often to be little more than a a nuisance. I understand how the whole system works, and I am even struck at times by its astonishing practicality and pragmatism. It's worked better than the plethora of other systems. But despite this, the average day in Washington seems to involve far far far more talking than actual doing, which frustrates me to no end. And I have found that usually, when you bring the topic up, it just starts to frustrate other people; and next thing you know, you have a room full of frustrated, disgruntled people who grow increasingly annoyed with each other rather than the system. My college friends dealt with the problem pretty ingeniously, I think. We all knew each other's differing view points, and took a bit of pride in the fact that we actually had viewpoints, but we didn't take it any further. Sure, we would mention things, but we avoided the full-out frontal assault that usually comes when you stick a staunch liberal and a equally resolute conservative at a table and tell them to argue about politics. We knew we weren't likely to change the mind of the other, and for the sake of our friendship and because little more than a headache seemed likely to come out of the argument anyway, we took the conversation only so far and then held our tongues (or vented in our own heads or to reasonably like-minded buddies later on).

But when, unlike our college-selves, one is actually in a position to do something, to affect change, how helpful is all the arguing, particularly when you've already researched what the other person is going to say ahead of time. Why is it so hard for D.C. politicians to just leave the acknowledged differences at the door and walk in determined to get at least a little something done that day? Don't these people like to see progress rather than inertia, however loud and fiery it might be.

I don't know ...

But what prompted this little rant was the fact that I have stumbled across three articles talking about what seems to me more and more like a healthcare fiasco that is gripping us right now. I was not intent on finding these articles by any means, but they caught my eye since they appeared almost simultaneously on sites that normally focus much more on the latest J.Lo tush-baring outfit.

One was about a woman who has seen her life's savings fizzle before her eyes as she battled ovarian cancer, after finding out that because of some incomplete paperwork filed years and years before, her insurance company had decided to drop her coverage when it found out how much it would likely owe for her care. She faced the unenviable option of going broke or losing her life. Five minutes later, I had run across another similar article about the state of healthcare in Massachusetts that had prompted legislators there to create a tentative universal coverage plan. The stories there were only more heartbreaking.

On to the BBC's website, where right on the front page was a long piece about the phenomena of overseas healthcare shopping -- people heading off to India or China to receive necessary treatment that would be financially impossible to get in the US. Thankfully, this article was slightly more upbeat, since I was about ready to nurse my depression (no doubt to the detriment of my health) with a carton of ice cream or the like.

Clearly, this country must do something about these problems.

Having worked in the healthcare field a few years ago, and having seen the positions of both the doctors and the insurance companies, I know this will be no easy fix. But I do not believe that we can claim to occupy our coveted place as the worlds most civilized country if our citizens are unable to get care which should today be routine.

Instead of turning to the ice cream carton, I decided to look into things a little more. It turns out that we are the only highly industrialized nation in the world that does not guarantee universal health care coverage. Of course, one need only look at the state-operated systems in Canada or France to see that simply guaranteeing coverage does not necessarily solve the problem. Sometimes having the government manage the system causes more red tape and delays than even American insurance companies can dream up. There is also something to be said for the ability of the U.S. to develop cutting-edge treatment options due to its competitive and open system. But as we make leaps and bounds in the technological advancement of our treatments, the base of care should be catching up at least marginally. Instead, more people are choosing to go without coverage and chancing just staying healthy because insurance is simply too expensive to afford.

I remember in my gap year between high school and college, when my mother demanded that I find some way to get on an insurance plan since she refused to accept the idea that I just avoid getting sick or injured, I was paying a huge portion of my paycheck to go towards the most basic of coverage plans. Two days, if not more, of my five day workweek were going to pay for health insurance, so that I would be covered if I got in a car accident. And I was a healthy, active 18-year-old! Not only that, the deductibles on the silly plan were so high I think the couple times I needed to see a doctor that year, the money came from my own pocket anyway. And seven or eight months in, I reviewed my plan to discover that the coverage would only cover up to a certain amount anyway, leaving me still vulnerable to a catastrophic accident or illness. And I must have spent four weeks researching, confident at the end that I had found the most affordable plan available to me.

I cannot even imagine if I had a chronic illness, or children to insure, or got in a debilitating accident. The plan that I scrimped and saved for would be almost worthless.



In any case, after reading those articles, hunting some more down, and becoming more and more indignant and concerned by the moment, I have decided that this is going to be my hot-button issue for the next couple of weeks. Now that I am nearly 25, and hopefully people might actually listen to what I have to say, I am seriously going to study issue, and maybe even right some letters bound for Washington or something. Because despite my own experience, I had little idea how much of a heinous situation this was turning into, and someone needs to make some noise -- and take action -- about it so that things improve.



Because I still can't quite believe that this country, which is capable of the iPhone and space exploration and Jack Kerouac, cannot locate some sort of solution that might perhaps even work for other parts of the world.