Hospital Visit
No post last night. I was out visiting a family member in the hospital. The burn ward specifically. I’m sure that everyone will agree that hospitals aren’t fun. No one really likes to go to one, but if you have to, you generally can’t wait to leave. Even if you’re just visiting. Seeing your close family or friends under that kind of stress isn’t something anyone wants to do, but it’s important to show your support and let them know you’re thinking of them and wish them a quick recovery. My visit yesterday wasn’t as we expected. While we had talked to family who had seen him already and they said he was happy and alert even though he was in pain. When we went to see him, he was on so many drugs for the pain he didn’t even know we where there. We talked with him and wished him well all the same. I can’t imagine the pain he’s in right now.
I will say this though, and I mean no disrespect. I absolutely love living here in Canada knowing we have our health care system. The doctors said that he’ll have to stay in the hospital for at least three weeks so they can monitor his recovery. I can’t imagine how much that would cost in the States. I’ve heard horror stories about families with huge medical bills or even going bankrupt. This is all second hand information though, so I apologize if it’s incorrect. I do know that I will gladly pay my share of taxes, knowing that my family is being taken care of in case of an accident and so he don’t have to worry about costs after recovery. To me, that is important.
Can any of my American readers explain to me why the US doesn’t get health care? I only know parts of what I think is a much larger story to the whole deal.
Interesting fact – the Mohawk word for hospital is Tsi iakenheion’taientáhkhwa and it means “the place where you take dead people”. My Mohawk ancestors didn’t like those places because most people didn’t come back from them.
Play Asia
November 20th, 2012 at 2:38 am
I would say that it is a carry over from the cold war when everything socialist was bad. Unfortunately many republicans still hold onto those fears related to communism. When half the country is afraid of something so obviously good it can be really frustrating.
November 22nd, 2012 at 6:34 am
Medical bills can indeed be crippling in America. Obviously lots of us want change, but lots of us don’t; the good news being that we re-elected Barack Obama and that means the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) isn’t going anywhere. It’s going to take some time to implement, but we are now on the fast track to
Basically, the arguments against health care go as follows:
(1) I’m healthy, I shouldn’t have to pay!
(2) I’m a business owner and if I have to give my employees healthcare, I can’t afford to stay in business!
(3) If we give healthcare to everybody, there won’t be enough healthcare for anybody!
(4) Fear that the government will get to decide who lives and who dies. Death panels!
Obviously the first argument is one direct cause of financial trouble when an otherwise-healthy person is struck with a sudden illness or injury. Then it’s too late to buy insurance. But many people are short-sighted.
The second argument is largely used by minimum wage kingpins, the ones who undercut the competition by offering low, low prices and making up the difference by paying their employees bad wages and worse benefits. Their business models will likely have to change as a result of legislation like the ACA. People who study history, though, know that big business’ claims are fruitless, business always adapts and business always thrives, it’s the ones that refuse to adapt that end up by the wayside.
(3) There are people who believe that there will be an explosion of healthcare claims, leading to excessive wait times to see a doctor. I know a few people who believe this and they’re always citing some fantastic stories about people in other countries with socialized healthcare who get hurt or sick and have to wait MONTHS to see a doctor. I’ve never seen such a claim from a legitimate source, so I’m guessing they get this crazy talking point from right-wing radio or something, which probably embellished on some real-life but extenuating circumstance to make it sound like a legitimate worry. But people forget or don’t realize that supply always rises to meet demand (unless supply is limited by lack of natural resources or some artificial cause.) If there’s actually a shortage of healthcare professionals available to the public as a result of this legislation, the medical industry will simply grow over time, especially considering our still dire unemployment rate. People will go where the jobs are.
(4) People don’t realize that we already have so-called “death panels” in this country; the insurance companies that get to decide who gets care and who doesn’t based on factors such as “pre-existing conditions” and policy limits. This legislation, if anything, will reduce the impact of those on our society, not the other way around.