The cliché that when life hands you a lemon, make lemonade wasn't meant to cover the case where a nation's politicians refuse to deal with the lemon that is its health system. There are now a lot of stories in the news media about the catastrophe that is US health care, but few of them get beyond the superficial. So the story of 12 year old Wesley Arnold is typical. Instead of the dismaying and pathetic story it is it is written to be heartwarming:
There's really not much a 12-year-old can do when he finds out his dad has cancer - or is there?Wesley Arnold decided he was going to help out with the family expenses. He enlisted the help of long-time friend Bryce Sibille - at 14, the senior partner of this operation - and together they opened a lemonade stand.
The new business opened Monday and, in just the first day, the duo raised $145. "It started out slow," Wesley said around noon Tuesday as he waved his hand-made, construction-paper sign at passing vehicles. "Then we changed our sign and started just asking for donations. We made about $100 in just two hours." (Iberianet)
So what does this news story say about the underlying problem this 33 year old electrician will have in paying for medical care?
Admittedly, the money raised at the lemonade stand won't come anywhere near paying the medical bills the family is sure to endure. But it's "something we thought we could do to try to help out," Bryce said.
That's it. "Admittedly." Yes, admittedly. What a concession. No context, unreflective, uninformative, leaving out the real story and sugar coating the dismaying core of a tragedy.
Michael Moore is being criticized for presenting a one sided view of the US health care crisis in his documentary, Sicko, but his response seems perfectly reasonable: the US public has been getting only one side of the health care debate for a long time. He's just redressing the balance.
Michael Moore isn't on the margins. He's squarely in the mainstream of US public opinion.
It's time to make some lemonade, not stand on a street corner trying to sell it.
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There is an interesting discussion of health care reform and other health care issues over at this blog:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/?discussion
I have my own little story. I recently fell off a ladder from the second step up and tore my rotator cuff. I had surgery to repair it. The outpatient surgery facility bill was nearly $32,000. I suspect that the total cost will be at least $40,000. At this point I don't know how much my insurance will pay, but not all of it. Imagine someone with a legitimate reason to be on a ladder, like a painter or carpenter, who might not have insurance, or has insurance like mine, which is probably barely affordable to an individual doing manual labor. How might such a person afford to get the surgery that would allow him to continue to earn a living?
Speaking of refusing to deal with problems, this is a bit deeper:
http://www.virtualboricua.org/Docs/PDF/Environmental%20%20Practice%20Pa…
Mark P, my BIL is a carpenter and had the same thing happen to him. No insurance. He just let the injury "heal" on its own. He can still do some work, but won't ever be laying roofing tiles or shingles again.
Husband was just diagnosed with lymphoma. Thankfully we do have insurance but the hoops we had to go through to make sure it was all in network were amazing. Surprisingly the insurance company was very helpful in that regard (for their own interests of course).
Since he has a union and a real contract, he is still drawing pay while on sick leave and has short term leave of absence and long term leave of absence, plus a fund that he paid into will make up his full paycheck.
I shudder to think about what would happen to us if he didn't have such a great union...
I truly believe that the health care issue is what will define this country going forward, not the war, energy, immigration, terrorism, or the environment. It is a disgrace of our own making, and it can be changed without depending upon the actions of any other nation. If we don't fix this, we will deserve the reputation we will have, that of a heartless, inhumane, greedy, and stupid people.
As an interesting note, I told my brother in law, who is an orthopedic surgeon, what the outpatient surgery center charge was (I have to admit that this figure - $32,000 - is from a handwritten note from the admission desk at the center, not an actual bill.) He said he was amazed and had no idea it would be that high. He said he was going to ask the surgery center he uses to see what a comparable surgery charge would be. I am in Georgia; he is in Kentucky. I am not surprised that a physician would not know how much the facility would charge unless he or someone in his family has had surgery there.
I work as a hired hand these days. No insurance. If I were to be injured, or wake up with cancer, I can only live my life until I die from the malady that has afflicted me. MRSA, Pandemic flu, cancer, infection with flesh eating bacteria, no coverage. I suppose I could go to the emergency room, receive treatment and just not pay, but that's not my style. I bandage my cuts and care for my own wounds. I learned many years ago as a young Navy Corspman, "The man who has himself for a doctor, has a fool for a patient". I'm that fool by default.
Retired..... Hit this site. It is a medical plan for people in your situation and in Michigan to boot. It is state run, and it gives you insurance like coverage.
Every state is required to have one now. Problem? No one wants to be in it because its not free. Free healthcare is another lefty/lib/Dem position. Its not and absolutely not free. Someone has to pay for it and if indeed as the population ages it exceeds the intake, they will just start soaking the kids that are alive and coming up today, along with your SS payments. It will start an huge inflationary spiral. They will tighten credit to keep it in check, increase taxes to pay for it. High taxes and high interest rates are a sure fire kill to an economy.
http://www.hap.org/
Mr Kruger, of course somebody has to pay to run a health care system. But in the USA you pay about 15% of GDP for a lousy system whereas the rest of the world with their state-run systems, pay less than 10% for a good system - eg in Australia, we pay about 8% of GDP for our universal health care system.