(Untitled)
I'm sick of the propaganda and the fear-mongering. Will someone please just tell me the facts about the proposed health care reform, so that I can judge whether it's a good idea or not? And don't you even trot out all the Canadians who are supposedly dying left and right. I know some Canadians, and they *like* their health care.
Me: So, is socialized health care as terrible as they say? We’re debating health care reform here in the US, and all of the Republicans are running about, waving their arms and saying, “Dear God, who would want to be like the CANADIANS???” And those of us who are uninsured grad students are giving them the finger.
Her: Yes, dear LORD…who would like to be like the CANADIANS? They with their universal access, their habit of not charging through the nose every time you find a lump in your breast or have to spend the night in the hospital, their guarantee of looking after you if you are freaking sick (no matter whether or not you have an insurance provider or who that provider is), their annoying practice of not bumping you to the front of the line if you are a rich person with a boo-boo who just HAS to get in in front of that desperately ill cancer-ridden homeless person…
No, the Canadian system is not perfect. In particular, waiting lists are occasionally longer than they should be. However, for Americans to go OMIGOD THE CANADIANZ SAVE US FROM TEH DIRTY SOCIALISTS!!!1! while completely ignoring the rampant unfairness and disfunctionality of their own seriously broken system makes me want to RANT and SCREAM. (The ranting and screaming are not directed at you. I know that you are sane.)
No system is perfect. Socialised health care works. That is all.
*Takes deep breath*
Sorry for the vehemence. I am having a bad day.
Although I find details and honesty from either side about the proposed changes to be seriously lacking, I do know a few things: 1) I will soon be uninsured and unemployed. I do not want to be up in my eyeballs in debt, should something happen to me during this time. 2) That the health problems of the uninsured should be considered trivial is stupid and unfair. 3) Pretending that the current system is perfect and that having the government run it would be TERRIBLE is inherently disingenuous. So the government might not let me have a certain treatment? Doesn't much matter when my insurance would refuse to pay for it because a) they can or b) it's a pre-existing condition.
After ruminating upon these things, I called Senator Bob Casey and told him (well, his college-age unpaid intern-lackey) that I want socialized medicine, or the closest thing we can get to it. Although I would still like some details.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment