We Need Universal Health Care, Now
This page is being updated slowly. Meanwhile, here is a good page quoting Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the injustice of lacking health care.
Posted by a friend of mine on LiveJournal...
I have now met several Americans whose lives have been directly harmed by the simple lack of affordable health care in the United States.
When I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in New Hampshire, families were screened partly for how they dealt with debt, almost always incurred by medical problems.
An Indiana friend of mine had her credit and that of her family very badly damaged to the point of inability to obtain credit of any kind, by large bills incurred by being refused coverage for an urgent surgery which should have been covered under insurance that her family was paying for at the time.
This is the story of a friend of mine who lives in the Boston, MA metro. area:
On October 30th, 2002, I was badly injured in a riding accident. I was
working for a woman who bred Arab horses. Myself and some freinds were
out on the
trials, when the horse in front of me, kicked at my horse(my boss'
horse really)
and missed and got me, shattering my right leg. The horse I was riding,
Spring, reared up tossing me into the trees/rocks/ground. My leg was
not only
shattered but there was also a puncture wound and I lost alot of blood
as well. I
layed there for 2 hours before help could get to me(no vehicles can get
throught these woods). I was taken to a hospital and treated even
though I said I had
no health insurance. I was told by numrous doctors that I shouldn't
worry
about that yet. Well, long story short, I am still not quite healed as
a result
of not being able to get proper treatment and rehab because those same
doctors
that said not to worry about insurance have since taken me to court for
payments due! I am still in pain every now and then, but can't afford
to go see a
doctor. I lost my job as a result of this, was denied unemployment
because I
wasn't able to work, couldn't get disability because my injury wasn't
long term
enough, lost my workman's comp case, lost my phone, job, had no heat,
no
electricity, no food, etc. This is crazy-people should not have to
suffer because
they are poor. I thought this country was supposed to be so advanced.
Yeah, we
have the technology, we just don't have the compassion.
Another local MA woman who is an advocate for the homeless was herself driven into homelessness as a result of an accident that caused severe brain trauma, again driving her into unpayable debt due to huge medical bills.
My mother, who lived (until Huricane Katrina destroyed her home) in Bay Saint Loius, MS, is working, but uninsured. She has been going steadily further into debt by the need to make visits to doctors and buy her thyroid medication on credit cards which are increasingly straining her ability to pay living expenses. She has applied for medicaid, and at the age of 47, been told that if she was not pregnant, forget about it. The same thing I was told when seeking medical coverage in Maryland several year ago.
Many poor people are pushed into using the emergency room as a primary means of medical attention due to lack of insurance and the poor quality of what few community health clinics do exist.
Education and jobs are important, but if one does not have the health, which is partly ensured by preemptive health care visits, and secured by a safety net giving medical attention without the fear of inability to pay, then education, or even a job, will not help. We do not have these necessities, and it is costing our citizens time, stress, lost productivity, and money. It is also costing lives.
How to pay for Universal Health Care and encourage renewable resources simultaneously:
I would like to point folks to the article on page 104 of the 19 April 2004 issue of Time magazine, by Andrew Sullivan. He's right. A way to pay for Universal Health Care (if it doesn't actually pay for itself in overhead savings, which it might) and to reduce our dependence on foreign fossil fuels might be to encourage conservation and realistic understanding of actual petroleum prices by enacting a tax on gasoline.
More information on the need for universal health coverage:
The MA group Health Care for All works toward a single payer system.
PNHP's statement on the need for such coverage.
Write your congressmen, local newspapers, and call in to talk radio.