HealthFail August 13, 2009 – Posted in: Aberrant Normalcy
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: if you commit a crime, you are guaranteed a lawyer. If you get cancer, you are not guaranteed a doctor. Since when did criminals have more rights than the sick?
There is this big fear of “socialized medicine,” as if the Red Menace looms just over the horizon. And yet we already have socialized police, socialized fire services, even socialized libraries. All of these are paid for by your taxes. And no one suggests that the police are part of a communist plot to take over America. Imagine if there was a fire in your house, and the fire department demanded you show proof of fire insurance coverage before attending to your burning home.
And on the issue of rationing of health care. The argument is that if 40 million more people enter the system, care will have to be “rationed” because the system cannot handle the increased load. I call bullshit. Firstly, the system is ALREADY rationed. Doctors have full-time employees whose job it is to sit on hold with insurance companies to get approval for procedures. The insurance companies purposely make the caller wait up to one hour on the phone per procedure in order to slow down the number of people receiving it. They do this to save money. Get rid of that stupid process, and you increase the efficiency of the system ten-fold. Secondly, which is worse? A system that might be busier, or a system that fails for the 40 million uninsured?
There are no death panels. Lead Republicans are lying through their teeth because they are afraid of losing their campaign contributions from these multi-trillion dollar insurance firms.
Healthcare is a right, not a privilege. 40 million uninsured = HealthFail.
3 Comments
Eric August 13, 2009 - 10:44
Enthusiastic amen.
I love that folks are trying to preserve a system of daily, profit-minded, real-life rationing by invoking the specter of shrewd, dystopian, imaginary rationing.
The mind boggles.
Matthew Kressel August 13, 2009 - 11:00
Right now it’s about who can shout the loudest. But those who are shouting are often the most ill-informed. Yes, it boggles the mind how people could shout with such vitriol to preserve a system that is morally corrupt, fails so many people, and lets individuals get rich at the expense of others health and sometimes life.
jasmin August 15, 2009 - 21:48
It is shocking! It is better in India, where you have round the clock access to healthcare from government and private clinics. Moreover, we don’t have this insurance demon over us, though it is creeping in!In an emergency, all flock to help. Though, I must admit, the healthcare isn’t as sophisticated as in US, still we do get the basic care, which is good enough! There are many charitable hospitals as well, which give free or almost free medicare!The government hospitals give free or low-fee care to the poor, pensioners, disabled, soldiers, govt. employees and their familiesb and freedom fighters. Matthew, suddenly I am feeling great about my country!
ps:I am a dentist in government hospital.