Having been in Pennsylvania since Sunday, I've had quite a lot of time to sit around and do nothing. I finished a book, I started memorizing a monologue... I caught up on Top Chef. I have also thought quite seriously about a hot topic in the news right now: Healthcare. I'm going to say this first, just so you can get where I'm coming from. My mother, who is just 50, has been in and out of hospitals for 30 years. My parents have filed bankruptcy twice within that time. After at least 6 major surgeries on her knee, my mother is STILL in tremendous pain. She is constantly trying to battle through it with concoctions of various pain meds, and overall, not succeeding. My mom is in bed most days, unable to walk. It's unfair that she has had to spend half of her life and all of mine suffering. It's also unfair that we have had to fight insurance companies EVERY TIME.
The thing is, my parents pay for their insurance. My dad is fortunate enough to receive a plan from his company, but they still pay each month for coverage. That coverage is SHIT and this is why we need a change. Even in paying a monthly rate, my parents still have hardly anything to show for it. It's definitely more than me, as I have nothing, but I think there is where the issue lies. In healthcare providers. No one gives two shits about you getting well, they care about the money. When I see people posting things about healthcare reform saying, "Why should I have to pay for someone else's free healthcare?" I say, "You are a cold ass son of a bitch." Here's why in long form. We get taxed, no matter what. Everyone does. I hardly make $15,000 a year, and I'm getting taxed. But think of this: Only .2 percent of Germany's legal residents are uninsured, compared with nearly 18 percent of Americans who have no coverage, yet very little tax money goes into their system. The lion's share comes, as in America, from premiums paid by workers and employers to insurance companies. You alone aren't paying for someone else's free health care. Everyone is paying for health care. And the more you make, the more you pay. The idea is that everybody's in it together, and nobody should be without health insurance. But say this reform does use my tax dollars but uses them for healthcare as opposed to paying government officials, I have no problem with that. If my taxes are providing an opportunity for people, including myself, to be able to go and get help when they're ill, that's fine by me. If my tax dollars will someday save my ass or get me a flu shot, I'm willing to pay for it.
Right now, I can't afford to pay a health insurance provider straight out of pocket, but if the government provides that option for me, it makes sense for the moment and I would take it. Of course when I can afford something else, it will be great to be able to do that. But for someone in my position, I'm willing to accept what's going on. I think a reform is a good idea, and I don't know how it's going to happen, but I do hope that we can try and make health care accessible. We are so far behind other countries. And maybe it doesn't work. I know in Canada they have a very long wait before they can be seen for non-emergencies, but there has to be a balance. There has to be a country that can be a model for us. For once, I hope we can think about the well being of our country's citizens, put all of our pride and party favoritism aside and figure something out. Something that works.
I just want to have the ability to go a doctor. Or more importantly to a dentist. My wisdom teeth are killing me!
