National Healthcare NOW!There is no obstacle greater to the mental and emotional well being of the average American than his or her health, especially as each of us ages. To someone facing a catastrophic illness, every day is filled with soul-destroying worry and stress. Add children and the concern of childhood illness, compound that with not having insurance and our society is crippled with a cycle of stress related illness brought on by anxiety and helplessness. I have been in that situation. I worked, but I was in the middle of a divorce, from a man that saddled me with an incredible financial burden. I became terribly ill with endometriosis. I had to have a complete hysterectomy at the age of 34. Still working, I had to go through the humiliation of Medicaid, which initially turned me down, but eventually covered a portion of the two operations. My credit was decimated, my financial burden was staggering, and due to my illness, I lost my job. There is no way to describe the total and complete enveloping of despair that followed. I was despondent due to the changes in my body, my living situation, my failed marriage, and my joblessness. I actually considered giving up custody of my two boys because my ex-husband was doing so much better financially than me. An abusive alcoholic. That’s how bad it was. That’s what happens when you have no insurance.
Our country has got to have a national health care plan. This can no longer be sidelined. Our citizens’ health is the absolute most important concern. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. The collective exhale would be heard around the world. My idea is simple. We do not need to reinvent the wheel.
1.A bipartisan, interracial, intercultural committee decides which countries have similar attributes to the US – percentage of certain diseases, demographics, economies, or other indicators, which would demonstrate a workable system. A standard questionnaire would be created.
2.The same committee then organizes as many groups of people to research each country’s system. These people can be doctors, nurses, citizens, technicians, patients, and clerks. It would have to be a well-rounded group that would be able to exercise individual knowledge to select areas. There would be a required minimum number of hours that each group collects relevant research information formulating a “brief” to be shared among the team to ensure that each has a complete understanding of their country’s system before embarking on their fact finding mission.
3.Each research group would then go their assigned country and collect data based on the committee’s questionnaire. Doctors, nurses, lab workers, hospital administration, orderlies, patients, citizens would all be interviewed to determine the pros and cons of their system. The questionnaire would be extremely factual but there would have to be opinion options as well – how does the average citizen feel about their system? What would they change? What ideas do they have to make it better? What are necessary/unnecessary trademarks of their system?
4.Once sufficient data has been collected, the groups convene. A meeting would then take place where “leaders” (appointed by vote within the group) presents their findings to the other groups.
The data is submitted to the committee, which compiles the data based on a program that organizes the questionnaires (much like a survey). All opinions are included with the final compilation of data in an appendix.
5.This data should show the best possible system for our country. The data should then be presented to congress.
6.The entire process should take less than a year.
Too simplistic? Not taking into consideration the healthcare “business”, drug industry, and medical industry? I say, it is time to stop overcomplicating and throwing out ridiculous, false analogies. Our country will not turn into France or Germany (surprising that the two countries that refused to go along with us in our preemptive war are the ones held up as the example of what not to be!). I was in England in 1987. In the middle of the night I had an ovarian cyst rupture and burst, spilling toxins into my abdomen. I was taken to hospital. I filled in my critical information (name address age etc) three times. I was in the hospital for a week. I had excellent care. Upon discharge, I was handed a plastic bag with assorted medicines. I asked where I went to pay my bill. The woman looked at me and said “there’s no charge.” Can you imagine? Can you even fathom writing your information down three times – without having to pull out endless paperwork and cards? Can you even begin to grasp the relief I felt as a twenty something girl in a foreign country already struggling, not to have to deal with a bill I knew I couldn’t pay? Initially, I believe we would have a flood of people going in to get healthcare, but once people realized that this was going to exist, like public education or libraries, it would fall off. People would make maintenance appointments. People would have “well checks”, because the fear of finding out that you are not so well is the number one reason people don’t maintain. Not just because it is so mind-numbingly awful emotionally to discover that something might be wrong with you and you might be sick for a while and your kids and family will be affected, but primarily because the cost is insurmountable. And dealing with insurance companies who suddenly decide that whatever is wrong with you is the thing they don’t cover. Why is a catastrophic illness the number one reason middle class families file bankruptcy? Isn’t that just categorically wrong to anyone? Every other industrialized nation in the world cares for the health of its citizens. Let that sink in. Every other country. Our health should not be part of the market. It shouldn’t be part of the equation as to whether you entire world will come crashing down around you should you become sick. Why do businesses have to maintain the health of their workers? Why do small businesses have to carry such an incredible burden? Or carry the shame should they not be able to provide that insurance? Does this make sense to anyone? I won’t bring up the obvious hypocrisy of carrying on a multi-billion dollar war yet flatly refusing to care of the health of our own citizens. Simply absurd. What is so amazing is how long people have ignored that our government and the big businesses that run it would become a lot more environmentally conscious if they had to pay the tab for making us sick with their substandard regulations on pollution. This is an idea that might not be paper clips or sliced bread, but it would change everything in our country. Every aspect of our lives will be changed when we finally have a government that says, yes! You matter. Your health and well-being matters. I believe in the dream of that happening. I believe it is what the people of this country yearn for. Life is stressful enough, don’t you think?
Our country has got to have a national health care plan. This can no longer be sidelined. Our citizens’ health is the absolute most important concern. A healthy workforce is a productive workforce. The collective exhale would be heard around the world. My idea is simple. We do not need to reinvent the wheel.
1.A bipartisan, interracial, intercultural committee decides which countries have similar attributes to the US – percentage of certain diseases, demographics, economies, or other indicators, which would demonstrate a workable system. A standard questionnaire would be created.
2.The same committee then organizes as many groups of people to research each country’s system. These people can be doctors, nurses, citizens, technicians, patients, and clerks. It would have to be a well-rounded group that would be able to exercise individual knowledge to select areas. There would be a required minimum number of hours that each group collects relevant research information formulating a “brief” to be shared among the team to ensure that each has a complete understanding of their country’s system before embarking on their fact finding mission.
3.Each research group would then go their assigned country and collect data based on the committee’s questionnaire. Doctors, nurses, lab workers, hospital administration, orderlies, patients, citizens would all be interviewed to determine the pros and cons of their system. The questionnaire would be extremely factual but there would have to be opinion options as well – how does the average citizen feel about their system? What would they change? What ideas do they have to make it better? What are necessary/unnecessary trademarks of their system?
4.Once sufficient data has been collected, the groups convene. A meeting would then take place where “leaders” (appointed by vote within the group) presents their findings to the other groups.
The data is submitted to the committee, which compiles the data based on a program that organizes the questionnaires (much like a survey). All opinions are included with the final compilation of data in an appendix.
5.This data should show the best possible system for our country. The data should then be presented to congress.
6.The entire process should take less than a year.
Too simplistic? Not taking into consideration the healthcare “business”, drug industry, and medical industry? I say, it is time to stop overcomplicating and throwing out ridiculous, false analogies. Our country will not turn into France or Germany (surprising that the two countries that refused to go along with us in our preemptive war are the ones held up as the example of what not to be!). I was in England in 1987. In the middle of the night I had an ovarian cyst rupture and burst, spilling toxins into my abdomen. I was taken to hospital. I filled in my critical information (name address age etc) three times. I was in the hospital for a week. I had excellent care. Upon discharge, I was handed a plastic bag with assorted medicines. I asked where I went to pay my bill. The woman looked at me and said “there’s no charge.” Can you imagine? Can you even fathom writing your information down three times – without having to pull out endless paperwork and cards? Can you even begin to grasp the relief I felt as a twenty something girl in a foreign country already struggling, not to have to deal with a bill I knew I couldn’t pay? Initially, I believe we would have a flood of people going in to get healthcare, but once people realized that this was going to exist, like public education or libraries, it would fall off. People would make maintenance appointments. People would have “well checks”, because the fear of finding out that you are not so well is the number one reason people don’t maintain. Not just because it is so mind-numbingly awful emotionally to discover that something might be wrong with you and you might be sick for a while and your kids and family will be affected, but primarily because the cost is insurmountable. And dealing with insurance companies who suddenly decide that whatever is wrong with you is the thing they don’t cover. Why is a catastrophic illness the number one reason middle class families file bankruptcy? Isn’t that just categorically wrong to anyone? Every other industrialized nation in the world cares for the health of its citizens. Let that sink in. Every other country. Our health should not be part of the market. It shouldn’t be part of the equation as to whether you entire world will come crashing down around you should you become sick. Why do businesses have to maintain the health of their workers? Why do small businesses have to carry such an incredible burden? Or carry the shame should they not be able to provide that insurance? Does this make sense to anyone? I won’t bring up the obvious hypocrisy of carrying on a multi-billion dollar war yet flatly refusing to care of the health of our own citizens. Simply absurd. What is so amazing is how long people have ignored that our government and the big businesses that run it would become a lot more environmentally conscious if they had to pay the tab for making us sick with their substandard regulations on pollution. This is an idea that might not be paper clips or sliced bread, but it would change everything in our country. Every aspect of our lives will be changed when we finally have a government that says, yes! You matter. Your health and well-being matters. I believe in the dream of that happening. I believe it is what the people of this country yearn for. Life is stressful enough, don’t you think?
Comments