Everyone – EVERYONE – will eventually have some kind of healthcare issue. No matter how healthy you are today, no matter how well you take care of yourself, no matter how good you feel or how invincible you think you are, there will come a time when you will need some sort of medical attention. And so will the people you love.
It is not a question of what some people did wrong. Nothing is that easy. And once someone gets sick, no matter the cause, it doesn’t matter, they still need care. You can’t assess blame and expect someone to therefore be cut out of the system or penalized with greater costs. You can say someone should never have smoked. Lovely. That’s still your uncle that has cancer. You can say somebody should have exercised more and eaten less. So very helpful. They still have diabetes or cancer or arthritis or one of a thousand other conditions that could eventually lead to disability and death. Are you really willing to say “tough cookies, sweetie” and watch them die?
We have to fundamentally agree that we’re all in this together, and commit to taking care of each other as best we can. That means providing care when people get sick, regardless of what circumstances contributed to getting them there.
And if you think you’re guaranteed protection with your current insurance, think again. You can lose that great coverage in the blink of an eye, without having to do a damn thing yourself. The company you work for can decide not to contribute to the cost. They can go out of business. They can decide they don’t need you anymore, or you’re not worth your cost. Or maybe you would like to open your own business. You’ll be flying solo once that COBRA coverage runs out. Before the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”), if you lost your insurance for any reason, it was open season on you. IF you could get coverage (no nasty pre-conditions, no gaps in between policies), the price skyrocketed. How much of your income do you want to divert from your mortgage/rent, or vacations, or retirement?
The ACA was supposed to be the first step in reforming the way we do business in the healthcare and insurance realm. There is so much reform needed. You know how you discover that need? Get sick. Throw in any job or insurance changes, and you’ll soon find out just how dysfunctional the system is. Doctors are having to juggle treatment options based on which insurance plan you have. Extreme kudos to those that manage to keep on top of all that information, but I would really rather their time and energy be spent on what will help me get better, not what specific insurance plan covers which drug, and which words need to be included in the description to get approval for surgery or p.t. or diagnostic tool. And God forbid your doctor doesn’t pay attention to such things – you’ll either pay thousands more for your care, or not get that care in the first place.
It’s time to set aside the prejudices and smugness about who deserves what care and pitch in. Fight for healthcare access for all. Fight for protection for pre-existing conditions, but don’t stop there. There are so many wonderful advances in healthcare these days, but there are so many obstacles to getting those advances to the people that need them.
People like to tout their religious beliefs in this country. Time to put actions with those beliefs. Let’s actually take care of each other. Support healthcare for all, and vote for candidates that will actually work for better health for everyone. Right now that means voting for Democrats. The Republican Party has made it their mission to destroy any form of healthcare assistance (don’t think for one minute that Social Security or Medicare is safe). And if you think any other party has a chance to win, get over that thought right now. That’s one of those lovey ideas in theory, but disastrous in practice. Maybe the parties will change over time, maybe the system will be saner. But for now, the stakes are too high to play with your vote.
Vote for a healthy America. Make your vote count. Vote for the Democrats.