Health Care

To say this is a provoked post would be a half-truth. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm opinionated. Unfortunately, I am often even opinionated when I have little legitimate research and fact behind my opinion. For example, I am opinionated about health care and health care reform, but I have a small foundation for the facts and a lot of experience behind my opinion.

That is the perfect type of person to react to the amount of press President Obama is getting here in eastern Canada about his proposed health care reform. I've been meaning to add my two cents, in fact. I couldn't resist, though, when I was reminded by one of my favorite people of all time how well I miscommunicate. One of the best friends I've had recently commented on the post about our accident back in June. As always, he communicated how he supports and loves us. And I know that he probably always will.

Unfortunately for me, I just couldn't resist responding to the concept that we were in the Moncton ER for four hours because of some socialist agenda to oppress people through the health system. While I know my friend well enough to know he isn't purporting that, let me clarify a few things about the Moncton ER and go on about my health care reform opinion in case anyone reads my friend's comment (or this post) without my friend's level head.

True, we were in the Moncton ER for four hours, waiting to be seen by a doctor. True, it was frustrating. True, I would have thought that a pregnant woman having been in an accident would be top priority, even if she seemed fine. HOWEVER, it is also true that we were in the ER because we chose to go to the ER seven hours after the accident, just in case we needed to prove to our insurance company that everything was fine. It is true, too, that we told the triage nurse that we had no symptoms whatsoever. Even pregnant Natasha felt nothing abnormal: no spotting, no bruising, and our unborn daughter was certainly very active in the womb! Furthermore, when the triage nurse checked us out, she mentioned we seemed fine, though she highly recommended we wait. When we eventually left, she told us that she understood why we would want to leave and instructed us further.

While we were in the ER, a gentleman came in who seemed to have a second knee in his right leg. He got in immediately. A girl came in, having just had ACL surgery a month before, whose knee gave out less than ten seconds before her championship basketball game (which she won). She waited, but she got in. Another three families with young children waited, but the flushed, spacy child was rushed in. Another man who seemed fine was rushed in ahead of many other people. When he came out almost an hour later, the gratitude on his face and in his talk let me know his life had just been saved. There were about half a dozen people there who easily could have paid for private care, but there were ten others who seemed as though they would have been forgotten, had they been in a position to pay for their trip that night.

As an American living in Canada, I am proud of many things my country does, including engaging this debate. What I see right now in the President's eastern US tour makes me proud to be American. Finally, one of the politicians who's talked about this issue in a campaign is going to try to do something about it! How many more Presidents could we go through without seeing some action? People are finally seeing a leader lead on this issue, and we're all reacting. No matter your particular leaning politically or on this issue, I don't think anyone can say we've seen this type of initiative in health care in the US in my life time (almost 30 years).

As for this issue, I stand in strong support of President Obama's reforms, not just because I'm a Democrat. I support these reforms because it is an initiative that is for the people. I'm tired of listening to political banter over health care that seeks so greatly to benefit the government or businesses that people are left in the dust. I'm also tired of fear: fear that we might be forgotten, that we might not get the care we deserve, that we might find ourselves subject to a system that is one step away from Communism.

First, we should know by now that Communism is not the biggest threat for democracy. Actually, the two biggest threats I see to democracy are apathy and blindly following leadership simply because they have titles. Democracy is about a government for the people, by the people. In democratic nations we should all stand up for ourselves, for what we believe, for who we are, for how we think the people at large are best served. To claim dissatisfaction with our nations without taking action is undemocratic and, in my mind, foolish. If we ever lost democracy, ever lost our right to stand up and make a difference, we'd likely long for it. Yet, so few of us take a stand, and when we do, it's often the stand we think we should take because a party leader, religious official, or close relation with the strongest opinions and loudest voice tells us that's what we should think. To say that President Obama is trying to bring on Communism by reforming health care so that people at large can access it without remaining bound by their socio-economic class is a fear-ridden, right-wing agenda that is more concerned with returning to power than to serving the people who give a presidential office its power. (As for people who claim not to care, I dare them to go to a country with another system for a year and see if they miss what we have - to see if they really care about American democracy. We're in such a privileged situation that we actually think we can dismiss everyone who's gone before us to give us this life, pretending that the best way to avoid a flawed system is to ignore it and pretend it doesn't matter.)

Next, wondering whether socialized health care will give us the care we deserve is understandable. It's even understandable that people are afraid of it. The word "socialism" will scare any American who has gone through much social studies; American history is written to scare Americans away from the movement. It's also understandable to be afraid because President Obama's critics like to stress the exceptions rather than the rules. The rule in socialized health care is that we all have access to our doctors, to emergency care, to aid, and so on. Are there times in which we have to wait? Sure. Is health care worth waiting for? Certainly. We waited in Moncton because we were fine. A system that allows people barely in need of care to take a doctor's time when there are three others in great pain or near death still waiting outside is unjust. A first-come-first-serve system benefits people with immediate access to anything, including doctors. Money talks, and right now, Americans with money have great health care. The other Americans, the majority of them, make decisions not even to go to the doctor because they couldn't afford it anyway, and they wouldn't likely receive the same treatment as those living in "Rich White Suburbia." A system in which all people have equal access to health care irrespective of their income or their own perceived superiority (or at least, misconception of what they deserve before others) is simply immoral. Having now experienced two pregnancies, a wife with several health concerns, and several trips to the doctor myself (mostly for routine things) makes me feel relieved that I'm in a country with a system that allows me ready access to medical care. We have good doctors, wonderful access to health care, and my money can actually go toward debt reduction, our mortgage, our children, and our future instead of the medical system. Sure, we pay taxes for it, but that's the beauty of it: we all pay into a system that we all benefit from. Sure, we wait for health care, but let's get a reality check. The longest I've ever had to wait is four hours, and that's because we didn't really need to be there, we didn't go by ambulance, and we didn't push back as we would have if we would have been in direr circumstances. (Actually "socialized medicine" didn't do it to us. "Socialized medicine" is a non-entity, firstly, and secondly, we're not a victim if we can drive right in and check in with a nurse.) There are women and men in many countries who have to walk for hours, even days, for health care and end up waiting many more days for adequate care and attention. There are other countries in which many people don't even bother trying to find medical assistance; it's moot. Here in North America where we have it so good, socialized health care will actually be a welcome change for the good of everyone.

Finally, we cannot think that we'll be forgotten in the masses just because health care is socialized/government-run now. None of us can know precisely how our relationships with our doctors, insurance companies, and health care providers would change in a move from privatized health care to socialized health care. Neither can we allow the unknown to reinforce a picture we've conjured in our minds of our families sitting at home suffering with no one to help. As an American who started in that health plan who has lived in Canada for ten years in this health plan, I see little difference in my personal interactions with health care personnel. I have always received personal attention, helpful tips and prescriptions, adequate insurance coverage, and I've never had to sit at home hoping my sickness will improve on its own because my decision is light bill vs. medical bill this month. The fears I hear and see publicized among some Americans right now sells the wrong people short. Some of us Americans rail against President Obama, but our statements assume that in a new system, our doctors will stop caring, hospitals will stop admitting, emergency officials will stop treating, and insurance companies will stop paying. Would we say any of that to the people behind those titles? No. We wouldn't because we know those people, and we know they won't stop caring for us.

Health care reform is about a system that cannot continue, not people who, we know, care for us very well. Is socialized health care perfect? By no means! Canada, for example, has been trying to work out the kinks in this system since it was implemented. Every year it gets better, though. Every year the exceptions to the rule become less frequent, and there is light at the end of this tunnel. Since I suspect there will be many people who are exceptions to the health care rule that may respond to this post, let me give an example of why socialized health care is a good thing.

Early this afternoon, while applying a coat of paint to the walls in our kitchen, I listened to a broadcast on the CBC. A health expert based at Dalhousie University mentioned that the government had ordered 68,000,000 doses of a vaccine for H1N1, enough for Canadians to have two doses each, if necessary. Since I live in the province in which the latest outbreak occurred (only a two hours' drive from my house), also the province with the most reported cases, and since fall is coming, it feels good to know that my decision whether or not to be inoculated is about the vaccine, not about money. It's about what's in this vaccine, not about our system. Though our budget is very tight and we're climbing very slowly towards financial health, we can afford this vaccine, should we choose to have it, as much as anyone else who reads this blog - or even Steve Jobs, whose company designed this computer. It's a level playing field, and I like it.

LE

Long Days

What is it about summer anyway? We so look forward to it, and it comes. We pack our days full of so much, and we love it! The days are long...not just outside, but inside, too. Why do we run around so much in the summer and find it refreshing, when doing half the running around in the winter is exhausting? Is there a scientific explanation for this? There should be. Someone smarter than me, what is it?

(Oh, and try my new find.)

LE