We all should have fountains

Whatever happened to healthcare in the United States of America?

I have an angle here, an edge, a motive. My starting point is a profound belief that a society is judged not by it’s military might, it’s technological achievements or it’s presence on the World stage; no, it is judged by how it cares for it’s Seniors, it’s children and it’s sick.

On all three of those tests the USA falls woefully short of accepted standards in the developed world. Baby Boomers will feel the full force of the first, the second is being felt by High School students all over this nation, with Many Children Left Far Behind, but here I want to address the care of the sick.

I am angry tonight. Angry that, as a father and husband I have to make choices about whether or not my 5 year old step-daughter gets the drug her Doctor prescribed, and if so, what we have to go without to afford it.

Natalie has a Staph. infection. Nothing serious, but her allergy to penicillin requires an alternative drug. The one prescribed is an antibiotic that isn’t on the Formulary of her Insurance company (Aetna). So it’s going to cost $80, on top of the $20 co-pay to see the Doctor. That is $100 to sort out a boil on her cute butt!!

Natalie is lucky. She will get her meds, and insurance will meet part of the bill. An estimated 47 million people in this country are not so lucky. They rely on charity, or go untreated. It’s that simple. 20% of the population of the USA, in 2007, have little or not access to effective healthcare. I don’t want to hear about the *waiting lists* in countries with Universal Healthcare systems, or the cost to taxpayers of maintaining those systems. Ask people here with no coverage how long the waiting lists are! Ask my wife, who badly needs surgery, how long is the waiting list. Her Insurance company have decided that *medical necessity hasn’t been established*, despite a pain management doctor, a primary healthcare physician and two plastic surgeons saying that it has!

So, despite approximately $650 per month being paid to cover my wife and her three children, they still either can’t get the treatment they need, or have to pay through the nose for it. Jodie earns about thirty four thousand a year. Those premiums add up to $7800. That is around 23% of her gross income. On top of that are all the co-pays, which could be nothing, or could be many hundreds of dollars a year.

Did I tell you about the fountains in St Francis Hospital, Tulsa?

The building is magnificent …. Marble and fountains in every foyer, beautiful plantings and comfortable chairs. The only problem is that up to 25% of the city population can’t actually be treated there …. They can’t afford it.

Jodie has three children, born in ’98, ’01 and ’03. The first cost her about $40, the 2^nd about $1500 and the third about $4000. These were her out-of-pocket expenses, the only difference was that the third was a caesarian section. What happened between ’98 and ’01? And why, with citizens paying those kinds of additional contributions, is infant mortality among the highest in the developed world.

How is this society in a position to criticize a young woman for attempting to flush a baby down a McDonalds toilet, when it might cost her anything up to $4000 to have the baby in a medically accepted manner? Ok, I accept the example is extreme, and the young woman really should have known better; after all, she had had the benefit of twelve or thirteen years schooling!

I am not one of those Europeans who comes over here and simply criticizes. I do not wish to see the USA emulate a British way of life at all. But it is useful to draw the odd comparasion here and there. To not do so is to be blinkered and insular.

In the UK, there is Universal Healthcare, free at the point of delivery. It’s not perfect, and it’s under strain. Some charges have crept in but the principle remains the same. The Brits pay for this in two ways. Employees contribute around10% of gross up to a threshold, and employers pay about the same, with no cap. Put simply, less than 20% of payroll fully funds healthcare, pensions and unemployment benefit. The cover is available free, to all.

As I said, it isn’t perfect, but it’s considerably cheaper than healthcare here in the US, and 100% inclusive.

So why are Americans afraid of *Socialised Healthcare*? I simply fail to understand why y’all are prepared to pay through the nose for inferior products, and then hear folk claim you have the world’s best healthcare. No, you don’t, and you don’t even come close.

Did I tell you about the fountains?

You have insurance companies deciding treatment. Do they have your best interests at heart? You have drug companies literally spending billions in advertising to the public (who can’t actually buy the product), all in an attempt to pressurize a doctor to prescribe the latest wonder-drug. It is unethical, and in many countries is simply unlawful. Do the citizens of Germany, France, Switzerland, UK etc ….. appear to be suffering because Glaxo-SmithKline are unable to sell them prescription drugs over their bowl of Cornflakes?

The USA has one of the unhealthiest populations in the industrial world, but change? No Siree Bob, it’s the American Way.

In this Race For The White House, is there a single politician who has a costed and thought out proposal to deal with this situation. Is any one of them prepared to say NO to drugs? NO to the insurers, and enough already to the hospital administrators?

Is there a politician who has the guts to actually do the right thing, not the expedient thing, or the politically possible thing. Is there a man or woman who is brave enough to dream? Dream of an America where the sick are treated, the Seniors and Veterans adequately cared for, and the children taught?

And not just to dream, to get up of his ass and say so. Say so on TV, say so on the stump, say so from Maine to California. Brave enough to be a Democrat yet say Arnie is trying to do the right thing. Brave enough to be a Republican and say we need to move trillions from defense, and spend it on people? (actually, that last is asking a bit much).

Is any man jack of them actually concerned about the USA, and the welfare of it’s people, or do they all just want to look good on Face The Nation. They will indeed face the Nation soon enough. Let us hope for the sake of the candidates that their lack of clothing is not visible to all.

Or perhaps one of them will step up, and be the Emperor in a full dress suit.