The Horror of Healthcare in America

[babylonsister]

The Horror of Healthcare in America

by Donna Smith

It was late Thursday evening after an especially difficult day. I sat at my computer screen as I often do late into the night processing my rage and my determination into some fashion of an essay to fight for healthcare for all in this great nation.

I was especially upset this night. It was a day when the abrupt reality of the difficult road ahead to earn equal access to care for all was especially stark for me. Powerful people can be dismissive of people like you and like me. And while they may listen when listening seems valuable within their agenda, real caring and real political courage are very rare indeed.

I reached over to the coffee table for a sip of the diet soda everyone tells me not to drink so much, and my hand froze. I tried to move it. No matter what I did, my hand stayed frozen in the grotesque grip with my thumb and my index finger wedged together and my other fingers dangling without form - my hand was paralyzed. My arm felt strangely distant. My brain could not force movement.

Within seconds as I stared helplessly at my right hand, I ran through the calculations - should I call my husband? What if this is the beginning of a stroke? If I stand to walk across the room, do my legs still work? Should I call 911? What if I need tests? What if I have to pay a co-pay? What is our bank balance and when do I next need to pay rent and the rest of the bills? What if I have to miss work, right now when missing work would not be OK at all? I don't want to be a cause for raised insurance rates for my employer or my fellow employees - and I don't want my bosses running calculations on my worth based on a paralyzed hand in the night. What if, what if, what if...

My husband and I have been through this battleground before, and we have been scarred by it forever but we learned. We learned it might be better to risk death than re-enter the fray. It's a strange form of post traumatic stress at the hands of my healthcare system. Odd stuff.

I waited. After what seemed an endless few minutes, my hand just started to work again. All at once. I was so grateful. Not that my hand worked, mind you. I was grateful I had not started in motion the horror of the healthcare system in this nation for me and the inevitable bills that would have followed. I was grateful I cheated the cycle for now even if I will never know what caused that temporary paralysis. At least not until the next time, if there is one, and maybe not until it manifests in a very different way.

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/18

[lebkuchen]

1. The US health care system is straight out of Victorian England

and so is our economy. Dickens' "Bleak House" is now upon us, thanks to the GOP.

[juno jones]

2. I know of which she speaks

I have been denied pain-killing medicine after surgery by doctors who assumed that since I was low-income and uninsured I must be more prone to drug addiction than more wealthy types.

In one spectacular mistake, hoping to avoid a UTI similar to the one that caused the above surgery, I went in for anti-biotics. Instead of being given the standard traetment I was given the cheapest availible drug (sulfa based) which nearly killed me that nite. When I fianally got to the emergency room the next morning, I had a fever of 108 and every muscle in my body was cramped in seizure. Refused from being admitted to the hospital, I was given another anti-biotic (thankfully the standard which 99% of UTIs are treated with, a mere $30 more than the pills given to me before) and sent home. I was too sick to work for 6 weeks after, most of it with a raging fever and convulsive cramping of my limbs. Fortunately, I remember little of this and my husband was able to care for me when he was home. My employer was also understanding enough to hold my job open for me so at least I wasn't unemployed because of a medical mistake. I later found out that a relatively large number of people are allergic to sulfa and that it's rarely given anymore. Except to the poor.

PSTD at the hands of the healthcare system...well, they've certainly cured me of imposing my uninsured ass on them. There seems to be three tiers of treatment in this country: The highest level is the 'gold standard' insurance- anything you want, need, etc is no problem, the middle, average insurance where at least you don't get judged for being without and get some care, and without- where doctors can impose their own prejudices on your case and deny treatment and medication according to their (and the hospital's) percieved value of your life.

Universal Healthcare NOW!

[Hawkowl]

8. Are you pursuing legal action?

I strongly encourage you to consult an attorney and pursue a malpractice/negligence lawsuit. Attorneys usually take these cases on a contingency basis.

[juno jones]

11. No. I wish I had and

I probably should have, but this was 20 years ago and I was not savvy enough nor organized enough at the time to document it. Several people who would be witnesses are now deceased or have disappeared completely from my life.

I was just happy to escape with my life in both cases and I really don't want anybody else to endure what I had to just because some doctor or hospital has a predjudice against those who are poor and uninsured.

As long as we have a tiered system that allows sub-standard care for the uninsured because they are uninsured we will still have these problems. UHC would be a great leveler. It might not remove all predjudices but it will be harder to doctors and staff to discriminate/withhold proper treatment according to insurance coverage and economic criteria.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. I haven't had health insurance since 2003

and yes, it scares the hell out of me.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. For Christ Sakes

Boy do I relate. I have a friend who works for Wal Mart that has been having seizures and they don't know what has caused them. This friend had a lot of personal time, sick leave, and even anuual leave. He was out over 6 weeks. Battery of tests still no cause. They put my friend on medication to stop the seizures. Everyday even though the new my friend was sick my friend still had to call in everyday. My friend got a form to have the doctor fill out which the doctor did. Finally my friend went back to work. Even after all this they gave my friends points on my friends record. My friend did everything that was required and still got points because being sick. Now my friend has to get another form filled out incase the seizures comes back. Which they may. My friend is the kind of person that never takes off from work. Only vacation time. They always call for my friend to change shifts because the others won't and my friend never gives them a hard time about it. My friend works in an office but will go out on the floor to help others out. This is how Wal Mart treats their loyal employees.

[cpamomfromtexas]

7. You should hear how American Airlines treats its Pilots

It's unbelievable. They have to have doctors notes to take sick leave.

They can be trusted with aircraft worth hundreds of millions and lots of lives, but need a doctors note like a kid missing school.

Others with more serious illnesses missing longer times are harrassed mercilessly.

That's just one of the reasons there will be a strike soon.

[MaraJade]

9. My sister was turned away from a hospital ER with

a blood clot that nearly killed her. You see, after her job was outsourced to India, she lost her
healthcare, got a minimum wage part time job with no benefits, and she has no healthcare.

Without healthcare, she gets no treatment.

If it wasn't for compassionate doctor at a local free clinic she would have died.

But we must be "patient," and wait for healthcare reform that is approved by the National Hospital
Association and the AMA. We don't want to scare anyone over there or make them feel uncomfortable, nor
do we want to alienate the healthcare insurance companies. After all, they need to be given time to
have their input into the process (namely, write all of the new national healthcare laws).


Sheesh! :eyes:

[bemildred]

5. We don't have health care, we have fake insurance care. nt

[SharonAnn]

13. Remember, insurance is about making money for the insurer, not providing health care to you.

[chill_wind]

6. "We learned it might be better to risk death than re-enter the fray."

A terrifying place we've arrived to, and a calculation I don't doubt is being made by more and more struggling Americans all the time right now.


K & R.

[Enthusiast]

10. Just like everything else

when corporations have absolute control. Profit rules, end of story. This is particularly true of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. If Obama challenges their control there will be hell to pay.

These corporations have an army of spokesmen. Limbaugh goes on and on about the poor performance of socialized medicine. His listeners believe the citizens of other countrys are suffering terribly due to poor and untimely care. But healthcare has reached such a crisis here that many will no longer listen to corporate talking points.

[dcsmart]

12. DSA Joins Health Care Alliance

DSA has joined the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care (LCGHC). The Leadership Conference is a clearinghouse and umbrella coordinating organization for groups promoting comprehensive reform legislation to guarantee health care for all Americans. The Leadership Conference helps member organizations utilize their respective resources, capacity and constituencies to educate, advocate and agitate to pass H.R. 676, the National Health Insurance Act/Expanded and Improved Medicare for All.

H.R. 676, introduced by Representative John Conyers is the focus of single payer healthcare reform in the United States. DSA supported single payer health care 15 years ago when health care dominated the political agenda; and now with reform possible in this new administration, it's the perfect time to again urge those who will lead our country and our states to support the best plan for achieving genuine national health care. Single payer national health care is an important part of DSA's Economic Justice Agenda.

MORE INFO
http://www.dsausa.org/NewsFromDSA/2009/08jan2009.htm

http://www.pdamerica.org/leadership/

MORE ON HEALTH CARE
http://timetofight.tumblr.com/

[demodonkey]

14. I've been sick for over a week... may have a CDC issue (!) but no insurance /no $ to go to a doctor.

I became violently ill after eating Lance Peanut Butter crackers. Yes, made with the same kind of Peanut Butter paste that has been recalled for salmonella, but I hadn't heard about it yet then. I bought a package of Lance Toast-Chee Crackers on Sunday night a week ago. Ate two (12 crackers) on Monday late afternoon. About 11:30 PM I was hit with violent nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, chills, etc. Very much like a food poisoning only I ate nothing that day associated with food poisoning.

I called the store and the grocery manager said to return the uneaten crackers for a refund and they will send them somewhere. (I didn't feel a high confidence level that anything would really be done, though.)

I HAVE LITTLE INCOME & NO HEALTH INSURANCE SO I CAN'T AFFORD TO GO TO THE DOCTOR OR EMERGENCY ROOM. At this point I think I will be OK, and like Donna Smith I would rather be dead than have more unpaid bills. That said, I would like (for the public's sake) to at least be tested if such a thing is possible. My state Dept. of Health Website says there is a fingerprint to the bacteria that is causing this outbreak. If Lance crackers in Western PA are infected and made me sick, the state Dept of Health and the Center for Disease Control should know so this can be added to the data.

This is another reason why the USA needs single payer healthcare. If I am one of the people who was poisoned, this is a public health issue and my case should be documented. I can't afford to go to the doctor or ER at my own expense, but if I had health coverage I would have gone for care early last week and if I have this salmonella it would be documented by now.

Single payer healthcare for all. We can't afford NOT to do this.