Feeling sick

Here is something to chew on. For the fourth time in 3 months I am back at the emergency room. First, this is a great hospital and the crew all seems very qualified. That is not the reason I am back here. What is interesting to me is that every time I have been here it has been because I actually needed to see a doctor pronto.

Except today. Today I am here for other reasons.

What is fascinating is the waiting room for the emergency room is packed. When people discuss the American healthcare system I think they fall into a couple of categories. One is the type of person with full coverage probably associated with a job that offers benefits. Those sorts of jobs are becoming increasingly less possible to find. The second group are people that believe the propaganda that America has the best healthcare system in the world. The final group are people without insurance and they find themselves in need of care. Right now I am surrounded by the last group.

First off, if you have great insurance then emergency room visits are likely hardly happening unless, you know, you have an emergency. What these overly insured people have are doctors who actually answer their phones, or have someone who does. So when they need a quick check up and medication, someone is there to handle it. These people think the system works like this for everyone. They are wrong. Then again, these are the same people who believe that the 700 billion spent on bailing out idiot bankers was justified, but 2 billion to pay people to turn in junk cars for new fuel efficient cars was a waste of government money.

America really does not have a great health care system by almost any standard. The doctors in most triage facilities are grossly overworked and underpaid. The doctors at the top levels are overly paid and pampered for no reason other than the luck of the draw. There is nothing wrong with these doctors, they are there to service the rich and insured. In their secluded little world the healthcare system really does work. They are wrong on a variety of levels.

The poor and uninsured are the ones who are in trouble. Not only have they not been raised to believe that doctors should respond to their needs, they have no expectations of any care. They get seriously sick and have no options for care. Want an example? A month ago I was in the emergency room after being beaten in the streets of Pittsburgh. In the room next to me a man and his wife were told that he needed surgery the next day, otherwise some sort of growth on his intestine could explode and leave him in a deadly spiral. The doctor left them to discuss the options. He, the man in need of surgery, told his wife that he could not afford the time off work. Her argument was that if this growth was to explode, he could die. Sadly, his personal economics won out and they both walked out of the hospital that night.

How did the richest country in the history of the planet get to the point that a necessary surgery is postponed because of finances? There is something seriously wrong with this sort of choice. While the fat cats and paid for politicians are debating public options and Medicare for everyone and anything in between, people are sick and desperate. Our legislators are bought and paid for by big business, the same business lobby that gets tax breaks for the wealthy and the richest corporations. No one lobbies for the poor and unnecessary. This is America.