Universal Healthcare
Thursday, August 30th, 2007I wasn’t going to post anything about this, but I’m here in Canada (home of a National Healthcare System), and I just watched Michael Moore’s documentary, Sicko.
I’m a mentor in the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program. While out at the park with my little brother, he got into an accident. He crashed his bike and was hurt. Many people around quickly jumped to his aide, some going out of their way and even injuring themselves to help him.
An ambulance was called. His mother came, and there was discussion about how they would pay for the ambulance ride. After some discussion, it was agreed that because his health insurance didn’t pay for the ambulance ride, they would drive to their doctor’s office later.
I couldn’t believe this, and I wasn’t going to let this happen. I paid for the ambulance ride, and I went to the hospital with him. How do you put a value on someone’s safety? How do you weigh the risk of $500 versus making sure a child is OK?
If you don’t think that America’s health care system is broken — wake up.
When Jodi lived in France, and I in Barcelona — when we got sick, we simply went to the hospital, or went to the doctor. We laughed at Jodi’s roommate who could never find out how to pay for one of her emergency hospital visits (she never did). Why is that so hard for us Americans to do?
If 5 people can jump to the aide of one little boy, why can’t we all jump to the aide of 47 million Americans that can’t afford basic health insurance?
