Single payer health care... here we go again....

Since the debate on health care in the US is heating up muchly, and the lies are so great and nefarious, a little incident from today to illustrate what I have been saying for three quarters of a year now.

I was 'ear witness' to a one-sided phone call from the hospital that Peter took while I was there today. It was the third such in the last week and a half. He has to be fit to get the second operation, while they run a catheter down the artery in his leg and will put in three to four stents.

So, ok, Peter hasn't wanted to go back there and put himself through it. And was playing for time, telling her that the antibiotics were still causing him diahrrea, which is true enough, as I know.... unfortunately. So she told him today to stop taking the antibiotics, speak with his GP on Wednesday, and then CALL HER, so she can schedule him ASAP.

Before the call, he had been his stubborn defiant self, and so I had to hang out the bad little brother. And give him some cold hard factoids that he did not want to hear. One of them was, do you KNOW how many uninsured Americans would be grateful to get that treatment and can NOT? ' He said, 'They can have my place...' And me, through gritted teeth, 'Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.' (He gets most of my rants on this topic, btw...)

After the call, he was quiet, and said he would stop the med, and go in.

Now let's go over this again, shall we? He got to choose his doctors. He got excellent care in hospital. He never got a bill. He will not get a bill for the next one. Long wait? They are practically chasing him down to come in and get it the hell done. The only reason it has taken a month is that after you have one of those done, and stents in the arteries around your heart put in is because they want a patient to recover from that before proceeding forward.

There was a co-pay for hospital stays. Pro year they take you for 120 Euros, last I heard, maybe it is somewhat more now. Pro year.

There was an incredible interview on Bill Moyers a few days ago with a CEO of Cigna. And how they smeared Michael Moore's last film 'Sicko'. And a clip of him asking people in the UK how much they were paying, how much did a couple have to pay to get their new-born baby out, where the billing department was, and so on, and everyone was saying 'we didn't pay anything'.

And I found that clip disingenuous. Of course they paid. In the taxes on their salaries. And it is a pretty good percentage of it, and here, the employers also pay into the system as well. Halfsies, so to speak.

But... it also goes to covering the unemployed, the chronically ill, and a small percentage of deadbeats who know how to work the system. (I have always said it isn't perfect...)

And I for one, have always found that I didn't mind paying that tax, because I knew that if something untoward would happen to me, I would be well taken care of. As it turned out, something did, and it was long, painful, and really really bad. But had its' upside.

Because when that happens, you aren't lying in a hospital bed, going nuts about how your are going to pay your rent and your bills, because you still get your basic salary, and that is such a load off your mind, you can concentrate on recovering, and getting out of there as fast as possible. And back to your normal life.

Certainly, there are people who are selfish, and don't care about their fellow human beings. That hasn't changed since Dickens' time, for sure.... He had a lot to say about certain sorts of people who believed that those who were unfortunate brought it on themselves because 'they didn't make an effort', or something like that.

But really.... to think I'm helping to pay for health care for someone less fortunate than me even though I am normally healthy never bothered me in the least.

The FACT is, you get older, and then something gets you. And then you are grateful you paid all that money in because then it is you who are the needy person and getting help.

To close these thoughts... I do not think I ever heard of hospitals calling patients as above and telling them to get off their asses. So I wouldn't call that system negative. Considering there are no bills attached. We both have paid our dues, believe me.

But at least we don't have to be afraid....