Oh Canada!

Today I am shedding some "lyte" on accessibility.  A friend of mine recently had some surgery and received a pretty scary diagnosis.  Not "Get your affairs in order" scary, but scary nonetheless.  Now, my friend has already had to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills and lost her home to foreclosure, so this diagnosis could spell total financial ruin, but it won't because she has Medicare and private health insurance.

When we went to start her treatment, the first person we met with was the financial manager.  She took one look at my friend's file and said, "You have nothing to worry about, what your private insurance won't cover, Medicare will."  We had to ask what happens when someone has either a) lousy insurance or b) no coverage.  She said they work out a payment plan.  Yeah, like a "100 year mortgage" payment plan.

The argument against the public option on healthcare is that care will be rationed and "some government bureaucrat" will come between you and your doctor.  But right now, care is rationed according to your ability to pay, and who would you rather have between you and your doctor, a salaried government employee or a private insurance employee who gets a bonus for denying you coverage?

If those arguments don't work, they throw out the "raise your taxes" scare.  Right now, you are already paying out the nose for healthcare.  Whether you call it taxes or insurance premiums, you're paying.  And I would choose to have an affordable public option and higher taxes with everybody covered, versus lower taxes, constantly higher premiums, and 50 million uninsured.

Then you'll hear the horror stories about care in Canada, Britain, and other countries.  Let's take on Canada.  Canadians have virtually the same lifestyle habits as Americans.  They trend overweight and sedentary, so it is a real apples to apples comparison.  Guess what?  Canadians enjoy a longer lifespan and lower infant mortality rates, and that's with their socialized, rationed, healthcare.

And make no mistake, we don't have healthcare in this country.  We have a medical management system.  Because our medical industry is for profit, there is no incentive to help Americans achieve good health, because healthy people don't visit the doctor as often, take a lot of prescribed medicine, or need frequent lab tests.  There is no profit in good health, only in managed poor health, and if you can afford it, you'll get the best there is.  And if you can't?  We'll work out a payment plan.