American Healthcare Problems

Many Americas have expressed concerns about President Obama changing health care in the United States.

Obama has clearly stated that he won't mess around with the coverage people already have, but will add new options for the uninsured and under insured to get better health care, similar to the kind he and his fellow politicians get from the government.

As an obvious supporter of President Obama, I wholeheartedly agree that there is a need to see some radial change in American health care.

Previous posts on this blog have discussed our horrible infant mortality rate, American longevity figures, and our lackluster figures on preventable deaths. All key indicators that our health care system is sick.

But a couple of news stories jumped out at me as I was watching CNN today.

The first story was about how thanks to the economic crisis, people are cutting back on their medications to save money. Against doctor advice people take their pills every other day, or take half doses.

In a survey carried out in Florida, they found that 28% of those surveyed had taken less than the recommended dose of their medicine, up from 17% three years ago. They also discovered many Americans were skipping out on dental care altogether since this often was not covered in basic health care plans.

Another survey referenced in the same article found that in Ohio one in four Americans ended up being hounded by debt collection agencies thanks to unpaid medical bills.

It was not just poor people they looked at in the study. They found that one in four people they surveyed in Florida admitted they were having a hard time with medical expenses, and many were middle class with good incomes and good insurance.

The second story that caught my eye was a cautionary tale of just why proper health care is so important.

A father of three caught strep throat. And figuring that he could ride it out and save some money, decided to avoid seeing a doctor. Unfortunately the strep caused some kind of toxic complication and infection in his body because it went untreated for so long. The complications turned his limbs blue. He ended up going to the emergency room where he ended up being admitted to hospital for two months, spending six weeks of that time in a drug induced coma. Doctors had to amputate his legs to save him.

He is now apparently awaiting some artificial legs. But is having to rely on local fundraisers to help him out because of the expense.

I don't know how right wing Americans can read stories like this and have no sympathy for the people involved.

Sadly too many believe that they are alright, so other people must be doing something wrong to experience problems. But in reality many of the personal bankruptcies we see in America thanks to medical bills, are from middle class people with jobs and health care, and the perception that they had all the protection they needed. The belief that the health care crisis in America is just something that happens to other people.

But the reality is, it can happen to anyone. Sickness combined with a little bad luck and you can lose everything you have worked your whole life for.

Health care shouldn't be like that. Health care is a basic human right. I hate to invoke the rocket to the moon argument here, but the richest nation in the world can seriously do better if we acknowledge the problem, and work to resolve it.

No one is suggesting we just hand over the hospitals to the government (we only do that with banks apparently). But there has to be a way to stop corporations scamming Americans out of so much.

We pay at least double, per capita, for health care than any other nation on the planet. Yet we have a system that breaks people on a daily basis. It's a very serious issue, and it needs to be addressed as a matter of some urgency.

I look forward to seeing President Obama make good on his health care commitments.

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