I can’t tell you where or how to activate to help solve this. There are politicians, groups, and activists pushing for this in so many ways. I can tell you when, though.
Now.
@ms-rebelheart your tag said “Wtf is wrong with the world”. It should have said WTF is wrong with America. Universal healthcare exists in almost every other developed nation. I spent six weeks in hospital with my second baby. The most expensive part of it was the car parking and the hot chocolate my family bought me from the cafe everyday. I paid about $80 total for the meds I had to take home. That’s it. I take thousands of dollars of medication for a chronic condition every month. It costs me a couple of hundred bucks. Our pharmaceutical benefit scheme picks up the rest. Nothing about the system in the US makes sense.
@my-wanton-woman let me amend that – WTF is wrong with America.
That is awesome about your baby experience. I had excellent ones as well. Especially with my twins.
Our coverage is good but not amazing. People wait to long for treatments, and then it’s the “If only we had caught it sooner” bullshit. I speak from family member experience.
I call what we have mostly “sick care” since it is treating rather than a proactive approach. We take our cars in for oil changes and maintenance but we don’t do it for ourselves. I’m lucky that I even have a family doctor. Most people I know don’t – they go into walk in clinics because there simply aren’t enough GPs taking on regular patients. So that means there isn’t any one paying attention to health patterns and histories.
I have found that we also have to be loud and pushy advocates for our care and that of our loved ones. I had to practically chain myself to gurney in a hospital after my oldest tried to kill himself. I had to educate myself so I could argue with doctors to make sure my son got the care he needed. It’s fucking exhausting.
But every day I am grateful it’s no where near as bad as the US.
That man in the story just made me feel so angry. And I know that his story is a drop in the bucket. I guess I said world because I wish we would all take care of each other more – boarders and politics aside.
Then I think about people like Jeff Bezos (or any of the stupidly rich) who have the kind of money that could help change the face of health care in America, but he’s too busy being a fucking douche bag.
So here’s another Christmas wish I have… proper health care for all.
