Idiots in America
Mar. 30th, 2006 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
queenrileyI got called a socialist the other day.
In class we were talking about health insurance and the like, the fact that the long-term care facility we're training at offers good insurance to full time employees but it's somewhat pricey, that sort of thing. I mentioned "wouldn't it be nice if we were like other industrialized rich nations and had a national health care system?" I received blank looks, so explained further. "National health care... it's where you get sick, you go to the doctor, you get medication, and it's free. Sure it's got some problems, but at least every single person in the nation can get health care when they need it and not have to worry about not being able to pay for it." Looks of understanding and "yeah, that'd be nice!" and then "But don't communists do that? Communists are bad."
My reply? "Actually, the US is one of the few industrialized nations in the world that DOESN'T have a national health care system. Canada, the UK, [not mentioning others as I'm sure some of these people don't even know what or where the UK is...] etc... they all have national systems." The teacher then piped in.
"Yes, but taxes are really high in Canada."
I said "I would GLADLY pay more taxes if it meant every single person in this country could see a doctor when they needed to. Besides, we could all afford the taxes if we didn't have to worry about paying for health insurance or a few hundred dollars every doctor's visit. I say bring on the taxes and give us ALL health care." She looked at me like I'd grown a second head.
That's when she called me a socialist. "Well that's socialism. Do you know what that means?" duh. Yes. "You do know that socialism is a bad thing, right?" um..... k, whatever.
She's a freakin NURSE! This woman has been a nurse for 20 YEARS! She's seen hospitals turn people away for cancer treatment because they couldn't pay. She's worked in an ER stabalizing people and then SENDING THEM HOME knowing they'll get worse just because they didn't have health insurance. She's watched kids, KIDS, die because their parents couldn't cover the cost of their much needed transplant, even with insurance, when there was an organ match right there for the taking.
And she thinks I'M nuts for wanting a national health care system??!?!?!?!
Yeah, okay, whatever.
I don't understand people. I really really don't.
In class we were talking about health insurance and the like, the fact that the long-term care facility we're training at offers good insurance to full time employees but it's somewhat pricey, that sort of thing. I mentioned "wouldn't it be nice if we were like other industrialized rich nations and had a national health care system?" I received blank looks, so explained further. "National health care... it's where you get sick, you go to the doctor, you get medication, and it's free. Sure it's got some problems, but at least every single person in the nation can get health care when they need it and not have to worry about not being able to pay for it." Looks of understanding and "yeah, that'd be nice!" and then "But don't communists do that? Communists are bad."
My reply? "Actually, the US is one of the few industrialized nations in the world that DOESN'T have a national health care system. Canada, the UK, [not mentioning others as I'm sure some of these people don't even know what or where the UK is...] etc... they all have national systems." The teacher then piped in.
"Yes, but taxes are really high in Canada."
I said "I would GLADLY pay more taxes if it meant every single person in this country could see a doctor when they needed to. Besides, we could all afford the taxes if we didn't have to worry about paying for health insurance or a few hundred dollars every doctor's visit. I say bring on the taxes and give us ALL health care." She looked at me like I'd grown a second head.
That's when she called me a socialist. "Well that's socialism. Do you know what that means?" duh. Yes. "You do know that socialism is a bad thing, right?" um..... k, whatever.
She's a freakin NURSE! This woman has been a nurse for 20 YEARS! She's seen hospitals turn people away for cancer treatment because they couldn't pay. She's worked in an ER stabalizing people and then SENDING THEM HOME knowing they'll get worse just because they didn't have health insurance. She's watched kids, KIDS, die because their parents couldn't cover the cost of their much needed transplant, even with insurance, when there was an organ match right there for the taking.
And she thinks I'M nuts for wanting a national health care system??!?!?!?!
Yeah, okay, whatever.
I don't understand people. I really really don't.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-31 01:10 am (UTC)And yes, I know that some informed people still prefer to pay out the nose for their healthcare while others die from curable illnesses because they don't have money. (Or, less meanly put, I know that some people have really strong feelings about their taxes and just prefer the current system.) But it's the general ignorance about the reality of nationalized healthcare systems that really gets to me. The persistently spread rumors of quality of healthcare being worse in other countries with universal healthcare, for example. Never mind that the rumors are unfounded, I'd like an example of quality healthcare in *this* country that didn't cost you a fortune to get. Anyone who's ever had their HMO deny them a procedure probably has some words to say about "quality."
I work in medical billing, which means that I know exactly how much (and how exhorbitantly) doctors and facilities charge for medical services, and I also know exactly how often (and we're talking the majority of the time here) health insurance companies try to con their way out of paying your bills through contractual loopholes, leaving even insured people in the lurch. And my roommate works in an emergency room, where she sees firsthand the consequences of having to deny people necessary care because they don't have money. So every day I hear and see horror stories from both sides of the system. This system DOES NOT WORK. It WILL fall apart. It is in the PROCESS of falling apart. But... er... that's a rant to put in my own journal, on another day.
I just wanted to say that you have my sympathies. It's so frustrating. I've tried to learn to take being called a Communist as a compliment, but sometimes it gets so old to have to wrangle with stubbornly close-minded ignorance every time you want to talk about the possibility of anything outside the temple of Holy Capitalism. :(
I applaud you for speaking up and actually trying to put forth "new" ideas in that situation. Most of the time I just stew silently, which helps no one, least of all myself. So, brava! And I hope the class is going well for you aside from this. :)