Oct 16 2007
Healthcare (again)
My wallet was delivered! I can hardly wait to come home to its canvas-y goodness. Hopefully they left it at the door, because if it’s at the office, I won’t get it until Friday or Saturday at the earliest.
In the daycare here, they take care of very young (read, less than 6 months old) babies. Today we had a fire drill and they roll them out 4 or 5 to one big plastic or glass enclosed cradle. Parents coming outside could stop and pick up their infants or kids and hold them for 10 or so minutes while we waited. Something about that makes me very sad. Some parents didn’t want to let go of their children, they carried them back into the daycare. It just seems crappy that parents have to work, they can’t choose to be with their kids.
On the subject of kids, Olbermann has been presenting some parents with the opportunity to come on his show to comment on what some people from the conservative media have to say about their kids. The first was one child who had been kidnapped and O’Reilly said he didn’t fight hard enough to leave. The second one is the child who spoke out for the democrats against President Bush vetoing SCHIP.
Man, people have been roaring about that one – decrying his parents for allowing him to appear in front of the media. Basically stalking them to try to prove they’re living off the government’s money because somehow, somehow that would make it wrong that MD taxpayers paid for that kid’s (and his sister’s) surgery.
Nevermind that the facts have been twisted. Nevermind that many in the conservative media are justifying their attacks by saying the liberals are trying to hide from criticism behind this kid – which is, by the way, entirely unjustifiable. I don’t care who you are, unless that kid killed someone, shut your flipping mouth.
There is absolutely no logical reason for our current health care system. It sucks on every single side, except for the side of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies. It sucks for patients, for doctors, for staff. You can argue against universal healthcare all you want, but can you give me one good reason for our current system? Just one. Explain the logic behind it to me. Tell me why Wal-Mart can sell me my prozac for $4 bucks a month but CVS wants to charge me $50. It’s not about competition – it’s about insurance companies taking a huge profit. Tell me why if I need to go to the hospital I have to see or call my doctor first.
I have watched my brother obviously break his foot and have to see the dr before he could go to a hospital. I watched my dad die while my mom was on the phone talking to the doctor. I have distant family members who have died in horrible pain from illnesses that could have been treated except for the fact that they didn’t have insurance.
So, step up. The right to life isn’t just the right to pop out from the uterus, it’s not just the right to not be murdered in the streets. It’s a guaranteed protection from the state, it means your life is worth something. So why, in his great noodliness’ name, are we entrusting for-profit companies to protect us when we know what our lives are worth to them?
K.