I’m writing this on Wednesday morning; I’ve got a deadline to meet. In the next office, a public-interest health care advocate is preparing legislative testimony on medical malpractice insurance. Her documents show jury awards for medical malpractice are not outrageous, as some doctors and the insurance industry would have us believe. The rising cost of malpractice insurance – and other kinds of insurance – is driven by the billions of dollars the insurance industry lost in the stock market in the past few years.
On this side of the wall, in my office, an e-mail fills the computer screen. It tells me an old friend and colleague died just after midnight. For the second time since Christmas, I have lost a friend to a disease that should have been treated very easily.
My two deceased friends never met, but they had much in common. They were intelligent, iconoclastic women who were born in an era when women were supposed to be meek and obsequious. They both had other plans. Both women led full and vibrant lives, they spoke out when they saw injustice and left their communities far richer than they found them. Neither woman had health insurance.
The lack of health insurance meant each of my friends was sick for some time without knowing it, and when each learned of her illness, difficult choices had to be made. Every test, every treatment, every specialist was not available at a moment’s notice. My friends had to choose carefully and then hope for the best.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts announced this week that he has prostate cancer. We all wish him a full and speedy recovery. Senator Kerry’s prognosis is good; his cancer was detected early and surgery was scheduled immediately. There are many safety nets under John Kerry. A wealthy man in his own right, his wife is a billionaire and, of course, as a member of the U.S. Senate, American taxpayers provide him with the finest health care available. His cancer is thought to be such a minor irritation that it will not mean the slightest detour in his presidential campaign.
My friends were not senators or millionaires. One was an activist, one was a writer. Like millions of Americans, they had to make choices each day and week between affording life’s necessities and buying expensive health care coverage.
Here in Vermont, our governor has proposed changing the way we fund Medicaid. Rather than have poor people co-pay for each medical service received, the governor wants poor people to pay for all medical services up to a point, then the state would take over all payments. It would be like meeting a deductible on an insurance policy.
Problem is, if people don’t have the money to pay the deductible, they won’t seek treatment and the state never has to kick in any money at all. This plan will meet the governor’s goal of saving the state money. It will save the state money by letting people die needless deaths.
At the federal level, President Bush has proposed changing the federal contribution to Medicaid from a grant to a loan, which the states will have to pay back. If Mr. Bush gets his way, it will only place a heavier burden on the states, which will respond by cutting benefits even further.
When I stop and think about this, when yet another unnecessary death brings all this home, what I find most astounding is that people are not burning effigies of the governor and the president, that we are not outraged.
At this late date, with the level of prosperity our nation enjoys, there should be no dispute: health care – universal health care, the level of health care available to Senator John Kerry – should be available to every American. Health care is a right. It’s not a privilege; it’s not a luxury. Health care is a right.
Neither Privilege Nor Luxury
I’m writing this on Wednesday morning; I’ve got a deadline to meet. In the next office, a public-interest health care advocate is preparing legislative testimony on medical malpractice insurance. Her documents show jury awards for medical malpractice are not outrageous, as some doctors and the insurance industry would have us believe. The rising cost of malpractice insurance – and other kinds of insurance – is driven by the billions of dollars the insurance industry lost in the stock market in the past few years.
On this side of the wall, in my office, an e-mail fills the computer screen. It tells me an old friend and colleague died just after midnight. For the second time since Christmas, I have lost a friend to a disease that should have been treated very easily.
My two deceased friends never met, but they had much in common. They were intelligent, iconoclastic women who were born in an era when women were supposed to be meek and obsequious. They both had other plans. Both women led full and vibrant lives, they spoke out when they saw injustice and left their communities far richer than they found them. Neither woman had health insurance.
The lack of health insurance meant each of my friends was sick for some time without knowing it, and when each learned of her illness, difficult choices had to be made. Every test, every treatment, every specialist was not available at a moment’s notice. My friends had to choose carefully and then hope for the best.
Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts announced this week that he has prostate cancer. We all wish him a full and speedy recovery. Senator Kerry’s prognosis is good; his cancer was detected early and surgery was scheduled immediately. There are many safety nets under John Kerry. A wealthy man in his own right, his wife is a billionaire and, of course, as a member of the U.S. Senate, American taxpayers provide him with the finest health care available. His cancer is thought to be such a minor irritation that it will not mean the slightest detour in his presidential campaign.
My friends were not senators or millionaires. One was an activist, one was a writer. Like millions of Americans, they had to make choices each day and week between affording life’s necessities and buying expensive health care coverage.
Here in Vermont, our governor has proposed changing the way we fund Medicaid. Rather than have poor people co-pay for each medical service received, the governor wants poor people to pay for all medical services up to a point, then the state would take over all payments. It would be like meeting a deductible on an insurance policy.
Problem is, if people don’t have the money to pay the deductible, they won’t seek treatment and the state never has to kick in any money at all. This plan will meet the governor’s goal of saving the state money. It will save the state money by letting people die needless deaths.
At the federal level, President Bush has proposed changing the federal contribution to Medicaid from a grant to a loan, which the states will have to pay back. If Mr. Bush gets his way, it will only place a heavier burden on the states, which will respond by cutting benefits even further.
When I stop and think about this, when yet another unnecessary death brings all this home, what I find most astounding is that people are not burning effigies of the governor and the president, that we are not outraged.
At this late date, with the level of prosperity our nation enjoys, there should be no dispute: health care – universal health care, the level of health care available to Senator John Kerry – should be available to every American. Health care is a right. It’s not a privilege; it’s not a luxury. Health care is a right.