health care

It’s a big topic right now, especially with the advent of a new government administration. I can’t help but think that a lot of countries have a much better system of keeping their citizens healthy than the US does. Many countries in Europe have a system of socialized medicine.  The medical community in Japan is not allowed to make above a certain percentage of profit from their trade even though everyone is required to have some sort of health insurance (which has its own problems, but still…). But here we are in the US, being legally scalped (or just unable to pay) for basic medical care, all in the name of Making Money.

It’s one thing if you have the luxury of a full-time job with benefits which exempt you from being passed over for a pre-existing medical condition. It’s quite another when your occupation involves several part-time jobs and you have to take care of that medical insurance on your own. You have a pre-existing condition? Sorry, we think there’s a good chance that we won’t make a ridiculous amount of money off you, so we don’t want you as a client.

Bottom line, it’s unethical for a human being (or corporation) to make money from another human being’s misfortune.  You’d think, in a civilized society, that we would be beyond the point of suffering from curable medical conditions or even death because we can’t pay for treatment. But that’s where we’re headed if health care stays the way it is and the economy continues to plummet. I think that our new president is great—such a welcome and refreshing change from the last eight years. I don’t, however, think that he’s going to change health care in four or even eight years, much as I admire him. He’s not perfect and there are so many variables that will make changing the system a difficult, if not impossible task. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to hope that nothing catastrophic happens to me or my loved ones.