A Healthy State

I saw Michael Moore's "Sicko" documentary last night.  You might think the Australian health system is in a sorry state, but all I can say is thank goodness I wasn't living in the USA this time last year.  Thanks to our Australian health system I was operated on from an affliction that I would have died from had I not had the operation.  It would have cost at least $60,000 to have the operation in this country, so in USA, it would be probably twice as much.  And I have no health insurance, so to have this life-saving operation, I would have been given a debt of over $100,000, which I'd be paying off for many years to come.

Here, in NSW, I left hospital requiring a few drug purchases (about $90 - heavily subsidised, too mind you) and no bill at all.

In "Sicko" you hear the story of an employee of a health insurance company (known in USA as an HMO - health maintenance organisation) whose principal task is to find non-disclosures by applicants in policy applications in order to deny claims.

You hear the story of a young mother taking her three-year-old into a hospital with a temperature of 104 degrees farenheit (40 degrees celsius - normal is 36.8).  They start to treat the girl realising the situation is urgent then realise she's insured with a particular HMO which doesn't cover this hospital's services.  So they tell her to take the girl to a hospital subsidised by this HMO by private car.  The girl gets to the "proper" hospital, but dies within half an hour of arrival.

(We have mixups in this state and take people to the wrong hospital occasionally, but you don't hear of a small child with a temp of 40 degrees being turfed out on the street do you?)

You hear the story of the unlucky guy who sawed off two fingers with a circular saw told it'd cost $60,000 to re-attach his middle finger but only $12,000 for the ring finger (much less damage), so opted to say goodbye to his middle finger entirely as there was no way he could afford it to be re-attached.

(I once dropped an (operating) angle grinder into my left hand - I'd have been ropable had I been given a quote to clean up and stitch my wounds).

You hear the story of how Guantanamo Bay inmates have access to far better healthcare than 9/11 volunteers (so many of them have respiratory problems due to the toxic gases given off by the burning computers).

You hear the story of a 79-year old guy who cannot retire, because to do so would mean the end of his (employer-provided) medical insurance.  Unfortunately for him, he is dependant on various expensive drugs he will need for the rest of his life.  So when he stops working, he probably won't have long to live...

Then you hear about how many Republicans are opposed to Barack Obama's healthcare reform proposals.  There are some guys in USA so vehemently opposed to it that they are angrily marching in the streets and abusing supporters of the reforms.  And there are heaps of them.  In fact they might almost be a majority: they are certainly a substantial proportion of the US populace...

It is so disappointing that a vast proportion of a nation can be so misguided over a universal healthcare system based on the ability to pay and the need for treatement.

However, I am reminded that in 1976, as soon as Malcolm Fraser came to power in Australia that he dismantled Gough Whitlam's Medibank system - and was allowed to get away with it.  After Hawke re-introduced it in 1983 and we got used to it until 1996 John Howard didn't dare dismantle it as Fraser had done, and we thankfully still have a universal health care system in this country.  My only question is why it doesn't include dental services.  I have had to have a decayed tooth removed at 2am one morning, and I can assure you the need was essential.  Fortunately Mum and Dad paid the dentist for me.

I cannot understand the problem people have with the introduction of a universal health system, yet a large number do seem to have a problem.  I think once they see what happens without such a system when their own need for services arise they will change their minds.  After all, such a system demonstrably works in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Italy, France, Sweden, etc, etc, etc, and these places have not become communist outposts, which seems to be the main argument against it.