Health Care

The Mystery within...

I decided I couldn’t let this month of November pass with only one blog post for the entire month.  It’s not that I haven’t wanted to write more often, but I have been preoccupied, stressed and flustered, in an almost unbelievable process of hoops, circles, harassment and errors from my health care plan that has literally consumed multiple weeks of my time, and way too much of my energy, as I attempt to get legitimate reimbursement for Occupational Therapy following my bump on the head earlier this year.  (See Body/Mind Connection post.)  I have now decided to befriend my past head wound, which led me to need therapy, for it now allows me to highlight and share with higher authorities my seven page documentation of America’s current health care mess as I am experiencing it, and demonstrate the critical need for universal, single payer health care insurance for all.

I have had some experience with universal health care.  Back in the 1970’s, when driving across Canada with my husband and three young children, our daughter became seriously ill.  Early on a Sunday morning, we drove into a Canadian gas station and the attendant asked, “How is your holiday going?”  His kind voice, and genuine concern brought me to tears.  We told him about our daughter’s high fever and that we were from the United States and didn’t know what to do or where to go.  He told us where we could get medical care for her nearby, and not to worry where we were from.  A few blocks away, on that early Sunday morning, our daughter was seen by a pediatrician, prescribed medication, and we were directed to where to go to pick it up. When we asked how much the bill was we were told not worry.  It would be mailed to our U.S. address.  When the bill came it was $5.85.  Everyone we encountered on our trip across Canada was genuinely pleasant and helpful.  Perhaps that is a side effect of a good health care system that promotes happy, healthy people.

Currently, in America, there is a TV commercial showing a frustrated mother on the phone, on hold, with her “health care” insurer, while her children are acting up in the background.  I wish someone could calculate the loss of productive time spent with family, or other genuinely positive endeavors for the good of others, because they are dealing with our current multiple health care systems impose on us all.  I know the statistic for nonproductively would be staggering.

America will only become great when we American’s realize we all share a role as Good Samaritans to those in need.  Quality universal health care for all is a good place to start us on that path to becoming great.

What if we all shared our frustrations with our current health care systems?