I’m feeling rather heartbroken having read the most recent health care diaries. It seems like the desperation is steadily growing, to the point that people are looking to leave the country simply to have reasonable access to health services. Meanwhile, hospitals can’t handle true emergencies because the ERs are overrun by people with no insurance who forego regular doctor visits and use the hospital as their primary care. And everyone who has unfortunately had to deal with real medical needs knows all too well the truly astronomical numbers plastered across the flurry of bills that follow.
There have been various efforts to organize support for health care reform, yet we are barely being heard. Single payer is laughed at in the halls of Congress where our representatives sit firmly in the pocket of the industry. But is this not an issue that crosses most ideological lines ("socialism" or not, when your family member is dying because of a lack of affordable care, you may split with your party on this one), an issue that should unite the country outside of maybe the wealthiest 0.1%? Why do we not have a MASSIVE movement, one that can actually instill some fear in Washington?
Now, I’ve been to my share of anti-war protests in DC, and while I loved being able to interact with thousands of others that shared my concerns, I also realized that these demonstrations were rather limited in their effectiveness. The MSM limited their coverage and often painted it with extremist or otherwise dishonest colors, while the Bush White House happily ignored them in entirety. And, as is often the case with A.N.S.W.E.R./UFPJ rallies, their sheer size meant the involvement of so many different groups often with wildly different agenda, that these theoretically one issue protests turned into a free-for-all (much of it channeled as simple anti-administration energy – which, while I couldn’t help but to agree with, certainly did tie them in a way to this year’s tea parties in that respect).
But I can’t help but to think that it wouldn’t hurt to organize an absolutely massive national health care rally. I think at the very least, most support the public option. And to many, this is an absolutely critical issue, particularly in this economy. I’m not going to bring up all the stats that other diaries expose in a much better fashion than I could, but I think here on DK we’re all fairly educated on the issue. Sure, I know there are various efforts – but can you think of the one, large, focused organization whose single purpose is nationalized health care? I can’t. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one (please, do let me know), but it means it hasn’t gotten big enough to make that impression on me, which is a problem, as I’d like to think I read more about the issue than the average American.
Right now, I’m lucky to have employer-sponsored health insurance. It’s OK. Of course, it and therefore my health are at the whim of the fickle IT industry that employs me, so I could lose it at any moment – like my ex-GF did, when she ended up in a hospital during a brief time between jobs (she didn’t know about COBRA), and was stuck with an $11K bill for a simple overnight stay that did nothing to help her. Two summers ago I caught an infection that was resisting the standard antibiotics, and my fever landed me in a hospital, where they just hooked me up to an IV for three days. Cost: $26K, of which I had to pay a couple of grand. In most other civilized countries, this would have been no big deal. Now – I came to this country, a long time ago, and I really don’t want to leave it. So I’m really hoping that somehow we can all get properly united under the nationalized health care banner, and in the process save ourselves.
Unfortunately I don’t have any brilliant ideas as to the how, I just know the what. And that is, we need an absolutely gargantuan movement, one that can finally match the might of the insurance industry – which isn’t going to give up its cozy place atop the medical money pile without a very bloody fight. Would it hurt to kick it off with a showing of strength on the streets of DC?