Flipping through this morning’s NY Times, I came across this somewhat lengthy article:
When Health Law Isn’t Enough, the Desperate Line Up at Tents
I begin to read how in sweltering weather, thousands of poor people without access to health care they can afford lineup and wait hours for free care of all sorts at the fairgrounds in Wise, Virginia, in the poor and yes, very red part of the state. The care is provided by Remote Area Medical, a non-profit group that does this sort of thing all over the country.
Organizations like Remote Area Medical are certainly great, but the truth is, they simply shouldn’t exist in this nation because no one should be without affordable access to medical care they need. The stories in the article are gut-wrenching. People walking around almost blind because they can’t afford eye exams and glasses; people tortured by rotting and broken teeth because they can’t afford a dentist; a man who has sleep apnea and needs CPAP machine. The list goes on.
Look at the photographs in the article and you see the obvious:
The bodies of the visitors told the story. They came in wheelchairs pushed by overweight children. Some carried portable oxygen. They smiled with lips together to hide missing teeth. One barrel-chested man with a long beard wore a T-shirt quoting the Bible as he hobbled along with a tall staff.
The worst part of this isn’t just the health problems and the poverty that pervades this area, but also the ignorance. I truly feel for these people. But they also are helping those who want to make things even worse for them.
“The people of this area have been told by the politicians and President Trump that coal is coming back,” Dr. Smiddy said. “They believe that. They’ve been told that Obamacare is no good. They believe that. They believe that Trump’s going to bring them TrumpCare.”
“We all know when we take 32 million people out of the system” — an allusion to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of how many would lose coverage under one Republican plan — “that these people will be the first to go,” he said.
To his credit, Virginia governor, Terry McAuliffe was there too talking with many seeking treatment and some of them realize the obvious: the only answer is single payer as Larry McKnight, a 37 year old unemployed auto mechanic said. Speaking of unemployment, only 16% of the those at pop-up medical tents were employed full time.
There is no doubt that this country can afford a single payer insurance system, or a viable alternative- an open buy into Medicaid or Medicare (Medicaid actually covers more, I believe). Even if we allow people to keep their private insurance, there is no doubt that Medicaid would become a de facto single payer covering the overwhelming mass of Americans, including the poor and sick people we see at the RAM event in Wise, Virginia.