It's all about the social justice on work towards universal health coverage in the United States on 43 Things

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work towards universal health coverage in the United States (read all 5 entries…)

It's all about the social justice 4 years ago

A recent article by Malcolm Gladwell and Uninsured in America: Life and Death in the Land of Opportunity brought me to this goal. The number of people in this country for whom routine health care is a luxury is a national shame. I’m too mad about it to sit idly by.

Two weeks ago, I talked with Dr. Georges Benjamin, the Executive Director of the American Public Health Association about his experiences in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a lecture at a conference I attended, he said that he was surprised that out of all of the services made available to evacuees, dental services were among the most in demand. After the lecture, I told him I was surprised he hadn’t been expecting the long lines for the dentist. For millions of Americans, dental care is out of financial reach – with serious consequences. The women I surveyed for my graduate project frequently noted bad teeth as a problem (sometimes broken teeth from assaults by romantic partners), saying that dental pain was constant and excruciating, and that bad looking teeth made it difficult for them to find work. Dr. Benjamin mentioned a task force within APHA that I need to look into. As soon as I get done with my thesis project, I’m there.

Oct 05, 2005, 07:35PM PDT | 4 cheers

Comments:

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Dec 08, 2005, 01:13AM PST

royal_majesty

The states will never get universal health coverage because they think it’s red. I’m Canadian and apprently were pink because you think free health care is communist

Dec 09, 2005, 05:52PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

sara

Hey, watch your pronouns!

I don’t think Canada is “pink”(?) because you guys have a sensible, humane healthcare system! I think it’s the only way to go . . . unfortunately, I don’t know if I’ll ever see it.

Dec 09, 2005, 05:56PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

royal_majesty

red being communist so pink would be almost red but just not as bad. I don’t make the political slurrs I just use them in everyday conversation

Dec 12, 2005, 05:06PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

sara

I get it, I get it . . .

Dec 12, 2005, 05:11PM PST | Respond to this

Unimaginative Pseudonym

Thanks for this entry

Contrary to popular belief, the free market can’t and won’t solve all of our problems. Maybe someday people will realize that.

Dec 09, 2005, 06:11PM PST | Respond to this

ake

Praise to the puppy!

I really admire your committment on this goal Terrierhead :)

I’m hoping you dont mind me using your thread to do a little plug for someone suffering from this system at the moment? (I won’t be offended if you choose to delete my shameless advertising)

A really talented photographer on flickr is doing a print drive to cover the cost of her skin cancer treatment – so if anyone wants to purchase a stunning photo (or is with a company thats scoping for some) please consider helping awfulsara

Dec 10, 2005, 03:23AM PST | Respond to this 1 cheer

pioneerspirit is re-discovering 43

i admire your goal and comments too

It reminds me of the bankruptcy stats here in the US:
how less than 1% were due to credit card expenditure, but over half were due to health care costs. And of those, over 75% had health insurance, they were just eihter dropped or not covered, imagine that?!?

I think it’s unholy, immoral, positively absurd that this is left to a free market system. Health care for profit? Do we want health care providers making healthcare decisions based on profit, cause that what’s happening, even outside HMOs, where MDs, NDs, LAc, will get reimbursed less and less by insurance companies, and eventually dropped, if they do too many expensive procedures, or refer to specialists too often. (!) Why is it even legal for anyone but a medical professional to make those kinds of decisions.

I’m about to start reading George Lakoff’s Don’t Think of An Elephant about how progessives should frame their arguments, to ensure we don’t keep losing elections. In it, he purportedly explains why people keep voting against their own best interests: because the right frames issues around family / moral values. When, obviously, we could be doing the same thing , and more effectively winning votes.

I haven’t read the book yet, so please don’t take this rant to be an example of any of the aforementioned techniques, it’s only too painfully apparent why i need to read this book. breathe. ohm.

Dec 12, 2005, 07:39PM PST | Thread | Respond to this 2 cheers

Unimaginative Pseudonym

Another great book

is What’s The Matter With Kansas by Thomas Frank… which deals with the issue of people voting against their own economic interest. He argues that we can’t allow the social issue boogeymen (abortion, et al) to obfuscate the fact that average Americans are losing out to corporate interests. There needs to be a fundamental decoupling of economic and social issues.

Dec 12, 2005, 07:53PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

pioneerspirit is re-discovering 43

thanks, drahknon

i’ll be looking for that one too.

Do you think we really have to decouple these issues? I mean, I feel like I’m a political progressive becasue of my values, it’s a moral decision for me. In the past, I’ve been able to make more cynical arguments about how it benefits most everyone, etc. But lately, I’ve come to realize not only is that not as persuasive, it’s not really why I make those decisions.

I don’t want my children to grow up in a world where other children may not have basic health care, much less in a city where their neighbors may not, (or where their insurance may be arbritarily dropped) much less in a country that gives insurance companies outlandish economic breaks (read: corporate welfare), while not creating an economic safety net for most of its citizens.

I guess what I mean, is that I do it out of comapssion, I vote the way I do out of common human decency. Yeah, there are a few people out there who may laugh at that, but i really think most wouldn’t.

Ok, I’m tired, may have to return to this. Don’t want to leave it completely, but it always leaves me feeling so raw.

Dec 12, 2005, 08:00PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

Unimaginative Pseudonym

I agree completely

I think it is, ultimately, an issue of what Jefferson referred to as the common good. I’m not sure whether to blame it on Cold War triumphalism or what, but we currently have a real cultural aversion toward anything that inches us away from pure privatization of government. It’s a problem, since we’ve apparently the reasons behind the New Deal and Great Society have been long since forgotten. The notion of robber barons is considered quaint. That narrative is, of course, foolish. A commerically-interested private tyrrany is no replacement for the public tyrrany some see in government.

Oh god I’m sleepy. :-)

Dec 12, 2005, 08:10PM PST | Thread | Respond to this

pioneerspirit is re-discovering 43

nighty-night

gonna go catch some zzzzz’s myself. And probably won’t be cuddling to Lakoff’s book tonight, might give me nightmares.

Dec 12, 2005, 08:21PM PST | Respond to this

PrettyBaby

You make a great point...

This is often overlooked:

Health insurance does NOT = health care.

I had a routine medical checkup in the weeks before I left one job. The doctor’s office later informed me that my insurance rejected my claim even though I had a full month left on my insurance.

I have not had health insurance since, and I laugh when people tell me that I need it. Oh please, just like that thing in Massachusetts, it’s just another scam to benefit rich insurance companies at the expense of the populace. They work hard day and night figuring out how not to do what was promised. Thieves.

(Sorry for the little rant, but I stand by what I’ve said.)

Jun 09, 2006, 08:57AM PDT | Respond to this

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Comments:

Hey, watch your pronouns!

Thanks for this entry

Praise to the puppy!

i admire your goal and comments too

Another great book

thanks, drahknon

I agree completely

nighty-night

You make a great point...

A Well-Read Dog Head has gotten 4 cheers on this entry.

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