When Medical Coverage Really Matters

By on April 5, 2012

 

A friend of mine posted an interesting piece on her blog about a painful mishap with her 6-month old toddler. The event itself was awful enough. It would have been far worse with no access to medical coverage. What would have happened if she had to treat her child’s second-degree burn herself? Would she have known what to do? How would she have felt as she listened to her child screaming in pain as she researched the internet or quizzed chatty Aunt Edna over the phone? How would she have felt if the outcome resulted in a scar or contracture?

Fortunately her husband is a medical student so they have medical coverage. But what if they hadn’t? What if he had been a graduate student in Biology or a young volunteer firefighter? What if they had to rely on the local safety net for care? Local and state government has been slashing funding for local clinics and Medicaid coverage for more than a decade. People have been known to sit in the County ER waiting rooms for over 24 hours waiting to be seen. Imagine yourself there with a screaming baby amid all the hubbub and human drama occurring every day in Emergency Rooms across the country.

I am constantly struck by the lack of humanity apparent from those who flail away at ‘Obama-care’ ritually as some kind of evil, as though the expanded coverage it offers many working Americans means nothing in the end. Has “I-got-mine, Screw-you” become the accepted standard of social conscience in this country? Have we really grown that heartless in our pursuit of ‘balancing the budget’ without raising any taxes? Voters really need to think what they are putting into office when they put candidates with that kind of attitude or philosophy in power. A plastic smile and glad hand should not be enough. Nor should the fact that you met the candidate at the local fire hall or Doughnut Delight, and he or she didn’t froth at the mouth or drool during the encounter.

I invite you now to read Kate’s tale. Please put yourself into her place as though you or your spouse were just starting out, dealing with the problems and feelings she so well describes in her piece. It is a viewpoint that needs to be injected into the national debate on Health Care Reform and kept there: http://www.motleymama.com/2012/04/05/momfession-18-burned-baby-burned/

Tom Godfrey

 

 

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4 comments on “When Medical Coverage Really Matters

  1. We actually aren’t covered by the University and are using Medicaid at the moment. It’s been a hindrance so far. We’ve had to search far and wide for doctor’s offices who accept it. Obamacare wasn’t an option for us when we needed it. Maybe it is now?

    Obama 2012!

    PS: Thanks for linking up!

  2. KrikorD on said:

    Anything with Obama on it would draw condemnation the likes of nothing I have seen before. Obama literally can do no right in their eyes. He may need to sacrifice his first born and throw himself at their feet to be heard. The irrational and unreasonable nature is astounding. It makes for a very difficult, painful and dire situation. I think you may have hit the nail on the “me” complex. I am not so sure if it’s a simple “screw-you” disposition. There seems to be a reluctance to see beyond what applies to themselves in the most immediate sense. I can get into a discussion with most any Obama care opponent, especially the devout Christian or religious types, and have them conflicted regarding their morals and decisions. Even in the blatant face of contradicting morals they espouse, they still refuse to reconsider their position. Why? People fear change when holding on tightly to emotions of hate, anger and fear (that’s a whole other discussion). No one can touch that to dispel, but it can easily be used to ratchet-up sentiments. Cultural values, that is what we need to look at. Religious values don’t seem to apply outside the church. Yes, everyone should ideally take responsibility for themselves and not be a burden on others. That would be nice. But… people are people, going through various phases of life, coming from various places of life and things happen. We can either look at the hole in the hull and argue why the other person kicked the plug out, or just plug it. This will not preclude us from holding others accountable, that is a different matter.
    I must admit that I have gone through the full spectrum of sentiments surrounding this. From “why should I pay for someone else’s life choices” to “we all make choices, some right and some wrong. We all need to work together to help each other.” and “it will be much cheaper for me take care of and keep someone healthy, than deal with the outrageous health care costs incurred in our denial state.” This is the “Cost of business” for all of us to drive down beautiful roads, live in relatively nice homes and retain a sense of moral conscious.

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