The Crisis of Health Care

After watching "Sicko" by Michael Moore this past weekend on DVD, i indeed felt sick. Literally, with a temperature of 100, body aches and massive headaches i knew something was wrong. I have the RIC insurance "University Health Plans" which is actually far better than most of the HMO's and Health Care providers profiled in "Sicko". I simply went to CVS rather than the doctors, because i didn't know all my insurance information and i didnt want to have to deal with the hassles of a trip to the doctors. Long lines, lots of paperwork and co-pays make my head spin, so instead of getting medical care i chose to purchase over the counter drugs.

On my drive home i started to think about how ridiculous our health care system really is, and what control drug companies have over our Government. Will we ever be able to escape for the claws of HMO's and Drug Companies? Even with a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate bills like S-CHIP are still being shot down by the President. S-CHIP is clever use of semantic tyranny, because who cares about something thats simply labeled S-CHIP, when it is really Health Care for poor and lower middle class children (State Children's Health Insurance Program). Congress passed a bill that would have expanded coverage to 4 million more children in need, but our President vetoed the bill. After Democrats tried desperately to stir up enough Republican votes to override the veto, the House fell just 13 vote's short of the required 2/3rds majority.

President Bush said he felt that the bill was one step towards "socialized medicine" and of course we can't have THAT! We already fire departments, the postal service, libraries and education funded by that government, why not have our health care be state mandated. Our government is so sickly intertwined with the drug and health care companies that I doubt their will ever be enough votes to authorize a system of Socialized Medicine. Perhaps if a democrat is elected President and the Democratic Majority continues their may be hope, but in our system of Government it seems like nickels and dimes have more effect on Politicians that the suffering of the American People. Of course Hillary Clinton fought the drug companies and lost, so who is to say any other Democratic Candidate will have any more success. One thing is for sure however, none of the Republican Candidates want anything to do with Universal Health Care (what they call "Socialized Medicine"), they all seem much more concerned about the threat Mexicans pose to our National Security than the lack of affordable Health care. I might have hope if John Edwards or Barack Obama get elected that we might someday have Universal Health Care, but even with their efforts i doubt we will ever have the lifestyles of the French, English and Canadians presented in Moore's film. Not as long as their is profit to be made from the sickness of Americans will we ever truly be able to live without fear of our Health Care System.