By Jace, a Trail Mix Contributor
Here it is in a nut shell: I’ve been diagnosed with a serious health problem.
I won’t bore you with the details — in fact they are really not all that important. Many here on “the trail” have had major health concerns at one time or another in their lives, so I am in no way unique.
I have lived almost sixty three years without ever having set foot in a hospital for any type of treatment. Now I find myself being rushed headlong into the heart of the medical industrial complex with almost no reference point or experience upon which to put the journey into some sort of context.
In most respects I am fortunate when it comes to healthcare. I have reasonably good employer-provided health insurance, and we do have some resources over and above insurance that we can draw on if needed, and I reside in an area with many excellent medical facilities and personnel. I would add further that I reside in a state that takes seriously the health care of it’s citizenry. Make no mistake about it — it is better to get sick in some states than others. Both in terms of availability of services and outcomes.
It has become fashionable during the healthcare wars for both sides to rely on anecdotal evidence and cases to make their claims as to the benefits or drawbacks of Obamacare. Using individual cases and patients like cheap props in a sideshow to advance their particular point of view, or to offer a sop to a particular special interest. All the while ignoring the fact that all people will require healthcare during their lives. It is necessary, costly, time-consuming, and very likely frightening. It should not be the fodder for political grandstanding, posturing or photo opportunities
Even with Congress in recess, and the debacle that was repealing Obamacare in the rear view mirror, we still hear rumblings about the possibility of reviving the process yet again in another attempt to put access to quality affordable health care out of reach for millions.
It is past time to draw the health care line in the sand. Repeal Obamacare? Absolutly not. Fix Obamacare? Perhaps, but is it really worth the effort?
The only acceptable option is universal single payer health care.
For those politicians and special interests who wish to ignore that reality out of political expediency, greed or simply profound stupidity, it is time to show them the door. For those who are faint-hearted or wish to address the problem with half measures, we must ask — or more accurately demand — that they turn the task over to those who are willing to do the heavy lifting.
As the title of my post suggests I am not some case or number needing to be trotted out to prove a point. Neither are the folks who sit with me in the waiting rooms and infusion centers.
I (We) are not anecdotal, but rather UNIVERSA — our healthcare choices and options should be nothing LESS!
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