The glory of a health care system free from government

[FourScore]

Sun Sep 25, 2011 at 07:07 AM PDT
The glory of a health care system free from government
by gjohnsit

I was visiting one of my project partners today.
She has two daughters, the youngest of them 6 years old. While we were talking the girl from next door, about the same age, came over to play with the daughter.
I couldn't help but notice the fresh dime-sized scabs and scars all over her lower legs. It was some sort of skin disease.

What is it from? No one knows. Has the mother seen a doctor about it? No. Why not? No tiene dinero.

It's as simple as that. This is the Dominican Republic. This is a third-world country. There is no real public health care system. It is almost totally private, and thus inaccessible to most of the population...

SNIP

...I live about 100 yards away from a small, local hospital. I hadn't gone into it until two weeks ago, when the father of my host family contracted influenza.
He ended up in the hospital, hooked up to an IV.

The day after he was admitted, his wife showed up at my door. She needed a bucket of water. Why? Because the hospital didn't have any water to bath him with.
Needless to say, the hospital also doesn't provide food. Families do that too...

SNIP

...This is what a health care system looks like without government "interference". It isn't efficient. It isn't pretty. It isn't fair.
If the Tea-Party Republicans get their way in getting the government out of health care, this is what it will probably look like.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/25/1019943/-The-glory-of-a-health-care-system-free-from-government?via=siderec

[elocs]

1. I just gave the 24th Rec but with no responses yet a kick is in order

to move this thread to the top of GD where it can get notice.

Recs without responses are not worth much when they allow a thread to sink in its forum, and not many OPs get enough Recs to get home page exposure.

[FourScore]

6. Thanks elocs! That is so true! n/t

[Selatius]

2. Compare that to Cuba just down the way, whose public health care is accessible to all.

Cuba was ranked 39th the last time the World Health Organization did world rankings, while the US ranked at 37th despite the fact that the US is considered the wealthiest in the world. The fact that an island nation crippled by decades of economic sanctions is able to formulate a health care system almost as good as the US is as much a testament to the notion of public health care ahead of profits as it is a testament to how grotesquely unfair the US system is.

[Major Nikon]

3. Well said

Thanks.

[ceile]

4. K&R n/t

[Blue_Tires]

5. ttt

[annabanana]

7. k&r. .Thank you. . . . n/t

[LWolf]

8. k&r