Sunday, November 18, 2007

SICKO

we've all been fighting a cold this weekend so i think it's appropriate to write a little something about the movie Sicko which Chris and I watched last week. i'm not even sure where to begin except to say that i'm really disappointed in our country for not demanding national health care reform. it seems simple to me private health insurance companies = corruption = bad health care decisions = do away with it.

on a personal note our neighbor is battling Hepatitis C. he found out about it last summer and has endured a few rounds of drugs. the first round health insurance covered. when that round didn't work his health insurance rejected his request for a second round because his chance of success was only 20%. but if you're dying 20% sounds like it's worth a try. so he paid for the drugs himself... $10,000 later and tragically it didn't work again. so now he's on a waiting list for a liver transplant which he tells me the health insurance company is betting they won't have to pay for. reason being; there is a shortage of organs to go around and by the time he's at the top of the list he will be too sick to work and therefore lose his health insurance benefits. brilliant. super nice young guy. his wife and four year old son will be devastated when he does pass on. so will we.

Chris and I don't have health insurance (the kids are on the state insurance program) i've always been terrified to not have health insurance but after watching this movie i'm thinking i might be better off without it. after a movie like this i have to ask myself one question ... what can i do? the way i see it is i have two choices. stay here and fight the good fight or leave and enjoy the benefits of another country. Tae Kwon Do anyone?

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Totally agree with the need for health care for everyone. I recently went part time at my job thus loosing my benefits unless I pay about $400 a month for them. I can't get private insurance at all because I have been seeing a specialist for infertility, therefor no one will cover me. A bunch of crap is my thoughts on the issue.

cassie haw said...

i think you have another choice! there are health care collectives available. they all work differently but basically you send your particular amount of money in each month and you're covered... up to a certain amount (i've seen $100,000 but others could be more or less).

here's one that a friend of mine participates in - he had a rough accident in the last couple of years and they paid all of his many hospital bills: http://chministries.org/

(we're going to watch sicko this weekend!)