I must admit that I am a Michael Moore fan. I know that he makes a lot of Americans angry. If the shoe fits may I suggest wearing it? After all is their a point in being angry about something you can’t change or you don’t find offense to because it directly affects you?
Tonight my housemate and I sat together and watched the movie Sicko (made by Michael Moore). As we sat down to watch it I warned him that usually movies made by Michael Moore make me angry. Not in the violent OMG I just wanna hit something way but in the true blindness of society in regards in injustice one.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with breast cancer, two weeks before my birthday. Living in this great land of America I was able to find a doctor who was willing to treat me. Oh wait, no I didn’t! I was told by doctor after doctor that they wouldn’t treat a male. I was finally referred to the public hospital…The Avon-Grady Comprehensive Breast Clinic. Well I figured that even though it was located at a state hospital it would have excellent treatment since it was primarily private funded. I was right! But the excellent treatment alternatives were not given to men with breast cancer. Why you ask? Simply for the reason that “Avon is a company for women…by women.” They could essentially decide who they were going to treat and not. I was never refused treatment, but I was not given the best treatment possible because of my sex.
In 2003 when I was diagnosed AGAIN with stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma of the left breast there wasn’t any change. I was offered 26 rounds of cytoxin and tamoxifen (both chemo drugs) and a 32% chance of living beyond my 5 year plan. I wasn’t able to complete my chemo therapy.
It’s a total shame that the poor and disabled are not treated as citizens but like a burden on the state in which they live. It’s inconceivable as an American that they only reason some of us including loved ones die it’s because they hold American citizenship! How can we as a society sleep at nights when our next door neighbors have to sell their house and relocate because they filed bankruptcy due to medical expenses? How can we as a society sleep at night when we there are people who are not getting healthy everyday but simply growing accustomed to being sick? What is it going to take for us to wake up and realize that the vast majority of Americans are a car wreck, work injury, or fluke accident away from not only being homeless but in the hands of a doctor that you hope is sympathetic and caring enough to treat you after your insurance company drops you simply because you got the flu one too many times. As an American it is your GIVEN RIGHT to have LIFE, LIBERTY, and THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Those are the ONLY 3 things listed an inalienable rights! Unless I got something wrong in order to have life you must have health.
Want to guess which American considered 3rd world country has socialized medicine? No, it’s not some far off distant land in fact it’s only 90 miles from the southern most part of United States. You guessed it…Cuba! Even with all of the gang wars and drugs on average Cubans live longer than Americans. Not only them though. Let’s not forget about Canadians, French, and ask much as I hate to admit it the British. At the lower end of life expectancy Canadians will live, again on average, 10 years longer than most Americans.
Since December 2001 I have somehow managed to accumulate over 1.23 MILLION dollars in medical debt that was reported to all 3 major credit bureaus. That covers 2 rounds of cancer, advanced HIV disease and subsequently AIDS. Shouldn’t I have been focused more on recovering from these illnesses (assuming I got the proper medical treatment) than trying to set up a payment plan upon discharge from a hospital? Tony Benn once said “If you can find money to kill people you can find money to help people.” We truly live in a world of me…not in a world of WE. With as many Christians the U.S. has perhaps one of them can explain it to me.
Our government is smart though. They have realized that people in debt are hopeless and hopeless people don’t vote. If they can keep the citizens poor, hopeless, demoralized, pessimistic and frightened they can control them. Why on Earth would they want to do that for? Aren’t our legislators just looking after us? No, because they know that an educated, healthy, and confident nation is harder to govern. Even though the working class is responsible for creating wealth the sad thing is only 1% of the worlds population are the only ones getting to enjoy it. It makes me sick that as Americans we work hard, slave away and some CEO on a boat in a Grease port is the one lapping it up.
As the richest country in the world health should not be given on the basis of cash but on the basis of need. Often times we hear that HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence anymore. However, for the Americans who cannot afford the astronomical expense of monthly antiretrovirals it is. In America someone dies from AIDS related complications every 12 seconds. We survive only if we can receive treatment based on pay not on the basis of need. I find it simply amazing that someone living in communist Cuba doesn’t have to feel that but I a citizen of the Democratic United States of America does. Don’t even think about Social Security because despite their cute slogan, “For the times that count…count on Social Security”, I waited a blistering 38 months to receive a judgment in my favor and an additional month beyond that for my FIRST benefit check. They did not hesitate in telling me that they would be re-evaluating my claim in 3 years because they think my condition could improve and I cured of my illness. Is their a cure for AIDS that I am not aware of?
One more interesting fact from the movie is the following…In 1999 the United States asked Norway for the extradition rights to a U.S. citizen because he fled the country. The Norwegian Supreme Court ruled they would not extradite him because the vast majority of US facilities DID NOT meet the LOWEST humanitarian standards. WOW!
Most of the soapbox points came from the movie Sicko and Labour Party member Tony Benn. The closing thought comes from me though. Healthcare should not be a luxury for the privileged but a given right simply because you and I are living, breathing human being.
