Healthier Care

I am shocked at how many friends in the US are against a national health care plan. The propaganda they are seeing can only be being fed to them by the rich - who can afford private health care. With the problems in the US economy I know many of my friends are suffering financially, having to give up luxuries in their life and forgoing what they can't afford - like private health care cover. It blows my mind when I see a friend post on facebook that they are going to work even though they are sick - because their employer doesn't pay sick days and worse they can't afford to go to the doctor or pay for medication to get well. How much worse can it get? I am talking about young fit people in their 30's with full time jobs and no children. What happens when you are too old to work, or if one of your children gets a serious illness or if you are in an accident and you have no health insurance?

In Australia - if I am sick, I can go to a doctor free of charge, some do charge an excess ( maybe $10 - $20)  but many don't. If I am too sick to work, employers pay sick leave or if I am going to be ill for 3 months or more I can get a government benefit and in turn receive discounted medication. This also applies to accidents. If I need to go to hospital - I go, if it is a non emergency I may have to wait a few months to get an appointment with a specialist but it doesn't cost me to do so through the public health system. Emergency rooms prioritise patients based on their level of emergency, ie if you have a broken arm you are going to wait longer than someone who's having a heart attack, but at least you will be seen without cost.

Of course we have to pay for this, it's called taxation. Of course if you want to choose your own specialists and don't want to wait for non emergency procedures and want a private room in a hospital you can take out private health care. If you choose to do this there is a tax break in it - and if you take out private health earlier in your life you save on your payments.

I cannot understand why the average American wouldn't want to be able to get their elderly parents the health care they need? I almost forgot to mention our aged & disabled get reduced medication prices as well as a government benefit. Health care is also about improving the general health of the population, not just fixing their problems. Education is the key to improving the general health of the country and in return reducing the cost of health care on the economy. You can't have one without the other.

So in closing I just want to say - are you being selfish when you say I don't want national health care? I don't want to pay for the sick and dying? What does this say about your society? What does it say about you?