I personally think that a great obstacle for our countrymen, no matter what the issue, is confronting the (mostly RW) false notion of American Exceptionalism. You know, that reflexive tic that results in us blurting out defensively, "but we're the Greatest Country in the World."
Around the world a very different and deserved reputation, specifically in this instance when it comes to healthcare, precedes us. And it's not that we have the best healthcare in the world, the half-truth often repeated by RW ideologues. It's the ugly truth that healthcare is managed and administered a insurance companies. When ranking 37th on the World Health Organization isn't front page news then well, you can just about have people believing in anything - if it's repeated often enough. But the fact will remain: having great practitioners doesn't absolve a truly terrible system.
A Canadian couple traveling here, with a policy on hand to cover such matters, was charged by insurance company thugs Blue Cross Blue Shield $1 million to deliver their prematurely-born child. The Think Progress article has plenty of links and is worth delving into to appreciate the sheer outrageousness of the story.
Even when vacationers from abroad have planned accordingly and bought "travel insurance" to insulate themselves from the infamous corporate healthcare scam they've been warned about, they still stand no chance against the giant Capitalist Deists of the For-Profit religion. Forget all that propaganda about us having the best healthcare in the world. If you have the money to buy it we do. For hedge fund managers and heirs to fortunes it's accessible and may truly be the best healthcare in the world. But what about for everyone else who have no choice but to get it through insurance companies?
For most of the rest of the world when it comes to healthcare, from Germany to Barbados, from Japan to Ireland, governments have long ago decided that socialist policies were more humane than the for-profit capitalist way. Everyone gets sick and needs medical attention at one time or another. Rightly so, the majority of the world has enacted policies in which citizens' taxes will pay for their free healthcare (we have astronomical military budgets to float). Only a few months ago Time magazine ran a story with this headline, "U.S. Health Care Ranked Worst in the Developed World," but how many cable tv news outlets followed-up with investigative exposes?
When I had a skiing accident in Italy I was taken to the hospital, given x-rays, seen by a doctor, wrapped in a cast and sent on my way. I was so afraid of going because of my conditioning here that it would cost a fortune, I was fully prepared to forgo medical attention. I had torn the MCL in my knee, and it was quite painful. After I'd been treated I was rolled in a wheelchair down the corridor, past the front desk and into my friend's waiting car. No bill.
We're the last remaining developed country in the world that holds fast to a pro-business, "free market" ideology, which directly results in monopolies, over-litigious chicanery and an insurance model when it comes to healthcare (and most business for that matter). Everyone on this list I'm sure has at one time or another experienced a nightmare dealing with insurance companies over what is and what isn't covered. Isn't it about time we decide we'd rather have healthcare for all, instead of massive nuclear weapons and military bases in 110 countries across the globe?
As for the underbelly of capitalism, insurance companies embody its ugliness best. The business model is predicated on denying paying customers coverage to make profit. "Pre-existing conditions" and all sorts of loopholes are designed so they can run away from helping people. They pocket the ever-inflating premiums paid by strapped middle class families looking for a little peace of mind. To me, if Dante were alive today he may have reserved the hottest rings in hell for people who make their livings preying on the sick and old, using bureaucratic and legal tactics to confuse, frustrate and dispirit those most vulnerable. It doesn't get much more sinister than that.
And boy are they good at it. So good in fact, that the CEO for Aetna had a "compensation package" (aren't we sick of these euphemisms too?) of $30 million. Yes, one man, taking home that much. How many people had to pay out of pocket for healthcare for him to collect so many vacation mansions and sports cars? (Here's the monstrous takings of the top health insurance company CEO's.)
What kind of society do you want to live in? Obamacare doesn't go nearly far enough; it's a bonanza for the insurance companies. We can and must do better.
Well, at least that Canadian couple will always have that distinctly American greeting inextricably linked to their child's entry into our insane world: "Pay up, or you'll be hearing from our lawyers!"
Welcome to the United States of Business!