Health care in America

OK, so in the United States if you are sick or injured, you have to pay to see a doctor. If you have insurance then you still have to pay, but in a different way. And the more you use the health care system, the more it will cost you. If you get sick one too many times, some insurance companies will no longer cover you.

So, what service is the insurance industry providing? They are making access to health care less accessible, and they are scaring people into not going to the doctor. And that's not even accounting for those without insurance. For those that have to pay themselves, one major medical event can easily ruin their life.

A few days ago I was eating lunch next to this guy at a cafeteria on the ASU campus. I mentioned that I was from Canada and he said: "the only thing I really know about Canada is how horrible that socialized medicine is."

I didn't know whether to laugh out load or just gently correct him. I chose the latter, but he just sat there with a blank look on his face as if I was speaking to him in Esperanto.

Whether it's a lifetime of propaganda, or just a simple lack of understanding, I find that over and over again most people here honestly think that their health care system is the best one there is.

In Canada I can walk into a hospital and get treated for anything and walk back out. They don't ask me to pay or send me a bill. There's no follow-up from an insurance company or a collection agency. There's no letter from the hospital saying that the insurance company hasn't paid yet. There is no re-adjustment of coverage.

All there is is a healthier individual.

I'm only singling Canada out because that's where I'm from, but the same holds true for nearly every non-American "industrialized" county (as well as many non-"industrialized" counties too!).

So now that you realize something needs to change, what can you do about it?

Beats me. I guess just try not to get sick.