A Broken System

I am not a single issue voter. My personal beliefs on moral issues generally don't have to match those of the candidate for whom I vote. More important to me are the things that effect everyone everywhere everyday. Things like education, international policy, healthcare....ah, healthcare.

I just watched Sicko, a Michael Moore (MM) film about the American health care system. I realize that MM has his own spin on things, but there were a few things that I took from the film that were points I hadn't considered before. And I think for now I will consider being a single issue voter, with my issue being healthcare, because ours is a broken system.

In Spain, there is a social healthcare system and no one pays directly to the doctor, it is all supported through taxes. If you're hurt, you go to the hospital, you don't pay. If you're pregnant you birth your child in the hospital, you don't pay. Your kid has a fever and you go to the pediatrician, you don't pay. You need a kidney transplant, you're in luck because Spain is the highest per capita organ donor country in Europe AND you don't pay. Yes, DAD, I hear you, they DO pay, with their taxes. Of course they do, and the people who make more pay more taxes, the people who make less pay less, but EVERYONE gets the SAME healthcare, rich, poor, young, old, anyone and everyone. It is understood as a basic human right and that is where I think the US has fallen off track.

Do US-Americans feel they deserve healthcare anymore? We've been so beaten up and defeated by a corportate system that is out for their stockholders and their executives that I feel like we've lost sight of one of our basic human rights and we've allowed it to be taken away, sold to corporate America. We are tired of having to fight to get our claims paid, our copays, our deductibles, our pre-existing conditions. It is a system of hoops and hurdles and DENIALS, and this is for the ones who ARE insured! Let's not mention the millions of people with no insurance at all!

Why do we not have socialized health care in the US? Did you know that the World Health Organization ranked the US #37 in the world in health care systems? I hadn't heard this. Yes, the study has been disputed, but I think the general point is accurate. We hear about the "horrors" of socialized medicine, but I have yet to see them, living in a country with socialized medicine. I don't think patients wait any longer than US patients might wait, and in fact, they may wait less. What else are people afraid of? The level of care won't be good enough? People are generally happy in Spain with their healthcare. Doctors won't get paid enough? Well, doctors are still paid well here, and their education is as good as in the US or other top countries. The equipment, facilities and technology will suffer? Well, they are all up to date in Spain.

Are we afraid of the word "socialized?" MM had a good point in that we've socialized other systems, other basic rights, most importantly education. Everyone can go to school for free, so why can't we go to the doctor for free. Maybe if we weren't spending all our money on war-mongering we could afford to hire some doctors to take care of people. It's completely shameful that we can't take care of the poor or uninsured who need it most, let alone the soldiers coming home from Iraq/Afghanistan or 9/11 heroes that have lasting ailments and no healthcare.

Or maybe it is the hike in taxes? Well, I think that maybe for those that have insurance through their employers anyway, many of us pay part of that insurance either directly or a portion of what would otherwise be paid to us pays for our insurance instead. The nice thing about health care costs coming out of taxes is that those who can afford it more pay commensurately, and those who can't afford it get the help they need. Maybe some don't like the idea of giving people a "free ride?" Well, kids get a "free ride" in school until they are 18. Education is widely accepted as a basic right that should be provided by the government and even taxpayers with no kids help pay for that. So why is healthcare not regarded with the same basic human right status?

Our Spanish landlords are doctors, he is a emergency room doctor and she is a forensic doctor. They have two kids. They own a house in the suburbs, a large duplex apartment (where we rent) in the city, drive a nice car, wear nice clothes, she gets her hair done, son spends his summers in an exchange program in the US, they are very comfortable and happy. Are they over the top wealthy??? No. Do they need to be? No. They are loving, down-to-earth people that make a good enough salary to pay their taxes and have enough left to support a very comfortable lifestyle.

Our landlady says that the system here in Spain is phenomenal, everyone gets care, the doctors focus on their patients instead of insurance, billing, filling out paperwork for insurance claims, etc. I don't see perfection, and sure there will always be complaints about whatever, but overall it seems to be a great system. When I have been in the neighborhood clinic I have observed that people wait for 20-45 min. to get called into the pediatrician. The doctor comes out of his/her one-room office/exam room furnished plainly and professionally with the necessities, not made to look like it belongs in an interior design magazine. There is no nurse doing the intake or patient history, the doctor does it. There were no forms to fill out, no insurance to deal with, no copay to pay, no HIPAA paperwork to sign. Even when I made the appt. all they asked was name, DOB and phone number...for a first time patient!

Given our situation we are not part of the social healthcare system here, so when we go to the doctor we pay. We've been taking the kids to a pediatrician at the private hospital nearby rather than the public clinic, mainly because of the personality and gender of the doctor. The one they assigned us at the clinic was a male and I could see the girls weren't really comfortable with him. I found out that there was a female pediatrician at this other hospital and so we went there. We would have paid 50 euros at the clinic for an appt. Guess what we pay at the private hospital...50 euros. The x-ray we took was 42 euros. If the dollar wasn't so weak right now that would be like paying $92 for a dr. visit and an x-ray...how much would we pay in the US? Well, at least $150 for the doctor alone and then another $100 for the x-ray. As it is with the exchange rate, we paid about $140 altogether. A little more than half of what we would have paid in the US.

What is pissing me off right now is that I am filling out a claim form for our insurance to get reimbursed for the 92 euros, our first claim in the year we've been here. I haven't had to deal with this crap in a year. They've already denied it over the phone, calling it "pre-existing," but I'll submit it anyway. Don't start with me people. If we were committing any kind of fraud, don't you think I'd be a little more creative than to come up with a 92 euro charge?

The problem is that the insurance company wants documentation from the doctor supporting the claim, a receipt alone that says pediatric consult isn't enough. That's not the way it works here, so this would be extra work for the pediatrician. Not to mention she might be confused as to why the hell I would need such a document. I am too. Why do I need to justify our medical needs to some corporation when we've purchased the insurance for us, it's ours, we bought it, they should provide it when we ask for it. And why do they need to butt into our personal information and know our medical business? Why can't we do it like so much of the rest of the world with universal care? You walk in, they take care of you. There is nothing to defraud either.

So, which candidate is shooting for the socialized healthcare? None of the major three that I can tell. I guess it takes some hutzpah to propose it in the socialist-phobic US. The thing is, having socialized health care is not a socialist ideal. In fact, being able to choose your doctor and have the freedom to access your care without barriers couldn't be more democratic, of and by the people! The US system as it is now is dictatorial and elitist. If healthcare systems were a form of government (which they almost are), we'd have a fascist healthcare system. I found this definition of fascism, it's actually kind of scary how it fits: a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

I probably sound very liberal to many US-Americans, but those that know me know that I am fairly middle of the road, more independent than Reublican or Democrat. I have some conservative ideals and some liberal ones. So don't go crazy thinking I've joined the communist party in Spain. I just feel like capitalism has gotten out of control to the point of being detrimental to US society. Our healthcare system, rife with profit-making corporations, is a prime example. It's just wrong.