Quick Hit: A System From Hell
Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, has a piece at The Nation about her personal experiences with the healthcare system, what it has done (or I should say hasn't done) for her family and what her story says about the challenges many women are faced with in the midst of our healthcare crisis.
h/t to C!
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What a heartbreaking story. I am going to post it wherever I can, people should read this.
Unfortunately, this heartbreaking story is not unique. I work in the area of disability law and have long advocated for people who need health care. There's not much of a safety net out there. Any one of us could end up where Kate and her family have found themselves and it's so very wrong.
I really feel for Kate Michaelman - I've been going through the same hell trying to get Medicaid and Medicare to help me pay for the care that my dementia afflicted mother needs.
And my brother died 2 years ago in large part because Medicaid would not pay for a heart transplant (which was just about the only thing that could have saved him)
So I understand exactly what she's going through.
The double tragedy that befell Michaelman's family - and the fact that the insurance company-dictated horror that befell her husband and daughter could happen to just about any American (except the very rich) is yet another reason why we need Canadian style single payer national health insurance in this country!
Make no mistake, socialized medicine or not, people are not going to have carte blanche healthcare. The UK NHS has specific criteria that have to be met in order to a knee replacement. IN other words, if you are 75 years old and 150 lbs overweight, you aint gettin no $50,000 artificial knee/hip.