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My Heart is Breaking Again Today
CHICAGO - You'd think I'd get over it already. After reading so many patient horror stories and knowing how many people are hurting for healthcare, you'd think I'd have thicker skin. But I sat alone again this morning in the dark and cried. And I cried because this recession - this depression - is going to mean more and more people will have less access to healthcare both through insurance and through other means.
ABC ran a piece this morning that described the ghost town-like atmosphere in some communities where foreclosures are growing and people are just up and leaving their homes and many of their personal belongings. Trash collectors come through and empty out the homes of the food, the dishes, the clothes, the TVs, the microwaves and the toys left behind. One of the young workers wondered when it might be his own family, his own kid's doll...
These aren't events that just happened when the stock market took a dive or AIG failed or Lehman's execs went to the spa to relax. These families had been in crisis for months leading up to their fleeing. They had borrowed from friends and family members to pay the bills, they had answered angry collection notices and calls, they had tried to shield their babies from the stress, they had gone to work every day and tried to keep the ship afloat. It took a while... and neighbors knew it, friends knew it, teachers knew it, pastors knew it.
Lost jobs - in record numbers -- and lost homes mean less money for health insurance. Anyone who has left or lost a job in recent years knows that COBRA benefits can be outrageously expensive to continue, and many families simply cannot pay a mortgage and those high premiums. And as tax revenues drop for cities and counties and states, the ability to fund health facilities to treat the uninsured and the underinsured will suffer more. When those cutbacks are made, they can be measured in public health outcomes for years to come. And how many media reports have we all seen in recent days about the stress of these times and the health issues related to that stress?
When will we get over this collective position of ignorance and inaction that keeps us from acting simply because for the moment our own worlds are not rocked or ravaged? We are our neighbors' keepers. If I am happy keeping my own health insurance and access to care but know that my neighbor has none, I am responsible for fixing that - for both of us. If I have a home but my neighbor is losing theirs, it is my problem too.
So I sat in my chair this morning, listening to the opening Wall Street bell on TV and watching the commentators dance between telling us the grim reality and singing a happy song so we won't actually feel bad about the collapse. And I cried the same sort of guttural cry I felt when months ago when I internalized the reality that we could give one another healthcare if we wanted to... our denial of that right to each other is an active political and societal decision not an accident.
My favorite movie of all time is the Wizard of OZ. I always like the scenes where the curtain has been pulled back on the great and glorious OZ simply to show a man feverishly at the control panel trying to direct Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow. Finally, finally, finally, the crew learns they always had courage and a brain and a heart. I know, it's a simple message and a bit moralistic. But sometimes I find the simple messages speak to the deepest of human pursuits and the common dreams we all share.
This tanking economy isn't about the media reports or the leaders at the controls or any of that power structure stuff we all have been trained to watch and listen to - they are the same people who did know it was coming and chose to wring out a bit more profit before they sounded the warning bells. The tanking economy is hurting our neighbors. It is hurting our kids. It is hurting marriages. It is hurting our towns and states.
And as the depths of the greed finally deliver the expected and long anticipated results, our already broken healthcare system will suffer more deeply from the compounding of damage done by private, market-invested, for-profit corporate control of a basic human right that is to be cared for when we are sick.
I wonder how many other Americans cried this morning when they saw that young trash collector lamenting as he tossed another baby-doll in his trash bag. If we don't collectively act soon on the healthcare crisis and move toward public funding and away from volatile private markets, it won't be just more inanimate dolls we're allowing to be tossed in the trash. It will be more and more very real American lives.
The curtain has been pulled back, and we always had the heart, the courage and the brains to change it. We were just too hoodwinked to know. It is time - well past time - to stand together and act.
78 Comments so far
Show AllI truly believe we will fix it this time. With our without Obama (1% possible McCain) and if needed, in spite of Congress.
I believe this time they will have to get on board.
Thomas Moore:
The only way to fix it is to vote for the people who champion it as they are the only ones who will craft it. I don't understand why so many still refuse to understand this .....
No one is championing single payer. And as I said, I don't care who's elected or who's in Congress.....this time I believe they are the ones who are going to have to give.
Its gone from just fairness to economic necessity.
And if they aren't talking about single payer, forget them.
Unlike the Great Depression Era where there was a united labor force from the public, there's no united healthcare force from the public even though more people are waking up to the idea of single payer healthcare. Hillary tried it or at least similar but look what happened in 1993-1994. Opposition in Congress still looks stronger and since the drug and insurance companies are still more powerful and even more so than the Great Depression, anyone in Congress who tries to bring up single payer is risking his or her life. We the public owe it to ourselves and Congress to prevent rightwing military coups from forming against true populist pols. That lesson should have been learned from the 1934 rightwing military coup against FDR.
"anyone in Congress who tries to bring up single payer is risking his or her life."
Could you please explain this statement to me. HR 676 has 93 cosponsors, more than any other health care bill in Congress:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P
If more progressives are elected into Congress, this thing just might pass, and not be vetoed by President Obama. With more and more people losing their jobs, the health insurance companies are going to see their profits go down, and that couldn't make me happier. But please remember that there is strong support for HR 676, a lot of people are working hard on this issue.
Some people, not just from wealthy countries, have universal state funded health care.
America's Corporate Controlled Government is very much against this sort of humanity.
Bush vows to keep Cuba's sanctions
Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:02:03 GMT
The US has vowed not to lift economic sanctions on Cuba
unless Havana releases its political prisoners and allows freedom of expression.
(Bound and Gagged in GITMO notwithstanding, eh George)
What says Obama on Cuba? Also, Nader, McKinney, Barr and Paul. Moore and Alexander (sp-usa) want to lift all sanctions. The time has come, people.
Do people know that , when Hurricane Katrina happened, that Castro offered to send 500 doctors and nurse there for us, to help, and Bush turned him down? He also offered to send extra drs. to Guantonamo Bay--Bush turned them down for obvious reasons. I would really like to know who these drs and PhDs were that let GITMO happen...
In turn, when a big hurricane (cant think of name??) hit Cuba, Bush offered some help, with strings attached, of course, to send food and water, but, it would be distributed by 'christian charity groups". (Abstinence only?? Wtf knows.)
In any case, it is time for this to stop.
I absolutely do remember Castro's offer after Katrina. These physicians are trained in disaster management and work almost exclusively on the field. They travel all over the world, wherever there is a disaster, and administer medical care to the injured and ill. And Bush, who sat on his hands and did NOTHING, refused the offer! Do you also know that a Doctors Without Borders ship came into port and offered medical assistance and was also turned away? What the...??? Can you imagine the government's reaction if the people trapped in New Orleans after Katrina had been rich white folks? Holy shit! They would have sent luxury ocean liners to rescue them! I have a gut feeling that it was an easy way for this administration to dispose of some of the "undesirables" in our society. More stuff for rich white bitches like Cindy Lou.
Wikipedia:
Guantánamo Bay (Spanish: Bahía de Guantánamo) is a bay located in Guantánamo Province at the south-eastern end of Cuba (19°54′N 75°9′W / 19.9, -75.15). It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and is surrounded by steep hills creating an enclave cut off from its immediate hinterland.
The United States assumed territorial control over Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, which granted the United States a perpetual lease of the area without the Cuban Government reacting. The current Cuban government considers the U.S. presence in Guantánamo to be illegal, arguing that the Cuban-American Treaty violates Article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which declares a treaty void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force in violation of international law. Article 4 of the same document, however, states that Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties shall not be retroactively applied to any treaties made before itself.[1]
The southern portion of the bay is surrounded by the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, established in 1898. Since 2002 the base has hosted a detainment camp for suspected militant combatants from Afghanistan and from around the world, but specifically not for captives taken in Iraq, who qualify for POW status."
Doctors do not have a say.
Thanks. I wish Obama would support it. His campaign does not.
What are the chances that Obama would veto HR676 if passed by the next congress?
It would have to pass both Houses.
Actualy, I think there a pretty good chance he would veto it--especially after the Wall St. Bailout!
What Congress of your dream do you think would even "ask that" of a "new Obama administration"? HIs health care proposal is pretty lame--but I doubt tat it wil eve get anywhere.
I have spoken to people his campaign over and er. I even told them I knewlot of people who woul vote for him JUST because saide would sign HR 676 if it came to his desk. The worker repeated teh same , nonsense insurance based program that they are touting now.
I have no ieea why this wil not let me correct my spelling tonht (lol)
Obama has already made it clear that he will postpone rescinding the Bush tax cuts for those making over 250k and his latest dirty tricks on forcing Black Caucus members of Congress to support the Wall $treet bailout are enough for me to hate Obama just as much as I am disgusted with the GOP. Obama's nothing more than a closet "conservative" and a POMPOUS FRAUD !
Thanks for the update. I don't know how far it will go but because the American public lacks the strong unity that existed with the labor movement of the 1930s, it will be interesting to see the Democrats take this up and I hope that they can overcome filibustering in the Senate. If they can do that much, Obama will most likely not veto it.
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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/06-0
Under the single-payer system, doctors' offices and hospitals remain private for-profit or non-profit institutions. But the federal government covers the bills for patient services, with funds coming from taxes. The patient gets the health care they need. Paperwork and billing are kept to a minimum. Employers no longer have the difficult task of choosing, administering, and paying for health insurance for employees. Everyone is covered.
VOTE NADER/GONZALEZ 2008… You’ll be glad you did and so will I…
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
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What is to prevent the profiteers from gaming the single payer healthcare system? What is to prevent the healthcare lobby from bribing Congress into raising the healthcare payout? So instead of twice inflated healthcare costs, we get triple inflated costs, externalized now, better camouflaged.
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President Ralph Nader in charge.
Advocate for the People.
Another great reason to vote for Nader/Gonzalez
.
"In January 1995, John Dingell, Jr. became the Dean, or the longest-serving member of the House and, as of 2006, the father and son together have 73 consecutive years of service in Congress."
"A hallmark of their service has been a proposal for a national health insurance system, first introduced by John, Sr. in 1933 and re-introduced since at every Congress by the father and then the son."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Dingell,_Sr.
"At the beginning of every Congress, Dingell introduces a bill providing for a national health insurance system, the same bill that his father proposed while he was in Congress."
"his goals of a single-payer national health insurance plan"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dingell
The basis of healthcare, as practiced in America, is to keep people unnerved, scared and working as hard as possible for their employers. Wonder why "American productivity is the greatest in the world" is possible? One word: Fear.
Imagine having free healthcare like the rest of the industrial western countries? Not being held captive by anyone...any employer, free to work and have a bigger choice of employment? Everyone being treated equally.
Hmm. Now THAT is what really scares the hell out of 'em. And I don't think it will change. It just strips away too much leverage Washington and Wall Street have over the masses.
good point
American productivity is among the greatest in the world because the American economy is among the most advanced in the world. It has nothing to do with some supernatural hardworking qualities of the current generation of American workers. That is just feel-good election-time BS. There is no selection factor at work--the workforce is simply composed of the people who are born here, whether good or bad. It's not the same as saying "Princeton students are the most productive in America", because Princeton students actually are selected based on their individual qualities. American workers aren't. Sitting and pulling a lever for eight hours a day can be extremely productive when the lever is hooked up to a machine that stamps a hood on a car each time it is pulled. Without that machine (and most people in third world countries *are* without that machine), sitting and pulling a lever even for sixteen hours a day would not be productive at all. Our productivity has to do with how advanced our capital is, it has nothing to do with our labor force.
Not exactly.
http://blogs.sun.com/jimgris/entry/american_productivity
Americans have been scornful of the health systems of other nations. Americans have been proud of their way of life. All that is about to change, but Americans deserve very little sympathy, they have always thought themselves to be better than everybody else.lizard
Tut-tut....give us a little sympathy. We are going to need it.
But you're forgetting that most Americans are MISINFORMED about the actual healthcare systems outside this nation and have been brainwashed into believing that theirs is great. Even when Hillary tried to reform it in 1993, look what happened? Granted, it was full of goodies for private insurance but she probably knew that had she done it like FDR, she would have likely faced even greater opposition and like FDR an attempted rightwing military coup or at least her husband would have. There are those of us who are well educated about reality but the trouble is only a small percentage of those well-educated are trying to correct the incorrect assumptions others have against other countries' healthcare plans, at least those countries whose healthcare is better. Tell me this. Why do more Americans still believe that India has a better healthcare system than America while at the same time believe that Europe's is worse when in fact the opposite is true? We Americans ought to be deeply ashamed for exploiting the poor slobs in China and India and causing them to worsen their already ailing healthcare systems but we keep begging for "cheap cheap cheap" and pay no attention to quality or innovation. Sorry to say a lot but my point is this. Americans are not stupid. They're being misinformed and poisoned by the corporate elites.
What you say is true, Nathan. However, Americans need to take the responsiblity to become informed. The facts are there but when we point them out, they get angry and call us unpatriotic and anti-American. Misinformed and poisoned, yes. But time to take off the rose-colored glasses and see this country for what it is. It's a wonderful, beautiful but very-flawed nation in need of a major renovation.
Americans do not care about health care, as long as they have it, or they dont get sick.
They think that nothing wil happen to them.
I am an American and I absolutely agree with you, Javier. You must realize though that this is how Americans have been brainwashed from birth, all their lives. I know because one day I awoke from the trance and was shocked at my naivete. The truth shall set us FREE!!!
Sorry, sir. But you are absolutely wrong. The only Americans scornful of other country's health systems are rich repugs. And even they are treated by Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Arabic nationalities, that were not trained here, but pursued the requirements. Any American will concede to better health systems than we have, not to mention democracies. Believe me when I say I have no ill thoughts to any country in this world, not one. I would hope most Americans would agree with me. What you see on American media are all lies.
As for being better than everybody else? Are you kidding? Everyone I know is embarrassed to be an American. We are the ones who have experienced the horror we can unleash against innocent people.
Forgive most Americans ignorance of other cultures, they hide it, because they don't want to cry in public for being so ashamed.
Peace.
I agree with the first two paragraphs except "Everyone I know is embarrassed to be an American."
You may not know me so to speak, but I'm extremely proud to be an American. We have made and are making under present leadership some Lulu's of mistakes, but our pluses still outweigh them.
The Insurance Industry has more money than you. They employ fulltime lobbiest to lobby against any National Health Care Policy because your taking money out of their pockets. Most people have to buy their insurance at their place of employment since the Unions were busted, and the Trade Laws were enacted allowing the Corporations to move to Nation where they could find far cheaper slave labor than the slave labor they had in your Nation.
In our culture it would have been very difficult for any person of any Tribe to become homeless unless they really did something big against their Tribe & were told to leave. But, the days of hunting, fishing, growing, gathering, & trading for food, living simply with the earth are long gone, & this world is here now.
This is the now of things all come about through all Cause & Effect through the decision making of human beings. In a money money money world where money is people's God, and people are pathetic upon the earth without money this in time compression is the result of the invention of money.
All things happening now have been planned to keep ushering in the New World Order. Don't worry the rich of the good old boy system of doing things aren't going to be hurt financially they'll just wipe out 401k's along the way to leaving people homeless or forcing them to live with relatives, take apartments if their credit isnt' bad, because everyone has to be numbered in their system, rent motel rooms, live in their cars, live in tents, or say to yesterday's homeless person, "Hi neighbor."
When I lived in Seattle I knew all the homeless people in my area, & most in the downtown area. I liked hanging out with them in my spare time as I considered them a better class of people. Unfortunately yes, they were addicted to alcohol, drugs, both, most had Aides, but that wasn't because they were bad people they were just weak people. The strong were supposed to take care of the weak not prey upon them as does the predatory world of man.
The Planet orbits...the Time Continuim continues. Human race been bumping along through time living & dying.
MITAKUYE OYASIN Yata Hey!!
The multinational corporation that I work for also owns the healthcare corporation for employee health care. They actually make money on this, kind of like that corporation that takes out life insurance policies on thier employees and uses the money when one of them dies to fund thier employee benefits. This multinational is in financial trouble because they also own mortgage and lending too. I guess there are limits to what you take. Still, there are other multinational companies waiting in the wings to buy up these failures for very cents on the dollar.
You Decide
Our manufacturing jobs, like the baby doll thrown in the trash bag, have been trashed and given to other countries with cheaper labor and poorer health care.
The more we hollow out our own manufacturing economy, the worse our profit-based health care system becomes. With fewer people working, and those who are with less health care benefits, the higher the cost of health care becomes to provide huge revenue and earnings to insurers, doctors and administrators.
Until health care becomes a not-for-profit regulated service, we all will be like the baby doll. Thrown in the trash when we can no longer afford the basics of life.
We need to make it in America and buy what we produce to have any hope. And we need to stop profiting on the maladies of others.
This is the United States where all of us have the "Right" to die. We have no other rights according to the Bushies.
Community organizer, haa ha!
Obama's health care plan is simply tinkering with a broken system, but keeping what is fundamentally wrong with our health care system intact. As others have said, if we really want single payer (as I do) we simply must have the political will to vote outside the two-party system.
Or make whoever is in office mind the American people for a change.
Does anyone have any experience with the French system?
Isn't the French system 50% public and 50% private as far as healthcare goes or is that Europe in general?
France and Germany, are supposed to be the best level of care for teh best price in the world. Scandanavia is also good,.
I know that no one is denied essential care. I know that everyone has a primary doctor. I know that there is some waiting for non-emergency proceures. But, when they poll EU(ians??lol), a very large majority of them would never want to go back.
Their doctors (if it is like Scand.) are just middle class. They are not in teh upper 5% opf the pop by any means,. But they live well. They do not have to pay exhorbetent prices for insurance.
Since drs. dont necessarily becone very wealthy, you have drs going into the field for reasons other than money.
My closest doctor is 50 miles away but that's probably what I get for living in rural Nebraska as far away from the suburbs as can be. And despite being close to the Kansas border, it's no better there and the distance is even longer.
Italy and Denmark.
"It is time - well past time - to stand together and act."
I would like to do just that. Unfortunately you endorse the same politicians who championed the legislation that guaranteed the failure of the economy.
So, when you write: "This tanking economy isn't about the media reports or the leaders at the controls or any of that power structure stuff...", I can only assume that, like the man behind the curtain, we are supposed to ignore the truth as well.
If you want me to stand with your organization, you will have to give me some indication that you do not support those who do not support you. If you believe Obama supported you by assuring the "dividend payout" and the added portions of "pork fat", I am going to question your priorities.
I appreciate your sense of connected responsibility, you do not need to learn that we are one but many others do. I am sad to see the liklifhood of the return of epidemics before we wake up to the importance of a system designed to achieve Public Health.
I believe we should pay attention to what Cuba has accomplished in this regard with scarce resources. From what I have read, they have a Doctor and Nurse team in every neighborhood. This team works with the community to monitor and address problems quickly.
We are also seeing the end of the Era of Cheap Oil. We will need to relocalize almost every facet of our lives to meet the challenges posed by this. In the end I believe we can create a better quality life if we go in this direction. I live in an intentional community that strives to create a higher quality of life while using fewer resources. The positive vision for the future living at the Los Angeles Eco-Village gives me helps me cope with the deep sadness that I also feel. May your way be helped by the love of others.
Lara Morrison
I saw the bit on ABC that Ms. Smith mentions as I was getting ready for work yesterday. I'm not trying to make a point or influence anybody, just stating my gut feelings, but I certainly wasn't heartbroken by it. These American homeowners are among the wealthiest people on earth, and I am supposed to be heartbroken that they just took *one step* down a ladder of wealth that has at least 50 more rungs underneath? The presidential candidates talk of "Wall Street" and "Main Street" as though they are opposites. They are both pretty damned near the top of the global pyramid. Americans are unbelievably self-centered whiners sometimes, imo. I hope I never get to be like that, bitching about a mortgage when I've never in my life known hunger (and indeed I have to run a few miles a day to keep from getting fat).
A sense of perspective is easier when you aren't involved.
I am with you Donna.....I feel like crying everyday to witness the knife-like stabs that seem to penetrate my fellow neighbors and community members these days in the form of denied mental health care services for the indigent and working poor (like me) because the city/county feel the budget cuts should include social services like low-cost clinics.
The other day it was pouring down rain outside (for 5 straight days it has been raining) and in to the coffeeshop came a drenched and clearly poor woman who seemed to behave as if she had some mental disability. I couldn't help but stare at her and the staff behind the bar who were agitated that she was wanting to sit and rest at the counter and asked for a free cup of coffee. The kind worker did comply w/ the coffee and I went up to give the barista $5 dollars to credit food for the woman (anonymously) and the gal didn't want to inform her (I think to discourage the woman from coming in and begging) but said she would let the woman know if the woman asked for some food.
It is a sad state of affairs in Fla right now. I can't speak for other parts of the country.
We need to organize mass movements and demand our politicans to bail out the citizens and not corporate sleeze-bags on Wall St.
M
Thank you.
Joe
Yes, organizing is what will change this awful selfishness and greed -- there are plenty of us out there who care but just sometimes aren't connected with others enough to act together. We have to change that.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
Beautiful article. "our denial of that right [healthcare] to each other is an active political and societal decision not an accident". So are homelessness, hunger, illiteracy and poverty. These are deliberate decisions of people, not God or nature. People can change them. Despite the ravaging, our country is still rich in resources. We have to take it back and use it for good.
I have seen that baby doll image too often. After the shelling of Beirut years ago, it was a photo that included a doll sprawled out on the street that woke me to the human tragedy going on, more so than photos of dozens of devastated modern buildings. I always evaluate politics by including the likely effect on a three year old girl.
Joe