The house is on fire, but thank goodness there's no water!

For some unknown reason the San Francisco Chronicle decided that one woman's opinions about health care merited an entire article:

"It's a constant struggle with the hospitals and insurance companies just to get the bills straightened out," Heppe said.

[Her daughter]'s medical bills run about $100,000 a year. The fourth-grader has dual coverage through her father and through her mother's domestic partner.

"Right now big business runs my daughter's care, not me, not her doctors," Heppe said.

Gosh, $100K/year in bills, dealing with two different insurers, wrangling endlessly over procedures and expenses—if ever there was a fertile place to plant the seeds for nationalized health care, she's it, right?  I bet you've figured out the answer to that one already:

"But with age, paying taxes and having children, I've become more conservative," she said. "I don't think we need some type of socialized medicine. We have to put patients, and their doctors, back in charge of health."

This reminded me of a conversation I heard a few months back between two of my relatives who were commiserating about how hard it is to get the kind of medical care they need, how expensive prescription drugs are, how the insurance companies make them jump through hoops for even the smallest procedures, etc, etc.  Then, as the litany of horrors came to a close, one said to the other: "At least we don't have socialized medicine!"  And got enthusiastic agreement in response.

I didn't actually start weeping out loud or bashing my head against the table right then and there, but it was a close call.

Comments

[Thomas Daulton]

I've had that conversation you mention at the end, many times. The American health care system features, in various situations, extremely long waits, denial of care, denial of patient preferences, shoddy care, massive expenditures of tax money and other less or more obvious forms of extortion... but thank God it's not socialized medicine because I can CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!!!1! Yes, I can CHOOOOOOOOOOOSE to go to one doctor I pick randomly from an approved list, whom I've never heard of before, as opposed to another doctor I pick randomly from an approved list, whom I've never heard of before. But at least they don't assign a doctor to me like in some pinko commie country!

I once tore a ligament on a Friday afternoon but I didn't really realize it, it didn't bother me until after business hours. My insurance company gave me a choice: I could wait until Monday and then _try_ to get an appointment with a regular doctor at some point within the coming month. Or, I could go to an emergency room, but if a doctor decided it was not a bona-fide medical emergency, I would have to pay for the entire treatment, without question several thousands of dollars. "CHOICE" in this context apparently means that I have to play "doctor" myself, decide the seriousness of my injury without any X-Rays or anything, and then decide on the appropriate medical course. As Ben Franklin once said, "God heals and then the doctor collects the bill."

[Save the Oocytes]

It reminds me of the JW publications, which always have stories of children who were courageous enough to die by refusing blood transfusions.

[Save the Oocytes]

"We don't need no water,
Let the motherfucker[s] burn
Burn, motherfucker,
Burn"

[John Caruso]

Thomas: "CHOICE" in this context apparently means that I have to play "doctor" myself, decide the seriousness of my injury without any X-Rays or anything, and then decide on the appropriate medical course.

Of course, man, that's the American way. I always laugh when I hear about these people who find out they have West Nile virus and get it treated quickly, because if I went to my HMO and said I had a fever, some body aches, and was tired, they'd tell me to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids. I'd be paralyzed before they'd even let me in the hospital.

Of course that wouldn't be a problem since I wouldn't call them anyway, since I'm self-employed and so I live with the fear of having my health insurance cut off if I, you know, use it. I fully expect to die some day of a condition that could have been easily prevented or treated if only I'd lived in a country where you just go to the doctor when you don't feel well. And about that "choice"? Yeah, it sure was nice to be able to "choose" a doctor from the list of, oh, ten or fifteen that my HMO provided, none of whom I'd ever heard of or knew a thing about.

It might be this issue most of all that makes me feel that Americans deserve what we get. A nation in which 15-year old TV ads still dominate the discussion over health care is a nation of infants.

StO: For a second there I thought you were referencing the Fatima Mansions....

[SteveB]

From a 2007 CNN poll:
"64% [of Americans] believe the government should provide national health insurance coverage for all Americans, even if it would raise taxes."
Source: http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=2910#sources

[John Caruso]

Hey, Steve, good to see you again. Good point, and I've actually cited that article (and therefore that poll, indirectly) myself and seen the same kinds of results in different polls. But I've also always felt there was a disconnect somewhere, because that's not what I hear from friends, family, casual acquaintances, and so on. Maybe I'm just talking to the wrong people.

For that same reason I've always felt vaguely uneasy about the entire panoply of polls that show that Americans are secret leftists (as per the article), even though I'll shamelessly deploy them when they're useful.