For my one millionth "why we need universal health care and we need it right now", I give you my stressful Monday.
We though Teh Hubby was in another MS relapse. Due to damage from previous relapses, he is permanently dizzy and lightheaded and has peripheral neuropathy in his feet. A few months ago, he started feeling dizzier, more lightheaded and getting pounding headaches daily. He doesn't have health insurance and we don't have money, so he just dealt with it. I also noticed that I seemed to be having trouble hearing. He kept asking me if backup vocals, etc. were in tune and they sounded fine to me (I literally twitch when I hear something out of tune.), but he seemed to think they weren't right. Since he has perfect pitch and I don't, I assumed the problem was on my end.
Last week, he started getting wheezy and once I got my Christmas bonus, I made an appointment with the doctor for today. Turns out, Teh Hubby has massive double ear infections, inner, middle and outer. (I wasn't having trouble hearing, he was.) Apparently, he is like me in that he doesn't get pain from an ear infection, so he never suspected it. All of his symptoms are the ear infections, which could have easily been cleared up with a round of antibiotics when it started.
But we couldn't get him to a doctor when it started, so now he has $140 drops on top of an antibiotic, and we have to hope they work before his eardrums burst, which is a serious risk at this point.
This is the problem with health care as it is in the US. If you have health insurance, an ear infection is no big deal. If you don't have health insurance, an ear infection could cost you your hearing or your life. We're supposed to be the greatest country in the world and people are dying from treatable illnesses, stupid things even. It's a tragedy that this happens at all. That people support this as the best possible option is just plain evil.
Monday, December 21, 2009
7 comments:
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anonimuss,
ReplyDeleteI can feel the Christian love you show from my side of the Atlantic Ocean...
I really hope your hubby gets better sonn, PF. My father lost his hearing in one ear when he was a kid. But that was in 1947 and things weren't quite back to normal at that time.
@Anoniwuss:
ReplyDeleteYou win the award of Douchebag of the Day. Now go home and stick your head up your ass. Further, that is.
All I can say is you and your hubby have my best wishes. But, you may as well forget about the “change” of the current healthcare reform bill. As it is, it’s been stripped of its abortion coverage, its public option, and even its Medicare expansion (if that’s what it was). Talk about change.
God, how I’m starting to seriously hate those Senate Republicans. They’re worse than even the vilest of fundies in my book; at least fundies don’t have direct control over everyone’s lives. The fucking asshats in the Senate do, and they’re doing all they can to fuck everything up for everyone else.
Fucking corporate whores. *seethes* Universal healthcare is just a pleasant myth at this point for America.
(Just curious: aren’t there any free walk-in clinics in your area?)
Hey Anonimuss, you and your Christianity can go fuck yourselves. You are going straight to hell for your unkindness.
ReplyDeleteI hope your hubby gets better. I think the expansion of community health centers and the Medicaid expansion still make this a pretty good start. If you make under $30,000 you can qualify for Medicaid. We used to not qualify, but thanks to this Recession, now we will. Which will probably be better than having insurance you can't afford to use.
Free walk-in clinics? Is Canada a really cold version of paradise or something? Why am I not there? Why are some people lucky enough to say "eh" and "aboot" while I am not?!
ReplyDelete(It's been a long day.)
Oh, yeah, buhbye Anonimuss!
Lulz, no, it ain’t paradise here. Paradise doesn’t come with two feet of @#$&ing snow, for one thing.
ReplyDeleteI’m not talking about free healthcare (hah, as if), but the sort of little clinic you can walk in, whether you have a scheduled appointment or not, and see a doctor and get some prescription medication and whatever. You know, like in House (yeah, it’s a TV show, but the hospital has a free walk-in clinic and I’m pretty sure they didn’t make that up).
Besides, healthcare in Canada is fine … well, compared to America’s, anyway. The waits can be ridiculously long, even for important stuff – in Québec, anyway – but at least people aren’t dying just because they can’t afford to see a doctor, and they aren’t losing their homes because they had to pay for surgery. Honestly, you would have to be here to understand just how absolutely ridiculous the situation of healthcare in America is to Canadians. And to any other part of the Eastern developed world.
(Footnote: WE DO NOT SAY “EH” OR “ABOOT”!!! Whoever made that up should be chopped to tiny little pieces with a hatchet, then fed to pigs as slop. Sheesh.)
Huh. Apparently I missed all the Anonimuss fun. Sounds like a real winner.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to your hubby, PF. That really sucks.
@Joe: I've never heard "aboot", but it does sound like "aboat" to me. *shrug* For whatever that's worth.
Best wishes to the hubby. That sounds like a horrendous infection!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I realize I'm luck to have insurance. And still, because my deductible is so high, I avoid going to the doctor for anything other than my yearly physical that's covered.
We have a health care "system" alright, it's just a system for doing something else...