2008 - Communication Across the Curriculum (CAC)

G o v e r n m e n t
from work in severe pain. He laid on the floor, cringed in a ball,
between trips to the bathroom to vomit. We waited through six
hours of this pain before going to the emergency room, because
we feared the expense. He was in the emergency room for six
hours and had his appendix out the next day, then spent one
night in recovery. The bill for this experience was $20,000. We
paid $5,000 worth of the smaller bills, but the $15,000 bill from
the hospital has gone to collections because they were only
willing to accept a two-year payment plan of over $600 a month.
Had he not gotten his appendix out, it could have killed him.
But we waited six hours. I hate the idea that my boyfriend could
have died because we were afraid of the expense of going to
the hospital. Everyone has their own agenda and the opinions
that follow. If they work for a company or are in a profession
that provides reasonably priced insurance premiums and good
coverage then they don’t want the system to change. But I have
my own agenda and it is based on my own personal experiences
with the system. I hear everyone say the quality of our health
care will go down, but I wouldn’t know. Instead of going to the
doctor when I’m sick, I wait it out and hope for the best. If we
have such a great quality of health care, yet so many of us can’t
afford to access it, then the idea of quality becomes obsolete. I
would prefer to put the $165 that I spend on health insurance
every month into a universal health care plan. It doesn’t really
do me any good anyhow. It’s only of any use to me if something
major happens. I like the idea of preventative health care; it
makes much more sense than letting fear of the expense prevent
you from going to the doctor and then the problem gets worse
and more expensive once you do go. As Tony Benn said in the
film, “If you can find money to kill people, you can find money
to help people.” I think that’s a pretty good statement for our
times.
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W r i t i n g A c r o s s t h e C u r r i c u l u m