Healthcare

I think there is something wicked and twisted about a type of fascism that would argue against real healthcare reform as being "communist". And honestly, if this is what Americans wants for itslef in the year 2009, I see nothing to hope for in terms of a respectful future for this country.

I just visited my friend Bobbie's blog Almost There where she talks about trying to find an insurance company to pay for her medications. Whenever I read the posts Bobbie writes on her experiences as a senior navigating the American healthcare nightmare, I think about my 79 year-old mother, who has now been living back in her country of Portugal for twenty-two years.

Having previously lived in the U.S. for twenty years, my parents sold their home a couple of years after my father's company closed its doors. Literally. My father, a welder, showed with his co-workers one morning for the first shift and the gate was chained and bolted. My father was fifty-eight years old. Not entitled to his full pension. Depressed and disillusioned, he and my mother decided to move back to Portugal to salvage some of what they'd missed most about their country and to retire more harmoniously with their environment. But it was also a move that allow my parents to live more comfortably. They never endured the burden of healthcare costs because a national health program was in its early stages in Portugal in 1987. It's expensive for them, I'm sure. They're the poorest member of the EU. My parents lived much more cheaply on the amounts they were able to salvage from their pensions. My mother worked in U.S. manufacturing, too. In a small factory that made parts for electronics. Her company has long since moved South where cheap labor was plentiful. Now the cheapest labor is children in far-away countries that nobody thinks a lot about.

The real deal is that over the past five years my mother has had three major surgeries: lumpectomy, open-heart surgery and gastric cancer surgery to remove her stomach. She's doing fairly well, too. Her care has been good when she's needed the treatment or if the national doctor even knew she had a problem. Prevention is not as highly emphasized as it should be. But I have lots of family over there and they're all pretty happy with their healthcare. What it takes there is to be very vigilant about your own health care. What a lot of elders like my mother do in Portugal, is to just accept what the doctor says as the way it is and not seek more opinions or press the issue more heavily to get the care you need. With that said, I wish that type of system for my country, the U.S. and it boggles my brain that the system won't allow it. The healthcare industry is out of control. All the corporations are out of control and Americans are allowing it to happen. At least enough of us are buying the lies and propaganda that something as basic as healthcare is being denied us in the interest of profits. I'll tell ya, it ain't freakin' fair. It's wrong.

Large numbers of people having to declare bankruptcy over out-of-control health costs. Not to mention people without insurance being denied care or not accepted by insurance companies for pre-existing conditions. It's criminal.

And while I'm on a rant I'll just mention how disappointed I am in President Obama for not having the guts to stand up to the good 'ol boys and get the troops home from Iraq like he promised. Hats off to Russ Feingold for recently taking some leadership on Iraq. I should give you a link, shouldn't I? It's easy enough for you to search. Come on, humor me. It's not often I go on political rants. Not on the blog but lots of live action at home! Some activist...

And if you've made it this far, it's the rainbow after the storm (lalalalala). The Nova Scotia slidehow that is. It's going up as soon as I can make it happen.

Ta ta for now!
Pagan Sphinx