What Would You Do If You Had Guaranteed Health Care?

[Epiphany4z]

This was the Campaign for America's Future's Big Afternoon at the Big Tent. CAF took over the Digg Stage (the entire upstairs floor of The Big Tent) for a series of four panels addressing some of the Big Questions we wrestle with here.

One of the highlights for me was Rep. Jan Schakowsky's presentation, which was part of the second hour's health care panel. She cited an avalanche of statistics describing what condition our condition is in (and I don't need to tell you: it's not good). Two in particular leaped out at me. One (which I knew) is that an American dies due to lack of health care access every 30 seconds. The second (which I did not know) is that Americans are being driven into bankruptcy by health care costs at exactly the same rate. Sixty thousand deaths, sixty thousand bankruptcies, every single year.

Schakowsky also said that health care hasn't been a hot-button political issue to date because the political conventional wisdom says that nobody's ever lost an election due to their health care position. That, she said, needs to change -- starting with John McCain, whose plan will make things far worse than they are now (as if such a thing were possible).

As an American living in Canada, my permanent resident card (the Canadian version of a green card) entitles me to the services of that country's health care system. I also still see doctors in the US, even though I'm no longer insured there. As a participant in both systems, I've written at some length here and here about the myths Americans tell each other about the Canadian system. Right now, I think there's one important question we could ask Americans that would focus this debate, and take the conversation to the next level. It's this:

What would you do with your life if you never had to worry about health care again?

It's a hard thing for most Americans to imagine -- but it's odd how your vision of the future changes once you stretch your mind and see what it might be like.

Would you start a business of your own?

Go back to school to upgrade your skills, or retrain for an entirely new career?

Tell your toxic boss where to stick it, and find a job with reasonable hours and nice people?

Spend a few years at home with your kids?

Join the Peace Corps?

Move to a town that you really love?

Save some money up, and retire early?

I should probably warn you: You may get good and angry once you start to take stock of the huge trade-offs you've made over the years just to hold onto your health insurance. You may be even more angry when you realize that nobody else in the industrialized world has had to make those choices.

I live in a country where nobody is tied to a job they hate, or forced to give up important life opportunities just to hang onto a health care plan that may or may not even come through for them when they need it. Nobody ever declares bankruptcy because they can't pay a medical bill, either: most Canadians find this as mind-blowing as Americans seem to find the "What would you do...?" question. Almost nobody dies because they can't get care (and when it does happen, it's a cause for national outrage).

Countries with universal coverage free up their citizens to take advantage of personal development opportunities that, in the long run, stimulate the economy and create a more skilled, traveled, educated, and fulfilled workforce. Americans, on the other hand, routinely stay chained to jobs they hate -- and are forced to pass up on chances to expand their horizons and their fortunes -- because they can't afford to jeopardize their health care coverage.

more here: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008083526/what-would-you-do-if-you-had-guaranteed-health-care

and http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/mythbusting-canadian-health-care-part-i

and http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/mythbusting-canadian-healthcare-part-ii-debunking-free-marketeers

[angstlessk]

1. how about 'go to the doctor'? that would be a start!!!

[BrklynLiberal]

14. That is EXACTLY what I was about to write....

I have not been to a doctor of any kind in almost 4 years...no health insurance.

[Saphire]

38. Ditto.

[TooBigaTent]

2. Get the two-year-old hole in my tooth fixed. For a start. nm

[bobbolink]

8. Only if we lobby for dental care to be included.

If I remember correctly, at this point it has been taken out of HR 676.

Anyone with updated info on that?

The contents of HR 676 change at different times.

[Hugabear]

24. It's a fucking joke that we don't treat dentistry as part of "health care"

I have never understood the rational for keeping dentistry separate from all other branches of medicine.

[w8liftinglady]

22. exactly what I was thinkng ...and I have "dental insurance"

[madrchsod]

3. well i would`t be 20,000 in medical debt...

let me see...20,000 dollars could buy me->

all new energy efficient windows,heating and cooling system,and more insulation. what`s left over could be used for solar panels or other energy saving devices.

i could create a lot of jobs with the money i`m paying out to the medical industry..

[Fumesucker]

23. Only twenty grand? Lucky you.. n/t

[HeeBGBz]

4. Get treatment for my Hep C and get my teeth fixed/pulled

Take care of the ovarian cyst and then get a checkup for anything I don't know about yet.

[MuseRider]

5. Ha! Go to the doc

and get my RA treated so I don't end up in a wheelchair like my grandfather, grandmother and great aunt (2 of them) did. Last I heard the treatment I need is around $20,000.00/year.

[demodonkey]

6. I'm already good and angry.

:grr:

[bobbolink]

7. Did you know that our healthcare system has moved up to the #1 cause of homelessness?

[okieinpain]

9. if companies can packup and move at the drop of a hat, then

the average joe blow should be able to do the same thing. if everyone had guaranteed health care we would be able to do just that. I know several people whose's spouses only work for the insurance.

[Jakes Progress]

10. My son would start his own business.

You know. Help create jobs. Improve the economy. That is why the neocons, who long the for the 1890's, don't want it. This way they can keep employees on as wage slaves and scare them into doing crap with the threat of the family losing health coverage.

[hunter]

11. I wouldn't hate the USA.

It must be nice to live in a first world nation.

My wife and I have stared bankruptcy in the face too many times, and the stacks of medical bills never go away, and I simply can't give a damn about credit ratings or calls by collection agencies anymore. It's a black cloud that never goes away.

We can't buy private medical insurance because of "pre-existing conditions" we've had COBRAS run out or bite us in the ass, we've had to take medications that were not the best but merely adequate because of cost.

I think the U.S. health insurance industry needs to be put down with EXTREME prejudice, and it would be frosting on the cake if we could open all their company records and throw a few of their executives in prison, preferably for life without parole.

The U.S. healthcare system destroys lives. It does not exist to promote the general welfare or the health of U.S. citizens, it exists only to make money for the privliged classes who are wealthy enough and politically powerful enough that they never have to worry that the healthcare system they control will ruin them financially or abandon them in their time of greatest need.

:grr:

[UnitedVoters]

12. What would I do if DU had an actual Healthcare REFORM Forum instead of just....

...a "Health Forum" (where people talk about diabetes, cancer, etc.) in addition to how to get the healthcare needed to treat these diseases?

I mean this is one of the major issues facing our party and there is no separate board to discuss this??

:shrug:

[OhioChick]

13. Save about $1500 a month. n/t

[lazyriver]

15. I would thank Dennis Kucinich because he would surely have

been responsible for getting it done.

[Kitty Herder]

30. Hear, hear!!

Go Dennis!

[JBoy]

16. Great question. As a Canadian I'm thankful for inexpensive access to healthcare,

but I've never thought about it in terms of the freedom it gives you to pursue what you want in life.

Here, many/most employers pick up the cost of basic healthcare. If you're self-employed, retired early, or going back to school, you'd have to pay that yourself. For me and my wife that would be $96 a month. Not trivial, but not a big enough hit to dissuade me from doing what I want to do.

[Epiphany4z]

17. Ya that is what I read

at the second link...this is really 3 articles...all really good and I think great to hold onto for future reference when we really get to fighting about it with the right wingers.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

18. That's about one death in 4 she's attributing to lack of healthcare.

An American dies roughly every 8 seconds.

That statistic sounds questionably high, but it's impressive if it's accurate.

[nashville_brook]

36. given that our lack of healthcare makes the ER the universal -- and 6, 8, 12 hour waits are "normal"

even for people with "solid gold" insurance, the stat doesn't surprise me at all. the lack of healthcare has made everyone more vulnerable when in crisis.

[Blue Diadem]

19. I'd go to the Dr.

I haven't been to the Dr. since before my DH's last plant closing in 2003. We went a year with no insurance at all. Now we have insurance, a 70-30 plan. DH is under Dr's care for a recently discovered heart problem and we're still paying on his hospital stay and tests from March.

It would also free up about $250 we pay monthly for the coverage too.

[DailyGrind51]

20. Retire earlier and maybe open up a small sandwich shop.

I tried to do that ten years ago, but was rejected for individual health coverage.

[Theres-a]

21. Amen. nt

[dysfunctional press]

25. being disabled with an 'incurable' condition, not much would change, actually.

i'd still have to go to the dr.s office once a month to get a hand-written prescription for the opiate pain medication that i'll be taking for the rest of my life.

[magellan]

26. I'd stop worrying about being wiped out by medical bills

...or one of us dying or suffering, because we can't afford coverage.

Other than that less stressful outlook, I wouldn't change a thing.

[killbotfactory]

27. I'd drive a motorcycle into a brick wall

Simply because I wouldn't have to pay for the hospital bill! Suckers!

[ileus]

28. quit my job and live off my Wifes pay.

[2Design]

29. McSame has not had to make this choice - he has been covered all his life n/t

[Kitty Herder]

31. I'd start with going to an ENT for my chronic sinus and ear infections. Being dizzy all the time is

quite a handicap. Then I'd make a trip to a gastroenterologist to see about getting this hiatal hernia fixed that I was told I needed surgery for ten years ago.

Would dental be included? I have several holes in my teeth that have been ignored for years.

Oh, I almost forgot. I need to see a cardiologist for a possible genetic heart defect that both my dad and my brother had/have. If I have that, it could kill me at any time.

I haven't had insurance for many years and I only work part time. Looking at this list, I'm thinking maybe I should quit my job so I can qualify for Medicaid. It might just save my life.

[underseasurveyor]

32. My head just exploded

Wow. The whole mindset of this country would shift in a most positive way. The people would be more empowered. The possibilities!?!

'Scuse me while I gather up the pieces of my brain and put them back in my head.

Best Post Ever!!!! :thumbsup:

[qwlauren35]

33. I think I'd find somewhere where I could work part time,

or two places where I could work part-time.

I think many of us would cut back our hours if we had guaranteed health care.

And I agree that a lot more people would start businesses.

It's an amazing thought. That such a "simple" thing would change the number of start-up businesses overnight.

It's as though the American Dream could be revitalized.

The cynic in me says that more people would work less. But we all want to make money. I think universal health care would inspire many people to leave jobs they hate and find ways to make money doing things they love.

WOW! I'm getting REALLY excited about this.

Oh, and yes, there are a LOT of people who would retire.

[qwlauren35]

34. Just one worry though.

I wonder if many of us would save less money. That would be a downside.

[eridani]

35. A Canadian friend of mine in Nanaimo has congestive heart failure

Yet she is able to support herself as an entrepreneur (teaching computer skills at a community college, giving piano lessons, walking dogs, and a bunch of other stuff). She is pretty much unemployable by other people, but if she lived in the US she'd have to go on welfare in order to get health care at all.

[B Calm]

37. Retire and free up a job for a younger person!

[bigmonkey]

39. Litigation would be reduced too.

And fewer events would be nixed because the insurance was unobtainable. I'm convinced that this is a big secondary effect that would result from people no longer being forced into suing to obtain money for medical costs.

Of course, that reveals that the lawyers have a large stake in the status quo.

As for me personally, I'd definitely move.