The Horror of Healthcare in America

by Donna Smith

It was late Thursday evening after an especially difficult day. I sat at my computer screen as I often do late into the night processing my rage and my determination into some fashion of an essay to fight for healthcare for all in this great nation.

I was especially upset this night. It was a day when the abrupt reality of the difficult road ahead to earn equal access to care for all was especially stark for me. Powerful people can be dismissive of people like you and like me. And while they may listen when listening seems valuable within their agenda, real caring and real political courage are very rare indeed.

I reached over to the coffee table for a sip of the diet soda everyone tells me not to drink so much, and my hand froze. I tried to move it. No matter what I did, my hand stayed frozen in the grotesque grip with my thumb and my index finger wedged together and my other fingers dangling without form - my hand was paralyzed. My arm felt strangely distant. My brain could not force movement.

Within seconds as I stared helplessly at my right hand, I ran through the calculations - should I call my husband? What if this is the beginning of a stroke? If I stand to walk across the room, do my legs still work? Should I call 911? What if I need tests? What if I have to pay a co-pay? What is our bank balance and when do I next need to pay rent and the rest of the bills? What if I have to miss work, right now when missing work would not be OK at all? I don't want to be a cause for raised insurance rates for my employer or my fellow employees - and I don't want my bosses running calculations on my worth based on a paralyzed hand in the night. What if, what if, what if...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/01/18

Looking more and more like the 18th century fascist greedmonger corporations so desparately want. K&R

And just like the author, I ran through the numbers in my head. My right arm is my pay check arm. I too wondered if I were having a stroke. I was in a panic. Called a nurse, who seemed willing to talk to me and calm me down. Almost went to a p/c but after reviewing my symptoms MYSELF, thought better of it. I could see weeks of MRI's, visits to specialists, etc, and oh yeah, the infamous prescription for muscle relaxers, all with no help for the immediate situation, all the while missing work, which I can't miss right now.

Instead at a friend's insistence, having had a similar condition I went to a Chiropractor. And... I am better! No not perfect, but definite improvement by about 100% and I continue to go. Have decided that I will also go to p/c for my own requested tests, thyroid for instance that might contribute to such a condition. Yes I might have waited myself to death just like the author of this piece, and yes I have insurance as well.

The point is, I know exactly what scenarios the author went through in their mind, and if it had been a stroke, we would both probably be in a world of hurt unless someone else called 911.