Growing up as a kid in Mexico my health care was not first priority. I am twenty-one now and well i wouldn't say healthy as a horse but healthy enough to live my life happy. I am free of any disease and virus, but not everybody has it that way. I could care less about going to the doctor since I am an average healthy adult and i don't want to pay high prices just for a visit. Some people aren't born as healthy as others and some take a heavy burden from that. Hospital bills will be the end of you.
I believe the government should pay our medical bills. Why should having a healthy life have a hefty price tag that most people can't afford? According to an article by procon.org, 62.1% of all U.S. bankruptcies in 2007 were related to medical expenses. The U.S. is one of the few, if not the only, developed nation in the world that does not guarantee health coverage for its citizens. Canada and Europe are two of the leading countries with free health care. There are some programs in the U.S. that provide health care for example Medicaid. Medicaid is only available for those with low income and everything will be covered. There have been a few presidents that have proposed universal health care and that were President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and most recently Barack Obama.
Just how far will one go to get free health care. Well on June 9th of 2011, Richard James Verone from North Carolina went into a bank and handed over a note over to the clerk. In the note it said he demanded $1 and he was claiming he was armed. That is exactly what he did according to abcNews. The clerk had called the police and said all he was doing was sitting down on the couch just waiting. That's because Richard knew police were coming, his intentions were to get arrested. Verone said, " I asked for $1 to show that my motives were medical, not monetary." Going by the report, Verone has a growth in his chest, two ruptures disks and no job. Verone went to further say, "I'm sort of a logical person and that was my logic, what I came up with, if it is called manipulation, then I guess I am manipulating the courts to get medical care."
I would not doubt it if more attempts have been made since then because the Federal Bureau of Prisons provides very decent medical care. If a prison has a condition that the hospital is not capable of handling, they will be shipped off to outside hospitals. Some even end up in world-class facilities like the famed Mayo Clinic.
Before I would care less whether we had free health care, but one day I met someone who opened my eyes. My current girlfriend, Amber, that I have been with for three years now is severely sick. As a child she had to endure a lot of operations due to a tumor behind her ear, operation on her eyes, and transfusions. Everything was paid for because of Medicare but once she hit eighteen, Medicare no longer covers you. The doctors told her she needed one more final operation to completely take out the tumor. The time for that tumor to be removed has come and has been growing.
Every single day she endures pain. Her eyesight is getting worse as time goes by and losing tasted buds. A couple of months ago I had to take her to the hospital due to severe bleeding from her ear. Doctors did what they can since they do not specialize in that field, and from the conditions and symptoms, she had two years at the most to live. Her body is shutting down slowly and her heart is giving out, is what the doctors said.
There is not a day that goes by that I wish she could be better. Even if I put all my money into it(Part-time Valet), and her family(low income) it still wouldn't be enough. The visits, medication, operation, and the long intensive care afterwards are too costly. Watching her die slowly has been a burden for me and i know there are more people like Amber who have no choice but to suffer. Her dreams of becoming a police officer can no longer be achieved or becoming a mom. We had to learn the hard way and she was not capable of carrying a child, her miscarriage really put her down. She wanted to leave something behind but now that is not possible.
Yes they may be long waiting lines if there is free health care but the one who are really sick need to be first priority. The government just makes up excuses, it can be done. I just hope it happens sooner.
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