I wrote this a while ago, and pitifully find it is STILL true....
HEALTH CARE - A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS
Oxymorons don't translate well. Phrases like "jumbo shrimp," "icy hot," and "young republican" are perplexing to people who don't really know our language. "Health care" is another good example of an oxymoron. Like "military intelligence," the two words are complete contradictions - opposites, in fact. They don't "care" in the "health" business, as it should be called. Insurance companies don't care, the government says it cares, but truly doesn't, and unless they're being directly affected, the general public doesn't care.
Freedom of choice is what makes America such a great country. But most Americans don't have any choices when it comes to "health care." Sure, we have the option to avoid malaria-infested rain forests. It is our prerogative to stay away from India during Typhoid season, and no one really dies of the Bubonic plague anymore, do they? We can choose to pay astronomical premiums; we can elect to stay in a dead-end job because of insurance. However, I don't remember being given the option to choose my health problems. It's not like a big Wal-mart: Think I'll go pick me up a coupla them broken bones. And how about a serious case of mono. Throw in a couple side orders of assorted strep infections. Oh, and I love that measles look! Those spots will look super with my red silk jammies, and hey, why not splurge -it's only one life! Throw in one of those chronic illnesses. Nothing that'll kill me real quick, but something to last a life time - something expensive, but virtually invisible; something relatively painless, but something insurance companies will run from at great speed. And will you accept Visa for that order?
God bless America. Home of the wealthy, land of the free, a nation of opportunity. America, one of the only countries in the world where you can legally have sex before you can have a drink. A country where government marching bands get more support than the National Endowment for the Arts and where trivial issues, like education and housing, get less funding that the defense budget. America: a country where the government thinks that a few randomly placed band-aids can heal serious wounds and cure disease.
Yes, I was denied coverage, thanks to diabetes. I waited out the year "pre-existing clause," all the while praying nothing expensive would happen while I was insurance-less. When the year ended, I qualified for some coverage and I got an insulin pump. I see my doctor on a regular basis. I get my necessary tests done. And I consider myself undeniably fortunate, when compared to the millions who have no insurance. However, there is still a rider to my policy that says since I had laser treatments on my eye in the past, any claim relating to illness of the eye will be denied. Oh, if I step on a rake and poke my eyeball out, they'll cover the injury, but if I should get a sty, or glaucoma, or if a blood vessel in my retina should bleed as a result of having diabetes for 20 years (retinopathy)...forget it! Even public assistance said they couldn't help me, unless I was pregnant (hmmmm now that IS an option I suppose).
So here I am. A grown up, finally, in absolutely excellent health (ask my doctor), looking and feeling better than ever. To look at me, you'd never know there was a clot of blood almost totally obscuring the vision in my left eye. You may notice I have no depth perception, especially when I drive - you may notice I have more tension headaches from cloudy vision, but you won't see any problem, and before long, without proper treatment, neither will I. "See," that is. For even though I take meticulous care of myself, even though I test my own blood sugar 6 - 8 times a day, even though I watch every gram of carbohydrate, fat and protein that goes into my body - despite all these efforts, the damage is already done. It might not get worse, thanks to the new, improved (and I might add, government-approved), control. But, without additional treatment, it is likely that my eye will continue to bleed, which may someday cause my retina to detach. Then I'll really be in a bind...a 1/2 blind bind.
Of course, then I'll qualify for all kinds of government assistance - maybe even Medicaid, and I won't even have to get pregnant! Hell, I'll even get an extra deduction on my income taxes for the rest of my miserable, dark life. For here in America, we help those poor unfortunates, those huddled masses, those political refugees, those who come to this great land in search of a new and better life.
They are lucky. They probably don't know what an oxymoron is where they're from. It just doesn't translate. I think the oxymoron is a truly American invention: "cruel kindness" "terribly nice" "health care." Those are real American words.
note: 2 months after I wrote this, I called my insurance company again to beg for my case to be reviewed and have the rider appealed, as my eye was still bleeding. I got the appeal started with the person who handled my account. A couple of days later, the underwriting department called me and said "Oh, that rider was lifted 14 months ago. " They just never bothered to tell me or my doctor and they just never made any notation in any of my files where the person who handled my account would see it! Think of the doctor visits I put off, think of the treatment I could've had in a timely manner that would have helped prevent future complications.
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