In 2009, Shanyna Isom suffered an allergic reaction to steroids prescribed for an asthma attack, and within hours she was itching all over her body and bumps started sprouting up under her skin. Doctors soon discovered that the bumps were in fact fingernails growing out of every hair follicle. Shanya’s illness is sui generis: that is, doctors don’t know what it is or how to treat it.
Naturally, Shanya’s medical bills are growing and she and her family are going into debt in America’s outstanding healthcare system. The state-issued insurance does not cover her Baltimore-based specialist and only covers five of the 17 medications she is prescribed.
In the US healthcare system, driven by the free market as it is, it’s considered Shanya’s problem instead of a civic imperative to help she and her doctors pinpoint the nature of the illness and treat it. To hear it from anti-universal healthcare forces, however, Shanya should simply wait for charity to kick in—a good idea theoretically, but not in practice.
Perhaps the press surrounding her mystery illness will help out in that regard. Or we could give ourselves and our neighbors universal healthcare so Shanya doesn’t have to compound the nighmare of illness with the nightmare of debt.
August 10, 2012 at 6:45 pm, Brett MacDonald said:
You're a clown. Do not take someones misfortune and turnit into political fodder. Prick. W. Universal healthcare she would not be in debt she would be WAITING to even see a specialist. – Brett MacDonald
August 14, 2012 at 2:20 am, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
Who are you directing your comment at?
August 10, 2012 at 6:45 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
whoa whoa whoa. The US Healthcare system is driven by the free market?
DJ. Come on. Do you have any clue as to the tens of thousands of federal and state regulations there are with regard to healthcare providers and insurance companies? Not to mention the litany of licenses, permits, and the level of oversight / bureaucracy involved in healthcare?
In short- where on Earth could anyone ever possibly come to the conclusion that the most heavily regulated industry in the country -healthcare- is free market driven?
If you need me to explain how woefully inaccurate of a statement this is, I will be happy to write a mutli-page essay.
August 10, 2012 at 6:52 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
you act like universal healthcare is a magic wand.
All you are doing is diverting the expenses of this freak disease onto millions of others that had absolutely no responsibility in creating this problem.
How is that moral, in any way?
If that principle is moral, then it would be every bit as moral for the rest of the impoverished world to loot the United States and Europe to fight disease and famine in their own nations.
The principle you are arguing in universal healthcare is completely bankrupt of any real morality. Do we really want to live in a world where all wealth is confiscated by impoverished / needy people, whereby anyone aspiring to attain wealth knows in advance it is completely impossible, because others with needs will receive the proceeds anyway?
This is a simple understanding of human behavior. Would you go out moving furniture in Florida in August for 15 cents / hour?
Would you do it for $100 / hr?
Does that make you "greedy" or "selfish"? Or does it simply make you a human being that chooses what is in his best interest?
If you create a system where your $100/ hour would be confiscated back to the 15 cents, why would you ever take on such a difficult job? All you do is encourage laziness, because you have designed a system where a gas station attendant is offered the same standard of living as a business owner that kills himself with years of stress, long hours, debt, and hard work.
Anyone that advocates this system simply has no understanding of human behavior or how detrimental it is to human progress as a whole.
August 10, 2012 at 7:28 pm, Eric Fodor said:
Drug tests for welfare cash, for sure!
I dont know, shit is fucked. Health insurance is bullshit. Modern medicine practice is all about using drugs with other side affects instead of naturals that work. People are unhealthy. I dont know if capitalism works or not, but def not how it is now. Way too many people… That goes with religion and poverty. Schools need more money. It never ends. I don't think there is an answer. But, I do know there are some evil rich ass shit 1%ers out there, who don't need all of that cash… Which most of them were born with anyways… They just get hard about being so elite… Or they would give up 70% or more and still be a fuckin billionaire. Ya. It goes on forever.
August 10, 2012 at 7:31 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
that may be true, but so what? The rest of the world probably views you the same way spending money on beer or whatever else we like to spend money on when they could use that money to eat.
Do you really "need" everything you have? Is it that out of line for houses to have 2-3 tv's? More than one car?
There is a lot of shit we could do without, but that doesn't mean impoverished people in other countries should have the right to hack our bank accounts or send people here to raid our houses in an effort to raise them out of poverty?
If someone lawfully obtains obscene amounts of money, it's their right. The right to own money or property doesn't hinge on how constructive of a use you make of it.