Canada Looking Better and Better
My son wants to move to Canada. Not to visit, but to live. And work. It isn’t because of a girl, or a special college, but because he has dreams he is afraid he can’t achieve here at home, in the United States. And I am afraid he is right. Our American right to pursue happiness doesn’t really include him because he has a chronic illness.
It is a few years away, but when my son graduates from school, and legally becomes an adult, I cannot continue to cover him on my insurance policy. He wants the option to work for himself. And for someone with a chronic illness, it is almost impossible in our great country.
There are only two ways my son could obtain medical coverage in the United States. One would be to pay an entire year of insurance premiums before being able to use his policy – the standard rules for a “pre-existing” condition. Of course, making a person who is already ill wait a year for medical treatment doesn’t make sense to me, financial or otherwise. The other option is to find an employer who will offer him coverage, and hope that his job lasts more than a few years. Because as we all know, the days of a one-career lifetime are over. So if he has to chase his dream across a border, like countless others before him, then so be it. It is our country’s loss.
Here in the richest country in the world, half of American citizens cannot afford health insurance. My son has one maintenance drug that costs around $6,800 a month. Without my insurance, I would have two options: say no to his last hope for relieving his pain and avoiding surgery, or eventually go broke until I cannot afford the medication any longer.
Likewise, some cancer patients are expected to find an extra $55,000 every year to treat their illnesses or just to live another few months. Indeed it seems there is a price on a human life after all.
Our current health care policy seems to be based on a “don’t get sick” attitude. Chronic conditions or sudden illnesses are not avoidable. We must treat them and no one would argue that the costs to do so are unreasonable. So what are we paying for exactly? All that money isn’t going into “research.” Between all the TV commercials for investment firms, there are plenty of advertisements for prescription medications. Medications that so many struggle to afford help pay for these stupid marketing campaigns, and for the drug representatives that take up our doctors’ valuable time while we sit in the waiting room.
After campaigning on the health care reform issue, former president Bill Clinton made very little headway after he won the presidency. So I have little hope that all the latest talk of change will amount to anything. When candidates make promises and talk about change, we are taking a gamble on whether they are sincere or just trying to get a job.
It’s enough to make you sick.
