Health Care - It is a Right

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Betty Liang
EWRT 1A
August 9, 2007
Final in-class essay

Health Care - It is a Right

Good health is fundamental to human life. If one does not have fame or fortune, one may still have health as a foundation to build a life on. However, in this money-driven day and age, access to adequate health care seems more like a privilege rather than a right. Having worked at a county hospital before, I have seen the pain and hopelessness of the uninsured who desperately need aid but are denied time and again due to financial reasons. It is imperative that those who have the means to reach out to the less fortunate of our population do so, as moral and caring members of society. I propose that this country institute universal health care so that everyone will have a right to see the doctor without having to worry about the financial burden. I challenge those who are willing to support this cause to stop going to Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) to seek care and to write to those in power to advocate this change.
The sheer volume of uninsured people in this nation and the ineffective way in which our current health care system address this problem only creates a vicious cycle of hospitals shutting down and even more in need of urgent care. As of 2005, the number of uninsured people in American already exceeded 47 million, about 16 percent of our country’s population. Most of the people without health insurance live this way because they cannot afford to pay out of pocket, or they work at jobs that do not provide these types of benefits for their employees. Most HMOs such as Kaiser Permanente do not admit uninsured patients because the company will not be reimbursed for its medical services by any insurance group. Thus, these patients are left with untreated medical conditions which are only exacerbated by a lack of professional care. However, there is a way in the system in which our uninsured population may receive care. They go to emergency rooms of county hospitals. In these overcrowded and busy areas, uninsured patients can go and receive treatment, no questions asked. The result is that the county hospital absorbs all medical costs to treat these patients. In the past years, many county hospitals in Los Angeles have closed down due to seeing too many patients, and not receiving any pay back. With this last possible means for uninsured people to receive care gone, they are once again left to their own devices when it comes to seeking treatment for illnesses.
Emergency rooms closing down across the country clearly illustrates the problem the United States faces in dealing with the distribution of health care to the uninsured population. As we can witness in other areas of society, those in power will continually seek more power. In America, this power many times manifests itself in the form of money. Large corporations will not help those in need if there is nothing to gain from it. That is why it is up to us, America’s next generation of leaders to take a stand and fight for what is just and for what this nation stands for. It is hard for us, as a relatively privileged and closed-off group of people to understand the gravity of this issue. But can you imagine being the parent of a little girl who is being denied a CAT scan to check for a brain tumor, because your wages from working the graveyard shift as a janitor at a private university cannot pay for this crucial service? Imagine being the kindly nurse behind the reception desk at a hospital who has to tell a young man plagued by pneumonia that you cannot do anything for him today, maybe he should try somewhere else? This is not what living in the United States is about. Life will always be a struggle, but for people to have to struggle even to maintain health, the very element life is dependent on, is pathetic.
Universal health care is an idea that scares many, and if implemented would bring about change very slowly, as the entire medical system of this country must be revamped. With universal health care, every body would be granted at least some minimal standard of care. It becomes our moral duty to further our country in upholding “liberty and justice for all” by advocating positive change that will allow exactly that for all of its people. In the words of Henry David Thoreau, “under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison” (Thoreau 355). We cannot sit idly on the sidelines when people are in need of our support. By remaining inactive, we ultimately condemn those in need and even ourselves to living in a world that slips farther and farther away from what our forefathers envisioned. We cannot simply wait for change to occur. Remember, often times the changes that need to be made are under the influence of those with power and money whose interests may differ vastly from those who would benefit from the change. If we wait for these parties to take action, we may as well go to the grave still waiting.
We must collectively, as a group find strength to help the uninsured people of our world who are as deserving of health care as the rest of us are. Look for doctors with private practices who are open to caring for the uninsured and make them your place of choice for receiving care, rather than large corporations. This way, you not only directly support an individual with similar interests as yourself, you also make a strong statement to the greater community, that all health care providers should follow such an example. Change often occurs on a small scale first, so write to your local policy makers about what an injustice it is to deny people of their right to health care. With enough volume of letters, your voice will be heard and perhaps inspire others. We owe it to ourselves, those around us, and our future generations to take a stand and right any injustices that still exist in our world. Fighting for health care for all is something I am passionate about and will make a part of my future. I hope I have motivated some of you to at least think about this issue, if not act upon it as well.

References:
Thoreau, Henry David. “Civil Disobedience.” 75 Reading Across the Curriculum. Chris Anson. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. 345-366