Book a one way ticket to France

PLEASE WATCH THIS DOCUMENTARY IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT BEFORE

This post was actually quite difficult for me to write because I had to remind myself to not just spew out an angry rant. But I’d hope others who watch this would also feel angry about the healthcare system in the US. This is not the first time I’ve seen this documentary Sicko and yet again it made me very angry as to how the healthcare system works in the US. People are unable to afford basic health care and far too many people are okay with that. Kids get turned away from a hospital because the insurance won’t cover it in that hospital, as shown in the documentary. It is not over dramatic to say that the health care system is killing people. There are nearly “50 million Americans with no health insurance, 18,000 of them will die this year simply because they are uninsured”.

I did some fact checking of my own on this information from 2007, when the documentary was released. For the most part the facts were true. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention said 43.6 million, or about 15 percent of Americans, were uninsured in 2006. Over the five years previous, the overall count had fluctuated between 41 million and 44 million people. According to the Institute of Medicine, 18,000 people did die each year mainly because they are less likely to receive screening and preventive care for chronic diseases. Many don’t want to get treated because they already know how expensive it will be. I actually understand this because since living in the US, specifically attending this school, I have to think about healthcare and treatment costs. I also avoided the doctor for a while because I wanted to wait until I got back home where I know it would be covered by my insurance, the way insurance should work, even if you don’t have a universal healthcare system. The thing is, I would much prefer paying taxes that go towards healthcare for everyone rather than one day having something tragic happen that leaves me bankrupt with medical bills. But there is an attitude that is very much evident among people and that is, if it’s not happening to me why should I take care of it. That is not the right way to look at it. We can all help each other with a better healthcare system.

I find it easy to relate this documentary to our reading on the Allegory of the Cave by Plato. In Plato’s theory, the cave represents people who believe that knowledge comes from what we see and hear in the world. The cave shows that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding. There is a lot of misunderstanding on universal healthcare. Many Americans think their system is expensive because it’s very good. They are wrong. The US ranks 28th, below almost all other rich countries, when it comes to the quality of its healthcare assessed by the UN. Single payer healthcare, where the government pays for universal coverage, typically through taxes, helps keep costs down for two main reasons. It means that the government can regulate and negotiate the price of drugs and medical services, and it eliminates the need for a vast private health insurance bureaucracy. Currently, the US spends two to three times as much per capita on health care as most industrialized countries.

In the Allegory of the Cave, the escaped prisoner represents the philosopher, who seeks knowledge outside of the cave and outside of the senses. What I find funny, is when the group from the documentary “escaped” to Cuba. Not something you’d usually hear. One lady purchased her medicine in Cuba for 6 cents. The same medicine costs her over 100 dollars in the US.  Can you imagine spending that much money every month on medication that you absolutely need, when other countries get it at such a low cost or for nothing. The documentary shows comparisons to France, the UK and Canada. The documentary does a good job of highlighting the mindset on healthcare in these countries, and how it differs so much from the US.

At the end of the Allegory of the Cave, the other prisoners reactions to the escapee returning represents that people are scared of knowing philosophical truths and do not trust philosophers. I think sometimes people are reluctant and scared to hear that maybe their way is not the best way, and that for such a long time they are not getting the healthcare they deserve. I believe healthcare is a right, and not something that only those who can afford it receive. Do you not agree?