Now that I’m back in the good ole U S of A, one of the things I like to do, when I’m not getting reacquainted with friends and family, is watch TV. In Egypt, I never turn on the boob tube–don’t even own one of the flat-screened devices–but, in America, I’m an energetic viewer who watches a variety of programs–reality shows (especially Big Brother), things on the Travel Channel, documentaries of one sort or another, trashy afternoon talk shows (the sort where the male participants are invariably asked to take paternity tests), old movies, sports, you name it.
I guess, though, I spend most of my viewing time watching what passes for TV news. In fact, I’d have to say that I’m something of a news junkie. That’s been true of me for a long time. I’m just crazy to know about what’s going on in faraway places and between nations. I also like to watch Democrats and Republicans going at one another tooth and nail. (It long ago seemed very clear to me that the melodrama of domestic politics is the closest thing America has to Kabuki theatre).
With that in mind, I was looking forward, while still back in Egypt, to immersing myself in the current healthcare debate as soon as I got back home. I was anticipating taking a front row seat, right in front of the television, while the various warring factions did what such factions always do.
By sheer coincidence, I was right in the middle of my very own personal healthcare crisis as I arrived in Texas. Back in May, my bad knee, the result of an old sports injury that has never been fully resolved, flared up. Because we at AUC have a wonderful benefits package, including comprehensive health insurance that travels with us wherever we go, I planned to see an orthopedist not long after my arrival in the Lone Star State.
Two days before my appointment with the renowned Dr. Robert Hayes, I went down to the local Blockbuster Video and took out a copy of Michael Moore’s SiCKO, a movie I’ve seen before, and to my way of thinking, the best discussion available of what’s wrong with the American health care system. I picked up the video because I wanted my mother, an avowed progressive like me, to see it. After watching SiCKO together, she had some legitimate questions about Moore’s objectivity and thus some of the facts he’d presented, so I went online and found this, an article published at Guardian.co.uk about Wendell Potter, former senior executive at Cigna, a major provider of health insurance. Potter, as the piece points out, resigned his position after fifteen years of service, became a whistleblower, and recently provided explosive testimony to congress about the various corrupt practices perpetrated on the public by the industry he once proudly worked for. According to Potter, SiCKO is “full of truth” and “hits the nail on the head.” Such an endorsement, by someone who really understands how private health insurance works in this country, should put to rest all doubts anyone might have about Moore and his documentary.
For those of you who haven’t yet seen the movie, it is widely available on the Internet. I highly recommend that you watch it.
Whenever I hear President Obama discuss his wish list for reforming this country’s health care system, as he did during his nationally televised, prime-time press conference on the evening of July 22, I’m reminded of Turkey, a Middle Eastern country I lived in for nearly five years. Though Turkey’s health care system is certainly not perfect, it provides Turks with the sort of security many Americans currently lack.
In a nutshell, Turkey has a mixed system. All citizens and foreign workers have healthcare that is provided by the Ministry of Health. The government funds and manages the system, which makes it “socialized.” In addition, those who want additional, private insurance can purchase it. During my stay in Turkey, I had both public and private insurance protection. I could have dropped my private coverage at any time, but I didn’t mostly because I never found the combined payroll deductions to be onerous. Even if I had dropped it, I was never going to fall through any crack or be denied care because the public plan was always going to be there when and if I needed it. I’d have to say that I had lots and lots of choice in Turkey (much more than many Americans have) about how much insurance I wanted to have and what the overall package was going to look like. Plus, I always felt safe.
For those out there who claim that it is impossible for government-run healthcare and private insurance to coexist, that the former will run the latter out of business, I say hogwash. If Turkey was able to put together a system that looks a lot like what President Obama wants, then why can’t America?
Getting back to my own situation, I ended up having arthroscopic surgery on my knee, and as I write this, I’m on crutches. I have to say that I have been terribly pleased with the healthcare I received here, in the States. But I was lucky. I had wonderful insurance. Nothing stood in my way. I had complete access to the system. For those, like me, who are lucky in this way, the care in this country is perhaps unparalleled.
But why should it come down to a matter of luck? Is it simply that some Americans are more important than others and that their lives are more valuable? That they somehow deserve to have access to care while others don’t?
These are questions you should spend some time thinking about if you’re still on the fence about whether or not to support healthcare reform and the “public option.”
For those of you who have made up your mind that the president is right, I would suggest that you call or contact your congressional representatives and let them know how you feel.
