Meeting Persephone

... you're in a car accident. You are severely injured and are unconscious, someone calls 911, the ambulance comes and takes you to the hospital, you have no insurance.

... you pay taxes your entire life. One of the things you pay for is the local fire department. The thing is, you've thankfully never had a fire in your own home.

... you make a decent living and made the choice never to have children but a large portion of your tax dollars go toward paying for local schools.

... you have eaten healthy your entire life. You exercise daily, take supplements, go to the doctor only when you have a cold because you're fortunate enough not to need to go any other time. One day you're in the shower and you notice a lump (breast, testicle, whatever). Finally you have to go to the doctor for something that may be serious. You're terrified but thankful that you have insurance. The doctor runs the tests and your worst fears are confirmed - you have cancer. You sigh in relief because you have been paying your insurance premiums faithfully but then you learn that your insurance doesn't cover the therapies necessary to treat your form of cancer and the clinic where you are to receive treatment demands $10K up front before they're willing to administer treatment.

... you live in a country where there is no local fire department. Your neighbor's home catches fire and spreads to yours. The private fire department has arrived but, before pulling out the hoses to put out the fire that was started through no fault of your own, demands proof of fire insurance which you don't have because you thought it was unnecessary spending on an already tight budget. You watch the trucks pull away as all of your life long treasures are burnt to nothing more than ash.

... you make a fair living. All of your expenses and those of your children are taken care of. You feel pretty contented with how things are going but then the phone rings and your mother/sister/brother/father - a person you are closer to than anyone outside of your household - calls and tells you that they have had a minor medical emergency. They struggle trying to pay their bills from month to month as it is, living on social security, and you help when you can as does the rest of the family. This particular trip, however, ends up costing $27K and because of your loved one's inability to get pre-approval as per the clause in their insurance, the insurance refuses to pay leaving those who love them to foot the bill as they just cannot do it on their $500 per month.



I've started all of these with "you" because it seems that Americans have become such a selfish people that the only way to get through to them is to put things in a context that would affect them personally. For myself, the idea that pooling our money together and being able to care for all works for me. I do not care so much about blood relation that I would ignore the needs of others nor do I care so much about a lump of yellow rock that someone once decided has a great deal of value - moreso than the value of life of their fellow human beings. And as far as the government screwing up everything else so why would we put them in charge of our health care... Why are we still electing those that screw things up? And why are we giving them more than we demand for ourselves? And I do not care to have them run health care - only to pay for it as they do with the military, postal service, schools, fire and police departments. Those things that we have gotten so used to having that we no longer think of them as being socialized and would protest vigorously if they talked about taking them away.

Universal Health Care must be created in this country. Americans may not like it initially, but they will adapt (as they always do), and then would protest the loss of it if it were ever threatened.

I will not say "you were unwise, stupid, poor, etc." therefore you deserve to die. But because of money that has become the mantra of too many people and it saddens me more than I can explain. The greedy in this country have become the loudest and though they may not be the majority they are fucking it up for those who really need this - well them and the corporations who have polluted their minds with propaganda and bullshit so that they fight a fight that is not theirs. Kool-Aid.

The Trash Heap has spoken - and she's disgusted that she has to speak about these things.