Health Care and I......

There is so much going on about HCR, lots of celebrating, but a whole lot of meaness too. Through this whole process I have been unable to understand the meanness, and hope that it is mis-understanding and not a genuine dislike of everyone else. Of course, I know that a lot of the "anti" stuff is plain misinformation, put out in a way to frighten people and cause them to react against anything different.
I have experienced the lack of insurance, even when paying premiums, and found it to be devastating. We lost everything, all of our savings, anything that could be sold, we came home to a borrowed house with our clothes and a few pieces of furniture, mostly for the baby - everything fit in a pickup and small trailer.
We had the advantage of a family who supported us, and were able to help with very basics, like childcare for Dr. appointments. We were also blessed with understanding AFDC counselors who transferred us from state-to-state and kept us from stupid mistakes that would have lost what little coverage we were able to get. And, while the medical coverage was good, living on $352 per month, with an additional $150 in food stamps, was beyond challenging.
The worst parts were the little, minor, humiliations - the lady at the gift store who wouldn't take a check because we were on welfare, the "Christian" ladies at the church who wouldn't give out cheese and milk subsidies unless they approved of your lifestyle (in a very small town, if you go out to the tavern.....), the salesman who took our car in trade, but gave us no credit for it, because we were over a barrel; yes, I do know that isn't the way it's supposed to be, but this is a life that a lot of people face every single day.
The biggest cause of bankruptcy in this country is medical expenses. More people lose their homes because they, or a family member, got sick or they lost their job and whatever health insurance that came with it. People literally in the streets because of illness, or unemployment, or even/often both.
I heard someone today talk about how in Russia and Sweden if a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer she is sent home to die, and Americans are stupid and try to heal everyone. Now, it was a guy, and I was tempted to just judge him and let it go, and I was also tempted to jump up and tell him he's stupid, but both approaches strike me as pretty unenlightend or very outside my public persona 's comfort zone. And, even though they said it on FOX, it isn't true.
For all the stories, there are so many benefits to knowing you can go to hospital and get treated, no matter what. Yes, I heard about the long waits and prioritized treatment in Canada, but my family tells me otherwise. Treatment may not be availble in every medical center, but it is available. If you need a hospital bed or convalescent center, they don't send you home after 3 days because that's the protocol covered by your insurance, you stay until you are well.
My friend's daughter, studying in England on a student visa, not even a citizen, ended up in the hospital for weeks. She was so sick her folks flew over and racked up a pretty good hotel bill while she recovered over 3 weeks, and were stunned when there was no bill, none, because that's how they operate.
That's a wonderful thing about Australia too, my friends there don't complain that they can get treatment when they need it, nor do my cousins in New Zealand.
Of course, there are penalties for taking care of each other in this fashion, most of these countries have higher taxes. They don't just cover health care though, they also pay for schools (imagine no levies for operating expenses), roads, libraries, police and fire protection, and all of the rest of those civilized things that people need.
For me, it comes down to being responsible for each other. It is a tenet of every major religion to take care of the least in society, it is the basis of our humanity. For every child or grandmother or veteran who is on the street, riding buses to keep warm, staying awake all night because it isn't safe to sleep, finding a sense of betterment living in a car instead of living in a box, I am less than I could be, because at the very bottom of it all, we are all one.