Barbara Quirk: Our health care system a tragedy to many
A young friend of mine I will call "Jane" confided in me that she was having some "female" problems. Gynecology is not my long suit, especially for young women, but her symptoms were dramatic enough -- and had been going on long enough -- for me to urge her to see a health care provider as soon as possible.
Herein lies the problem. Her husband of less than one year had recently changed jobs, and their health insurance had not yet kicked in. I suggested she go to one of the free clinics in the area. Her response was sad, but true. "If there really is something bad going on, we may be turned down by our new insurance because of a pre-existing condition. I can't afford to risk that."
Fast-forward about two weeks. By this time Jane had confirmation that their health insurance was in effect. Still, her new insurance limited her from seeing her previous providers, so she was faced with having to choose from a group of health care professionals that were new to her. Just working her way through an unknown system took more time; but finally, she had a thorough evaluation.
"My surgery is scheduled for two weeks from now." Jane's voice was small on the phone. "They said I have a tumor on my ovary the size of a small grapefruit. They did a needle biopsy but I won't have the results of that 'til at least the first of the week."
Her words started running together and were scrambled as she was processing her situation. "They said they don't think it is cancer. They are surprised how fast it has grown. They do not think it is a cyst. They said I would be off work for at least a month. I don't think I can sit still that long."
As her words came tumbling out it was clear that the pit-of-the-stomach fear of the unknown was already in full gear, and from experience I could tell her this wait would be the longest and most difficult she would face. The unknown is a many-headed monster that attacks in the middle of the night and the first thing in the morning and whenever you let your guard down.
"What kind of cursed system puts a lovely young person through this kind of hell and allows stupid barriers to endanger anyone's life?" I thought when we hung up. "When did it become so impersonal that we question the price before we question probable outcome?"
It is one thing to read about the high cost of medical care, but those are simply dollars and cents. The true cost of our sorry and broken medical system must be measured in risks. How can we tolerate this?
We have all heard about how terrible a single-payer system would be. We operate under the myth that our health care system is second to none. That is a big fat lie. In multiple categories we fail miserably when compared to other developed countries, and we pay far more per capita to boot. We hear the argument that we can't afford adequate health insurance for all. That is another lie. We somehow manage to afford billions in a go-nowhere war in Iraq and let billions more slip through our fingers into the pockets of corporate greed. We simply choose not to invest in the health of our citizens. Our priorities are elsewhere.
Just once I would like to see the "pro-lifers" spend an equal amount of energy and money on universal health care. Instead of a picture of a fetus, they could carry a placard with a picture of my friend Jane.
There is a presidential election taking place (if by some miracle you haven't noticed), and as mean and tedious as it gets, it gives us an opportunity to hold these politicians' feet to the fire and address the issue of a one-party payer for health care. Each of us has a Jane in their lives, or will have. We owe it to them to fix this mess.
Barbara Quirk is a geriatric nurse practitioner.
