She slept in her car starting Tuesday. Friday, she had all her teeth pulled, although she had no hope for dentures for at least a year. She was not yet 40.
She was at the Wise VA health mission cosponsored by Remote Area Medical and Missions of Mercy. I was volunteering in dental triage. I saw too many like that woman. Others came for eye glasses, or basic medical needs. All volunteers - doctors and dentists, nurse and dental assistants, local folks and me a school teacher - saw the impact of medical and dental inequity.
For months we’ve watched and listened to debates about health insurance - who should be covered, how it should be paid for. But insurance is simply a means to an end, health care for all.
People’s lives are diminished, even shortened, when they cannot get health care. In Prince George’s County, where I teach, Deomante Driver died when the infection from his abcessed tooth spread to his brain.
People cannot be turned away from emergency rooms. By then treatment costs skyrocket while effectiveness goes down. That is an economic argument. And remember: sick people and those who die earlier pay less in taxes, contribute less as consumers and producers.
Health care for all: it is a security risk to have those with illnesses they can not get treated walking around infecting others. Waiting for them to go to emergency rooms - if they can get there - puts lives at risk. That is the public health argument.
To deny some access to medical care - for ANY reason - treats them as less than fully equal. It is to say in some fashion that we don’t consider them as worthy of life, because we deny them access to the medical and dental treatment that enables the rest of us to live full and rich lives. It treats them as less fully human. It denies that we have a moral responsibility to others.
However we fund health care, it must cover ALL, and NOW,. Otherwise we diminish the length and quality of lives of those not covered That should be unacceptable. Lest we forget that "all men are created equal" and entitled to "the pursuit of happiness," a pursuit less than complete absent meaningful access to health care.