I'm re-publishing this diary because I believe in it. We are getting sick from our surroundings. Not giving us access to affordable medical care while we live in inescapable toxic surroundings is cruel.
We live in a toxic society. Even if you stayed away from foods with preservatives, cigarettes, prescriptions, you still have toxins in your furniture, in the carpet, in your shampoo. And even if you avoided those things, it's in the air. We can't escape toxins completely.
So here's my take on why we should all be allowed healthcare: because this toxic society is affecting our health.
There is no way the government would, or could, get rid of all the toxins around us, so they should help treat us.
According to WebMd:
Almost 186.1 million Americans live in places where the air quality is probably bad enough to damage their health, at least part of the year, the report concludes.
How is the body affected by pollution?
Breathing particulates can cause lung inflammation that can exacerbate diseases like asthma and chronic bronchitis, but also can contribute to cardiovascular disease including heart attack and stroke.
Most likely those are considered "pre-existing conditions", should you lose your job or change your job you might be battling with your next insurer to cover something you got...from pollution.
And what about drinking water:
Water pollution is any contamination of water with chemicals or other foreign substances that are detrimental to human, plant, or animal health. These pollutants include fertilizers and pesticides from agricultural runoff; sewage and food processing waste; lead, mercury, and other heavy metals; chemical wastes from industrial discharges; and chemical contamination from hazardous waste sites. Worldwide, nearly 2 billion people drink contaminated water that could be harmful to their health.
Source
Granted that figure includes worldwide, which we know can have worse water than us. But don't be fooled if you think you're not taking a big swig of some pharmaceuticals while quenching your thirst. And bottled water can have contaminants as well.
Then there is the quality of our food.
Studies show the added hormones do show up in beef and milk, pushing their estrogen and testosterone content to the high end of normal for cows.
Hormones can be an endocrine disruptor. Want hormone-free? If you've ever looked at the price of hormone-free meat you know that it would be hard for a lot of families to afford it.
But surely our government is on the case!
Responding to the lack of certainty, the European Union has banned all hormones in beef, and Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the EU have banned rBGH. No major studies are under way in the U.S. to evaluate the safety of hormones in meat and milk.
Well, of course. Agribusiness lobbyists did donate $142 million dollars in 2008.
So let's avoid meat and have some cereal, shall we?
According to Minowa, the individual safety profiles of pesticides don’t take into consideration any hazard from their combined effects. "Take a box of [cereal] off the shelf, and you can find residues from 32 pesticides," Minowa says. "Each one is within its tolerance, but what’s the effect of those chemicals acting in combination in our bodies?"
Source for the 3 quotes
Oy.
We are taking in toxins. Some toxins we have more control of (what we eat) than others (what we breathe). These toxins are proven to have some affect on the human body.
The EPA says this of Endocrine Disruptors:
In recent years, some scientists have proposed that chemicals might inadvertently be disrupting the endocrine system of humans and wildlife. A variety of chemicals have been found to disrupt the endocrine systems of animals in laboratory studies, and there is strong evidence that chemical exposure has been associated with adverse developmental and reproductive effects on fish and wildlife in particular locations. The relationship of human diseases of the endocrine system and exposure to environmental contaminants, however, is poorly understood and scientifically controversial
Makes you wonder why it is "poorly understood" by the EPA.
Health effects attributed to endocrine disrupting compounds include a range of reproductive problems (reduced fertility, male and female reproductive tract abnormalities, and skewed male/female sex ratios, loss of fetus, menstrual problems[5]); changes in hormone levels; early puberty; brain and behavior problems; impaired immune functions; and various cancers
Source
We need to do right by all of us that are breathing, drinking, eating these toxins. Don't drop us, deny us or gives us lesser care.
Does it makes sense that we are taking in toxins, and then can't get treated? It's a cruel joke.
I have many more comments about toxins, but want this to focus on the health care/health insurance part of it.
I will have a few more diaries about toxins. Hope some of you find it interesting!