Imagine a man, one day waking up with a cough. The man shrugs it off, no big deal. He buys some cough drops and goes about his life. He goes to work, he goes to the gym, he goes shopping, he goes to his favorite watering hole, he hangs out with his girlfriend, nothing out of the ordinary.
The next day, the man wakes up and cough is still there and its a little worse. He doesn't think much of it, he sucks on his cough drops, and goes about his life. He goes to work, he goes to the gym, he goes to the movies with his girlfriend, and afterwards they go to a restaurant. Again, nothing out of the ordinary.
The next day, the man wakes up-- the cough is still there, and its worse. He spits up flem, and it tastes funny. Like burnt wood. And not only that, he's short of breath. And when he breathes, it hurts a little. He buys some more cough drops which seems to help, and goes about his life. He goes to work, he goes to the gym, he goes shopping, he goes to his favorite watering hole, and he hangs out with his girlfriend, who is a little concerned. And the man has to admit so is he.
His girlfriend tells the man he should think about going to a doctor, but he is uninsured. So he buys some more cough drops, and hopes the cough will go away.
It doesn't.
The next day the man wakes up and he can barely breathe. And when he exhales it tastes like burnt wood. And when he inhales, it hurts, it feels like someone is squeezing his lungs. His girlfriend tells him they should go the hospital.And she helps him to the car, everything goes black. And when he comes to, he's in an emergency room.
He doctor tells the man he has pneumonia, and informs the man if he had waited another day, he would be dead. The doctor tells the man he'll have to stay in the hospital about a week or so.
"I can't afford this," the man says.
"Just worry about getting well," the doctor says.
The man's girlfriend puts her arm around him and he starts to cry.
"I can't afford this," the man sobs.
The man's girlfriend doesn't know what to say.
Imagine that. And you'll know what it was like to be me.
Now imagine that instead of pneumonia, that it was avian flu. And imagine that I made the same decisions that made: I went to work, to the gym, shopping, to the movies, to a restuarant.That's a lot of people I came in contact with. Plus my girlfriend, with whom I live.
My not going to tthe doctor when the symptoms first developed was a purely financial decision. if my girlfriend hadn't of brought it up, I never would have even thought of going to the doctor. I would have kept gutting it out, and I probably woud have been dead.
First off, I want to say if you're a dude, and your wife or your girlfriend tells you to go the doctor-- GO TO THE FUCKING DOCTOR. OKAY? Don't dilly dally, just make the apointment and go as soon as possible. Trust me she knows better.
Now to continue, if a person is uninsured seeking treatment becomes a financial decision and not a medical one. So if there is a flu outbreak, the 45 million uninsured Americans who don't see a medical practitioner on a regular basis, are in fact a threat to all of us.
Those people are out of the system, the more people out of the system, the more we are all at risk. And that's something that is not really being discussed, and it should be. So let's disccuss it.