As I read stories of medical professionals denied adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) by the blowhard squatting in the White House, I am terrified for them. For doctors, nurses, housekeepers, respiratory therapists, CNAs, pharmacists, mail carriers, grocery workers, EMTs, law enforcement, people detained in a variety of settings . . . ALL of whom are in danger of contracting a deadly virus because our *resident can’t be bothered to do his job.
One of the fears we hear cited about single-payer healthcare is, we would have long waits for care because it would be rationed. You might have to wait for that knee replacement, or hernia repair. You might not get it tomorrow. Well, guess what? I needed a hip replacement three years ago and it took three months just to get in to see the surgeon. And I live in a medium-size city in a largely urban area. How much worse would it have been if I lived in a rural area?
We are already strained at the seams with our for-profit “health care system.” We already don’t have enough trained doctors and nurses, they are being called out of retirement. Medical schools are graduating young doctors months early so they can join in the battle with the pandemic. Each and every one of these people does this every single day, knowing full well that it could mean their life. They are truly our heroes.
They are also getting sick at a much higher rate than the rest of us. At least the rest of us who are behaving responsibly with social distancing, hand washing, and other preventive measures. They are getting sick and they are dying. Because states are bidding against each other—and against OTHER COUNTRIES—for PPE and ventilators, we are killing the very people we need to save us.
For-profit healthcare is evil. As Dr. Fauci has said, our system isn’t set up to respond to something like a pandemic. Too many people have no health insurance, and some have already died because they couldn’t pay for treatment. It’s already hard to get in to see a doctor; no wonder “urgent care” centers have popped up everywhere, you can’t get in to see your own doctor for months. How much does it cost to go to medical school? To nursing school? How much student debt will our doctors and nurses be leaving behind to their families, when they die? This is just wrong in too many ways to count.
I’m just an old, semi-retired social worker. I don’t work in the healthcare system, but I’ve used it a fair amount. I’ve never thought of it as fair, or even truly adequate. Right now, the thought that makes me most angry about T*ump is that NOBODY in the White House has thought far enough ahead to see what’s coming. When we lose a quarter, a third, even half of our medical professionals because we failed to protect them, who will care for us when we are ill or injured? And why don’t our true American heroes deserve better?
But I guess our veterans already knew that.