October 16, 2017
Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher,
101 Main
Street #380
Huntington
Beach, CA 92648
Dear
Congressman,
Re: Health care
Forgive the long silence. I’m just back from Canada, with
two poignant stories to remind me just how dreadful our for-profit health care
system is, here in the United States—and how it can and should be done with
dignity and compassion for our fellow human beings. I hope you’ll listen.
The first story comes from a railway employee we met along
the way. I’ll respect his privacy, and his family’s, by saying nothing that
might identify him. What matters is that one of his sons was born with a heart
defect, requiring several major surgeries and constant care. It involved travel
to distant hospitals for specialized treatment, which meant, in turn, providing
for the travel expenses of his parents, including hotel and meal costs. ALL of
this was covered by the Canadian health care system. No potentially crippling
out-of pocket expenses for the family. The best available treatment for the
child, who is doing well as a result of the treatment and care—and who would
otherwise have not survived. The father, who told us this story with great,
emotional gratitude, has happily paid his dues into the system, and is glad
that what he pays into the system helps provide similarly compassionate care to
those in need.
The second story comes from a friend we met along our
journey, a city-dweller whose wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her
condition required all the familiar, soul-destroying treatments—the
debilitating chemotherapy, the surgeries, the reconstructive surgery, the
post-operative care and therapy. All of which would have been prohibitively
expensive for a private citizen with a condition that might well have been
rejected by an insurance company looking to maximize its profits and minimize
its expenses. Aside from the purely financial aspect of the whole, long,
difficult experience, our friend made it clear that is was of incalculable
value simply to know that the health care system was in place to support them throughout
the ordeal. An immigrant himself—though long a permanent resident—he was
amazed, he told us repeatedly, to have been faced with no costs: “Zero,” he
insisted. And repeated, “Zero!”
We do not have such a system in this country. Every other
advanced country in the world has this, or something similar. No other country
operates its health care system based on profits—profits for insurance
companies, doctors, hospitals, drug companies, health care providers of all
sorts. Everyone in the system needs to take a cut, and the result is a system
that, aside from lacking the slightest element of human compassion, is absurdly
expensive and dominated by bureaucracy at every level. It’s unconscionable that
those unfortunate enough to be afflicted with health problems should be further
afflicted by bureaucratic and financial ones.
What’s wrong with America, that we allow this to happen?
That we now stand by and allow a single man, our “president,” to
single-handedly dismantle even the minimal health care system that took
literally decades to overcome the outright hostility and obstructionism of a
Congress that is supposed to represent our interests? Are we in such thrall to
the almighty dollar that even the health of our citizens must depend on others
making a profit from our misfortunes?
It’s time to get to work, Congressman. Every reasonable,
thinking person knows that Obamacare needs work, not repeal. It needs the
collaboration of political parties working for the benefit of those the people
are supposed to represent. You have undertaken that responsibility. It’s time
to put an end to the obscenity of sacrificing the public health to corporate
profits.
Respectfully,
Peter Clothier, Ph.D.
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