What’s with people? In what would be the supreme height of laughable — that is if the facts on the ground facing regular working American’s and the tragic implementation of their health care wasn’t so ridiculously deadly — ”conservative Maryland physician,” Andy Harris, “elected to Congress on an anti-Obamacare platform” demanded “to know why his government-subsidized health care plan takes a month to kick in.” And continued to ask “what he would do without 28 days of health care.” Irony, eh?
Realistically what I find much more ironic is the fact that as much as Republican’s and the Tea Baggers talk their shit about Obamacare, and how much they hate him — err, I mean it — those newly elected officials have absolutely no intention of repealing that legislation (watch today’s interview of Wendell Potter on Democracy Now!). Health care reform benefits business. That’s precisely where all that Republican money came from. People expecting change by voting for an industry funded solution have been had. Nothing will change. Or be repealed. But I digress.
So in a sorry attempt to cover his sloppy ass, Andy Harris, or I should say his spokeswoman, claimed — I’m assuming after the fact — ”he was just pointing out the inefficiency of government-run health care.” Believe it or not — which I don’t — that concern is fair…
I’ve written a fair bit here, in the past, about health care. And specifically the health care I have received and continue to bear as a Canadian citizen. In fact I have spent a fair amount of my effort railing against my government’s implementation of “health care”. For the record, I’m not against universally accessible health care. At all. In fact, I have to say, I much prefer the services I have and do receive to the bullshit for profit system I’ve witnessed plaguing the U.S.
However my gripe isn’t with what should be an essential, equalled, and accessible service to all citizens, not just in my country, but across the globe, but rather with what a bunch of needle-dicks (read: a government) can do to a system once they get their greasy little, shit covered, mits in it.
Take my word for it. It’s bad. I’m an individual who has arguably spent more time in hospitals, as a patient — one of which was “world renowned,” which was everything but — than likely 10 of my fellow Canadians will ever see in their lifetimes. And that was 12 to 14 years ago, and all indications are it’s much worse now.
I know all too well that a Canadian hospital isn’t a place I want to spend one more second in. I have and will continue to fight the rest of my life to insure that becomes as real as is humanly possible. My point is as bad as my country’s health care system is, it would seem things could be worse…