Health Care in the US … More Than A Crisis, A Disgrace!

The News Hour on PBS is now doing a multi-part feature about health care. Watch it.Last night’s installment featured a young couple in their 30s with two small kids, who could very well be next-door neighbors. They are, in other words, hard-working, middle-class, responsible, and modest in their lifestyle.But they’re in a jam.Both husband and wife have medical problems requiring surgery. He’s the breadwinner, but has been going to work each day fearing an attack that could potentially be fatal. She cares for their two small children while dealing with frequent bouts of pain and nausea from a gall bladder problem.Their health insurance costs $800 a month, a huge bite out of the family budget. Even so, with deductibles and co-pays, they haven’t got the money to pay for both procedures.So they have decided the husband should get the surgery since his problem appears to be more serious. She’s going to tough it out.What must it be like for each of them, living with that decision?

More to the point, how can the rest of us live with a situation that forces friends and neighbors to make decisions like that? Shouldn’t we all expect more from “the greatest nation on earth”?

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