The L. A. Times May 27 Business section: “Canada’s healthcare saved her. Ours won’t touch her.” relates a poignant example of how dysfunctional the U. S. healthcare insurance system is.
The article discusses the plight of a Canadian woman who was in a car accident in Nova Scotia. She suffered a brain injury and thirteen broken bones. She spent three months in a Halifax hospital. The Canadian government paid the entire bill.
She recovered from that accident, married an American and now lives in San Diego County. She applied for healthcare insurance, but was rejected by two major health insurance companies. The decision was based on her 2007 hospitalization, even though she has recovered.
The lesson to be learned is that our healthcare insurers put profit ahead of patient needs. This country needs a single-payer health care system, similar to the Canadian system, but the private insurers are lobbying aggressively to prevent that from happening.
Most Americans, including nurses and doctors, want a single-payer healthcare system, but our legislators declare that the issue is “off the table.” They are supposed to be legislating in the best interests of the public, but the for-profit health insurance industry puts lots of money in their coffers, and money talks.
Melvin H Kirschner, MPH, MD
No comments:
Post a Comment