On Health Care (cue the violin)

Sick Girl

Mark Ryden

I'm so ridiculously sick. Hacking, coughing, wheezing sick. And yet here I am at work, spreading my germs and trying to keep the pile of tissues in check. It got me thinking about the health care situation in the country and the notion of sick leave (I say 'notion,' because in a lot of work environments, it's just that - a notion). My presence here has nothing to do with my bosses, who are incredible, but just in the system itself. When we are sick, we are expected to buck up, get in our cars, drive to our school/jobs and cough through the days, in the process (again) spreading our sickness to our fellow students and co-workers.

I watched Michael Moore's Sicko a while back, and while I know one must take any Moore documentary with a grain of salt, I found so much of what he had to say compelling. The film wasn't as bombastic and melodramatic as most of his work; it was sound and practical, specifically much of what he said regarding Canada and Europe and their respective systems. I found this great Business Week article to back up certain claims he makes:

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jun2007/gb20070613_921562.htm

The article examines France and Britain's health care approach and finds that Britain's is rather lacking, while France seems to have the right idea. It's 62 million citizens are healthier than Americans, and "per capita spending on health care is also roughly half as much." The U.S. ranked terribly in a Commonwealth Study assessing the health and quality of our lives.

Meanwhile, the John de Graaf article "Thinking Differently About Health Care" notes that "Americans rank 45th in life expectancy, right there with Albania."

http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/008803.html

"Finally, and this is no small matter, every other industrial country guarantees its workers paid time off from work when they are sick; only the US does not. In many cases, as much as a month of leave is allowed. These countries know that without paid time off, workers will come to work sick, as many American workers do. They will get others sick and stay sick longer, often requiring more expensive treatment for their illnesses. This is not rocket science. Most Americans get this immediately. That is why more than 80 percent of them favor a law that would guarantee paid sick days for workers."

The article is fascinating because it focuses on preventative measures, and not just matters of cost and insurance. If we take care of ourselves in the first place, and if policies are implemented which ensure we are taken care of at our places of work when we are ill, billions of dollars may be saved in medicine and care. But thinking long-term is simply not our forte. We love our credit cards and we eat our hamburgers, and the debt, illness, and fatigue that may follow get little consideration.

{cough, cough}

I'm out.