Since everyone seems to be weighing in on the debate, I thought I'd jump on the (ambulance?) bandwagon (thanks to Hadassah for the "socialist" inspiration!)
I've been the proud user of not one but three social healthcare systems. I was born in Toronto, Canada, where my parents left the hospital with a pink bundle of joy instead of a hefty surgery bill to worry a little bit more about. When I needed a tonsillectomy at the age of three, treatment from a car accident at the age of six or a lump removed at the age of fifteen, OHIP (our lovely provincial body) was there and I was seen to rather quickly. In fact, that aforementioned lump was removed within three weeks of me seeing a doctor, no year's wait for me. That doesn't strike me as evil.
I moved to New Brunswick to go to university in 1999. In my second year, while attempting a rather awkward layup in inappropriate shoes that would make Larry Bird cringe (I was coaching the JV Girls' basketball team), I landed clumsily and injured my foot and my back simultaneously. That same year, an American girl in my dorm (I was an RA) ate peanuts and went running, only to discover a peanut allergy which sent her to the ER rather promptly. Both times, there were competent doctors who were not only timely but helpful in medicating for pain (and allergies). Both times, neither one of us (Canadian or American) was left with a large bill in addition to our injuries from New Brunswick's Medicare. Again, not evil.
I live in the UK now, where the NHS is de rigeur in terms of care. Yes, I pay for private cover, but I've yet to use it because I haven't (again, thank goodness) needed it. I'm not 100% happy with a recent diagnosis (when you know you're ill, you know you're ill - it shouldn't take two visits to the doctor to make that clear), but I'm happy to be able to show up to the surgery and be seen in less than an hour without an appointment, or wait at a swine-flu free hospital for a nighttime emergency. Not evil.
Years ago, I was a counsellor at a summer camp in New York. We took it in turns to take injured campers to the local hospital in the Catskills, sometimes spending upwards of six hours in the waiting room in agony with a dislocated shoulder. I've never, in my life, spent six hours waiting for the most minor of treatments at a Canadian or British hospital (thank goodness). Is this what Republicans continue to want for their country? A six hour wait and a six hundred dollar bill to show for it?
My grandparents (who both turn 86 years young this Sunday) have, over the course of their long lives, sometimes needed urgent and long-term care. My grandfather needed a hip replacement in 1999, and got one rather swiftly at a major Toronto hospital. His new titanium hip and subsequent weeks of rehabilitation would have cost upwards of $30,000 - a bill few pensioners could face. The value to him, and to his family, has been immeasurable. He wasn't turned away from treatment because he was too old. More importantly, was able to dance the night away at my wedding, hold his great-granddaughter's hand for a walk and go swimming at the cottage nearly a decade after his operation. Definitely not evil.
Evil? How is being treated for cancer at an advanced age evil? I've had elderly relatives treated for a rather narrow spectrum of life-threatening illnesses (mostly cancer), never turned away from care because of their age or stage of condition. Denying people care (and what Republicans seem to want you to think will happen in the States if Obamacare is passed) seems so hideously counter-intuitive to the basic promise in medicine of primum non nocere - first, do no harm.
If you know me, you'll know I'm pretty conservative when it comes to my politics. Having a basic healthcare system in place so that the poorest among us have access to proper, life-assisting care is right. I'm glad President Obama is taking healthcare further than Hillary Clinton could have imagined back in 1992, and I hope that my American friends not only support the Bill, but try to dispel the myths that Obama's detractors have had so much fun getting out in public.
