USA - Interesting blog

1- I went to the dentist today, which, of course, was a pretty awful experience. The whole dental practice is almost medieval when you think about it. Who thought (and who is still thinking) that prodding around a patient's gums with a sharp pointy stick until they bleed would prevent bacteria? If I get through the next week without a gum infection, I'll be surprised. But that's all personal anger towards the pain that was inflicted upon me, and probably most people would just go on with their day. But, in a serious note, there are other reasons that dental medicine is questionable. I was given, at most, half an ounce of fluoride to "swish" around in my mouth, and then they charged my father 38 dollars. I would like to mention that my father was never informed or asked if I could have fluoride, I was just given it. And then he was talked down to when he questioned the charge, because with his dental plan, a cleaning is supposed to be free. It's all very questionable. I could go to Walgreens right now and buy a bottle with 40 ounces of fluoride for 4 dollars. Or even better, I could turn on my sink faucet, grab a cup, and drink a healthy glass of fluoride- boosted Georgia water. Then, my dentist tried to get me to "invest" in a $300 tooth brush, that is "only available through your dentist!" which means one thing to me: my friend, Dr. Yaz, would be earning some sort of fat commission off of me. Which is sad in two ways: one, I don't need a $300 dollar tooth brush and shouldn't be hassled into buying one, but more importantly, my dentist, Dr. Yaz, should not have to be a salesperson on top of a dentist. The whole experience just got me thinking about the way healthcare works in America. I worked in a health insurance survey company this winter, and learned alot of things from it. One thing I learned is that people most people leave their health insurance because the cost they pay to keep it outweighs the "benefits" that they are promised. I would say most, no, a vast majority of the people I surveyed had no health insurance at all, nevermind dental insurance. I worked in a hospital that winter as well, and can remember a time sitting with the nurses as they fought over the phone with a pharmacy, trying to find a more cost effective generic for the poor couple and their son with the stomach infection. I remember walking the same couple down to the billing offices, watching them like a prison guard, just to see them cry as they tried to figure out how to pay the large sum of money that they owed the hospital just for helping their son to stop throwing up. I'm not saying that that's nothing, I certainly could not help that child, I'm just saying.

Lets put it this way: The "average" 4 person Georgia family median income (not mean mind you) is at 61 thousand dollars, give or take 1,986 dollars, according to the Census Bureau. Georgia's median income is about 12 thousand more than the national average, which is impressive, I guess. But the national average has only rose by like 10 thousand since the 70s, while the price of living has increased way more than that. But, you know, whatever. I had a point. Oh yea! 17.6 percent of Georgia residents (about 1 million people, depending on who you ask) are not completely insured in America. The minimum wage in Georgia is $5.15 an hour, which, by the way, is not only under the federal minimum wage, but also 80 cents less than that of Guam. A 40 hour work week would yield about 206 dollars, minus taxes. The price of a pediatric visit according to a 2001 study was $92. So basically, thats about half a week's work to pay for a doctor visit. That it, if you can get in an appointment while working 8 hours a day. But enough with the statistics. The fact is, the health care system in America is incredibly flawed and inefficient. I've heard many an arguments from my more "conservative" (notice the quotes- I do not want to lump them with educated, actual conservatives) counterparts about how the system creates more capitalist competition, therefore making the care we're provided better. Wrong. Maybe for the 1 million Georgia residents without health insurance it's competitive, but for the other 7 million of us, we go where we're told. This leads to not only super corruption and hidden fees, but to a basic feeling of "It doesn't matter". Andrew Moravcsik of Newsweek International put it this way:

"'Americans have the best medical care in the world,' Bush declared in his Inaugural Address. Yet the United States is the only developed democracy without a universal guarantee of healthcare, leaving about 45 million Americans uninsured. Nor do Americans receive higher-quality health care in exchange. Whether it is measured by questioning public-health experts, polling citizen satisfaction or survival rates, the health care offered by other countried increasingly ranks above America's. U.S. infant mortality rates are among the highest for developed democracies. The average Frenchman, like most Europenas, lives nearly four years longer than the average American. Small wonder that the World Health Organization rates the U.S. healhcaer system only 37th best in the world, behind Columbia (22nd) and Saudi Arabia (26th), and on a par with Cuba."
So, there goes that argument. It is exhausting, however, to try to explain to people that America is no longer the Hegemonic King that it thinks it is. I find it utterly sad that so many millions of Americans go without healthcare every year, and I cannot believe that we continue to look away from the issue.
Well I guess that's the political tangeant of the day. Onto other things.