Health Care

I'm lucky. Even though I'm uninsured, I managed to get into a sliding fee program at a local clinic - and the clinic has an amazing discount pharmacy. Admittedly, I see an LPN more than I see a doctor, but my particular LPN/doc combo rock like crazy and I love them. They've both been extremely supportive and caring in a difficult time.

The thing is, not everyone is so lucky. There are millions, if not hundreds of millions, of people in this country who go without even basic care because it's TOO fracking EXPENSIVE! How, exactly, can we claim the US is an enlightened country when people die every day because they can't afford their medication or their insurance company denied a necessary procedure? The system is broken.

Figuring out how to fix it is a little bit above my pay grade, but I've been hearing good things about the program in Massachusetts, where everyone is required to carry health insurance, either through work or through the state, with heavy subsidies for the poor. We have to at least try to get this fixed. If nothing else, so we can look at our collective reflection in the mirror every morning.