You know, I listen to a lot of talk radio and the other places where
people are talking healthcare reform a lot of the time these days, and
these conversations, quite frankly, tend to be dominated by affluent
suburbanites who have decent health coverage — as long as they’re not
laid off, anyway — and access to state-of-the-art hospitals in safe
communities, people who can’t understand why there is a push for
changing things in the country. And there are people likeSen.
Jim DeMint of South Carolina who thinks that just showing up at the
hospital is a perfectly fine way of receiving healthcare.No one is speaking loudly enough for the Joaquin Riveras.
I’ve said all along that even under the best case scenario possible, health care still sucks. It’s still massively inconvenient, expensive, and humiliating to get treated for anything, and “just go to the emergency room” is stupid fucking advice even from a moron like DeMint. You get there, and it’s assumed you’re scamming drugs so nobody looks at you in hopes you’ll go away, or it’s three hours and you get paid hourly, or you’re referred to someone else who you then have to call and make another appointment with and honest to God you have dinner to get on the table, etc.
I live in an urban area and I have to tell you, things have to be pretty bad to get me to the emergency room. There are three hospitals within driving distance and the one that doesn’t take our insurance is the only one that doesn’t scare the shit out of me. When I had the flu that escalated into something very scary a few years ago I was in the hospital for eight hours because for the first four, the doctors were somewhat preoccupied with trying to keep a COP WHO’D BEEN SHOT from dying. I’m not quibbling with their priorities, but goddamn, you know? I really think idiots like DeMint need to spend a week hanging out in the closest urban ER just taking frigging notes.
A.