Sunday, March 02, 2008
What Conservatives Won't Tell You
One conservative talking point we hear most often goes like this: the American health care system is so superior to others in the world that people are clamoring to come to the United States to get what they can't get at home. Canadians are spilling across our northern border, conservatives tell us, because their evil socialist government is killing them with inferior health care services.
I do not dispute that some Canadian residents do choose to have some medical procedures performed in the United States. With that said, I do dispute the idea that there is some sort of flood of sickly Canadians streaming across the border to get services they can't get at home. I strongly suspect that where a Canadian lives in relation to an American hospital, how much disposable income a Canadian has, and how urgently he or she needs a particular procedure all factor in to an individual Canadian's decision to look for care in the United States. I don't have any numbers at my immediate disposal to back up my suspicions, but not surprisingly, all the conservative arguments to the contrary I've seen also lack any such numerical evidence.
What I do have at my disposal are recent media reports that prove my fellow Americans are looking overseas to get the care they can't get at home. Those that don't have the option of going overseas to get needed care are increasingly relying on a medical relief organization that was founded to bring health care to remote overseas jungles.
First, let's look at two reports about the growing business of so-called "medical tourism" here in the United States. Contrary to what the name might suggest, "medical tourism" is not the business of bringing impatient Canadian straw men to American hospitals. It is the business of sending uninsured and underinsured Americans to Third World countries to receive vital medical procedures they simply can't get here.
As documented by WFAA-TV, the costs associated with getting care from "medical tourism" as compared to the costs for the same care here in the States "are appealing numbers to Nicki Zito, who is insured. But she is also in debt trying to treat her seven-year old daughter's rare disease."
"'You think that you have insurance and it'll be OK,' Zito said. 'And then you just get the bills and they keep coming in. It's something we never prepared for, that's for sure.'"
"She never dreamed of surgery overseas, either. Now, however, she sees no other way."
Meanwhile, and as documented by KTVT-TV, "Broderick Martin of Allen [Texas] is no stranger to hospitals. The 22-year-old has been suffering from a number of medical issues, and has been in and out of hospitals his whole life. But when these health problems caused his hip and joints to deteriorate, Martin's doctor told him it was time for surgery."
"'No insurance,' said Martin. 'We didn't have the $60,000 for the surgery.'"
"So, Martin and his family began looking for alternatives. 'Somebody had seen an article, or seen it on TV, an ad for medical tourism,' he explained. 'So, I just started looking online.'"
According to numbers cited in the WFAA report, Americans can get the care they need overseas for about one-fifth the price they would pay (if they could) in the United States. Without traveling abroad to get the care, the people featured in the two reports simply wouldn't get it. Both reports take time to explain some of the risks involved in "medical tourism," but the message is clear: Americans are having to leave their country to preserve their health. It's the exact opposite of what conservatives are saying to convince us that universal health care is a bad thing.
If the stories above aren't enough proof for you that we have a problem, the CBS News program 60 Minutes just aired a piece on an the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps (RAM). It's a group that uses cash donations and time volunteered by medical professionals to bring medical care to underserved areas. They were founded to bring doctors, dentists, and optometrists to remote jungles in the Amazon and other foreign lands. Now, most of their work is done in rural areas of the United States.
One part of the 60 Minutes piece stands out most in my mind. Correspondent Scott Pelley asked a very pointed question to RAM founder Stan Brock. "You created this medical organization designed to go into Third World countries to go into remote places, and now doing 60 percent of your work in urban and rural America, what are we supposed to make of that?"
A look at the organization's schedule offers ready proof of the need here in the United States. As of this writing, there is only one mention of an ongoing effort in Guyana, yet there are numerous events listed for places in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.
Conservatives would look at the 60 Minutes piece and try to hijack the issue with another of their false talking points. They would tell you that the people being helped by RAM are lazy, unemployed, or simply choosing to depend on charity rather than secure their own health care. As RAM volunteers will tell you, that simply isn't the case.
"Ross Isaacs is one of the doctors. Asked who these patients are, Dr. Isaacs...told Pelley, 'It's the working poor, middle of their lives, most with families, most not substance abusers, and employed without adequate insurance.'"
So, let's review. The health care situation here in the United States is bad and getting worse. Wealthy conservatives, who do not have to worry about how much it costs to see a doctor, want you to believe that Canadians are pouring over our northern border because government-run health care in Canada is bad. In fact, the opposite is true. Americans of modest means are having to go to the Third World to get care. Meanwhile, Americans of lesser means are having to depend on international relief agencies to get theirs.
That's not all. Assuming that Americans can survive to old age by going overseas for care or by waiting for it to come from international relief agencies, those embarking on their golden years are also looking outside the country for their care. A recent report by WFAA-TV's Angela Kocherga featured American families who decided to obtain round-the-clock nursing care for their aging parents in Mexico. Personally, I thought the piece seemed more like a commercial for Mexican nursing homes than honest-t0-goodness news reporting, but the point remains. I'll add a link to the story as soon as I can find one.
Add it all up and it's one big thing that conservatives don't want to tell you. Our free-market based health care system is leaving a lot of people without care and forcing them to look abroad for alternatives. It's time for government to step in and even the playing field.
