Opinions

Our health-care system is a heartbreaker

Nothing breaks my heart like seeing how sick and injured Americans are being used as the feed stock for one of our nation's most exploitative industries — our health care system.

It makes me sad to think of all of the people who stay in miserable relationships because they need the health insurance their partner provides. And sometimes people remain in jobs they ahbor just because they need the insurance.

[American lack of universal health care is a national disgrace]

I'm worried about the way our health care system actually discourages some people from working. Some folks seek to become classified as disabled, not because they are unable to work or that they are lazy, but solely because they have chronic health problems and as "able-bodied" workers, can't access the services required to stay healthy.

It breaks my heart when I hear of moms and dads who won't let their children play sports or go on adventures because they're afraid the kids might get hurt and the family won't be able to pay the doctor.

I cry inside for the local 80-year-old store clerk who struggles to make it to work every day so he can pay down his wife's medical bills, even though she died 10 years ago from cancer.

Anger wells up inside me when I hear of drug companies that raise the price of one-of-a-kind lifesaving drugs 2000 percent just because they can; when service providers milk their patients for unnecessary appointments and procedures; and the way I once paid $800 for a 10-minute visit with a sinus specialist in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and paid $15,000 for a surgical procedure that took less than 30 minutes.

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[How health care costs are bleeding Alaska dry]

Inside my mind, I can still hear the shrieks of relatives who came to the local emergency room to view the body of a man they loved — a man who shot himself in the head after he decided his chronic illness was destroying his family's financial security and future.

I'm outraged at former Gov. Sarah Palin for destroying the drive for a national health care system by terrifying Americans with warnings of "death panels," when those very panels already exist, embedded in our health insurers' protocols for determining what they will or won't pay for.

I'm disgusted when I see Americans reduced to holding bake sales and car washes and selling prized possessions in order to come up with money for a lifesaving medical procedure.

And I'm filled with sorrow that my brothers and sisters throughout the land believe the lie that our health care system "is the best on Earth" and we don't dare upset the apple cart by questioning the things I've just shared with you.

I pray you and your friends and neighbors will take a hard look at our nation's health care system. It doesn't have to be this way. It could be a lot better. In most developed countries, when someone gets really sick, the only thing they have to worry about is getting better.

What if it could be that way in our country too?

Eric Treider  is a former candidate for Alaska State Senate. He was the co-coordinator for Sen. Bernie Sanders' Kenai Peninsula presidential campaign and  is currently an organizer for the Alaska Green Party. He lives in Soldotna.

The views expressed here are the writer's and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com or click here to submit via any web browser.

Eric Treider

Eric Treider is running for Alaska Senate, District O. He's a semi-retired oilfield worker and gold miner. He and his wife Nelma live in Soldotna.

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