I’ve been struggling lately with the best way to respond to many of the questions from Norwegian students about the United States and how we treat our citizens as well as those who choose to live in the US.
The idea that we do not believe in the welfare of others is something that Norwegian students can’t seem to wrap their heads around, and frankly, neither can I.
How do you respond to health care students who ask how much it costs Americans to go to the doctor or how much cancer treatment costs and you need to admit that your government, and even many people in your country, don’t feel that it is important to make sure that everyone living in your country has free, if not affordable health care?
I don’t care where you sit politically. What I want to know is how do you look someone in the eyes—another human being—and tell them that they do not deserve to live? How do you tell another person that they do not deserve to be treated with the dignity and respect that allows them access to doctors, medical care, preventative medicine, mental health services, and assistance when they need it?
Yes, the United States is much larger than Norway, but I’m not sure why that matters. When 16-year-olds ask me how teenagers in the US afford to go to the doctor or the cost of going to the doctor, what do I say? Because I am at a loss.
What I did tell the healthcare students, those upper secondary students who are training to be future nurses and doctors in Norway, who asked me these questions is the story of Jack. My son Jack was born prematurely. He was 31 weeks old. It was an emergency C-section. After he was born I was sick and had to stay in the hospital and he had to stay there for 55 days. I had wonderful healthcare at the time (thank you Temple University) and a boss who worked with me, helping me negotiate as a graduate student how to continue to work and have healthcare even though in the US there is no guaranteed maternity leave. I only paid $250 for the services that Jack and I received and they were wonderful. I will forever be in debt to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at Pennsylvania Hospital. They were amazing, especially the nurses, and for all that I thank them. (I have talked about this before and can never say enough.)
Yet, even though it cost only $250 we received the bill from our insurance to see what the cost of the hospital stay was and before Jack was even 2 months old he had a medical bill of a little more than $500,000. We were lucky. We did not need to pay. We had access. We had privilege, and Jack did not start his life in debt. We were able to continue to get the preventative care that a preemie needs, including expensive medication and follow-up care for the first two years of life, that many people cannot afford.
But, this is not always (and more and more not often) the case. The healthcare system (or lack of) in the United States puts many Americans in financial ruins. Our healthcare system is the most expensive in the world and also ranked worst in the developed world. We have coverage gaps and high out-of-pocket costs that negatively impact our country. We have issues with access, equity, and efficiency of treatment. People DIE every day in the United States because of our lack of equitable and accessible health care. This is a fact.
Why is this the case? How do I explain why we continue these trends? What is it that makes Americans continue to oppose universal health care and equitable services?
People die unnecessarily in the US due to inadequate care.
Again
People die unnecessarily in the US due to inadequate care.
We die more than Europeans because of lack of health care or poor quality health care.
What does that mean for our children? What does that mean as we continue a debate that demands that companies control our health care based on the amount of money it costs them to cover employees? What does this tell our children about how we care about each other, how we support each other, how we value each other?
I know that if you don’t agree with universal health care I probably won’t change your mind with my post. I know that many of you will argue against what I am saying, finding an excuse to cut funding and medical care. But, I ask you to at least stop and think. Please take a minute to explain to me how you tell a child they don’t deserve access to a doctor. How do you tell someone with cancer that the treatment is just too expensive and someone who has a better job deserves to live a longer life?
I tell these students who say, why don’t you care about the social welfare of people in the United States, “I don’t know.” What else can I tell them?