sicko

It has been a year since I went to the emergency room in severe abdominal pain. I woke up to get ready for work, but as soon as I stepped out of bed I fell to the ground screaming in pain. I ended up crawling to the bathroom but was unable to move anymore. So my dad took me to the ER. I had never felt so much pain in my life and wondered if my appendix had burst or something of that nature.

After getting to the ER, however, my pain subsided. An ultrasound showed that a large cyst on my ovary had burst, so I was given a prescription for pain meds and sent home.

For six months after that, I got a bill about ever other week from the tests and ER stay which added up to around $2000. Insurance covered about half of the bill, but I had to pay the rest out of pocket.

In class on Tuesday we watched part of Michael Moore's Sicko, which was the sad but entertaining story of Americans who have health insurance but were denied coverage when they developed medical conditions. It was a frustrating movie to watch because the movie inferred that nothing big would ever be covered by health insurance, so if you or your family ever gets sick, you will go broke.

Then he showed people in other countries like Canada, England, and France where socialized health care is the norm. Of course they were happier and healthier and did not hesitate to go to the doctor or hospital when necessary out of fear of paying the bill.

I hear so many different views on socialized health care and it is all confusing.

But I do agree that something has to be done to allow more people to have health care coverage, I'm just not sure what should be done.

Lord, help us find the way!