In my search for a place to potentially move overseas, one of the things that is always on my criteria list is the need for accessible and affordable health care. I mean, let’s be real, I am soon to be 70 and although I’m in pretty good shape I fully understand that none of us are invincible. I have suffered a torn and partially detached retina in each eye, have one artificial knee and a small aortic aneurysm in my chest. Access to health care is one of the things at the top of my list. That said, it is not hard to find places in the world that have excellent, affordable and accessible health care. Unfortunately, despite being one of the wealthiest nations, the United States continually lags most of the other ‘wealthy’ nations in access to affordable health care.1 This is a tragedy and borders on being criminal.
Even worse, there are continuing efforts by Republicans to make even further cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, not to mention the numerous (and unsuccessful) attempts to overturn the Affordable Care Act (ACA), i.e. ‘Obama care. Amid one of the most devastating health care crises this country has faced in over a century, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that in 2020, about 31 million Americans or roughly 10% of the population have no health insurance.2 It just boggles one’s mind. Much of the rest of the world has figured this out, why can’t we? I would argue that simple greed that continues to feed the exacerbating wealth disparity in this country is a major factor.
Virtually every country on my ‘target list’ has better access to and more affordable health care than the United States. That is also true for prescription drugs. There are a number of reasons people retire overseas, but I have read many, many accounts of people who moved overseas primarily because they had more affordable access to health care somewhere else. That’s pretty sad. America is probably one of the few industrialized nations where people can work hard their entire lives, put together a nice little retirement nest egg, and then be forced into bankruptcy because of an unexpected serious illness.
And now with the ongoing self-inflicted wound imposed upon the health care system by all of the people who refuse to get vaccinated and mask up to help stop the spread of the COVID Delta variant, the situation is getting even worse. I cannot, for the life of me, understand the reluctance to get vaccinated or take easy healthcare measures, i.e. wearing a mask. My frustration level got to the point that I submitted a letter to the Bozeman Chronicle a couple of days ago. I doubt they will publish it but we’ll see. I have included the text here just for fun.
“We are in the middle of a pandemic and now the Delta variant is causing a dramatic increase in cases, hospitalizations and deaths primarily among those who refuse to get vaccinated and wear masks if they are, in fact, unvaccinated. This is certainly frustrating. However, there is a kind of silver lining if you will. I’m sure there is a very strong correlation between those who refuse to get vaccinated and those who do not believe in science and prefer to listen to TV talking heads rather than medical professionals. This current situation then provides a real-life giant experiment that will once again prove Darwin to be correct. Given that the surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths are primarily amongst the unvaccinated, one would expect the unvaccinated population to thin itself out, so in the long run, the segment of the population who are not smart enough to take the simple steps required for self-preservation, i.e., vaccinations and wearing masks, will continue to get sick and die out. Thus, in the long run, the population will be composed primarily of people who are smart enough to take steps to guarantee the survival of the themselves and the species. There is no doubt that more ‘Darwin awards’ will be given out this year that in all previous years combined. So, the way I see it, you can get in line for your Darwin award which may cost you or those around you their lives, or you can get in line for a vaccination. But, you’re correct, it is your right to make whatever decision you want. Just remember that when your Darwin award is sitting by your bedside in the hospital and you’re struggling to breathe! You had a choice. “
I only went off on this tangent today because of an article I read. I have some things I need to take care of so that’s it for today.
I’ve been doing the same. I have given up on Republican’s and COVID-19. It’s like watching Dr. Josef Mengele of NAZI Germany all over again. Except, that Republicans seem incistant to cull their own herd down, and I increasingly have no trouble with them taking themselves out of the gene pool and fewer of them voting next election. Stupid is as Stupid does and I can’t fix Stupid, except for myself (if noticed – not easy).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele
I forgot to include – It’s painful to have lost a friend in Florida from COVID-19. It was Jan 12th before the vaccines, which means he likely sufferred for about 3 weeks – pushing it back to late Dec. Not the best Christmas present given to him by the party he supported – Republican – they rewarded him with less of a chance to live that otherwise, and he paid the ultimate price. I’m gonna explode if I lose another roommate from the past that way.