We just got copies of the bill for the 2 and a half days and 2 nites I spent in the hospital for my ulcer. The total was close to $6,000.00! Fortunately, our health insurance paid all but 12 dollars and change (of course, this does not include the individual bills from my doctor and the gastrointestinolgist which haven’t arrived yet…but the insurance should take most of that, too.)
It started me thinking about people my age (lower 60s) with similar problems (there must be millions of them out there) who don’t have health insurance… and I wonder what they do if they require a long hospital stay… or if they have a bleeding ulcer requiring transfusions. At some point, the emergency room is not enough and they have to get into the system.
This is why I support universal health care. It should be the right of all Americans, as it is the right of all Canadians, British, and French people. The fact that it is not is shameful.
As I look at candidates, the one who comes closest to a universal system is the one I’m going to campaign hardest for.
