According to the website
Businessinsider.com, the average cost of delivering a baby in the USA is $10,808
US, this does not include ante- and postnatal care, this is just the cost of
delivery and any subsequent hospital stay that is normal and expected as a result
of childbirth. Now whilst I am aware that America is not the only country
that follows an out of pocket/voluntary insurance healthcare system, they are
certainly the most prominent and arguably the most developed nation to do so,
and though an insurance model can work, whilst there is no federal mandate for compulsory insurance and no safety net for those that simply can't afford to pay
insurance, a significant percentage of the population will be consigned to
paying out of pocket, whether they can afford it or not, either that or they
will be left to suffer.
Barack Obama tried to
address this situation; the colloquially named Obamacare bill (the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act), amongst other things, extended the reach
of the Medicaid program, increasing the number of people totally covered by
between 20 and 24 million (source - Wikipedia). Now whilst impressive,
this still leaves a significant number of American citizens either wholly
(around 27 million nonelderly - source kff.org) or insufficiently
insured. A bill, mind, that the Republicans have (unsuccessfully) voted
to repeal either entirely or partially some 60 times.
The arguments for various healthcare systems are many
and varied, so I'll not be falling down that particular rabbit warren on this
occasion, I will simply and succinctly state that any country that does not
consider some form of UNIVERSAL healthcare to be a human right can in no way
consider itself to be a civilized and mature society. The vast majority
of Americans that I know are very caring people so, taking political ideology aside,
I can't imagine a single one of them disagreeing with this proclamation.
With all this said, I call on all Americans, old and
young, rich and poor, to demand better of your elected officials, to demand
that they work out a solution to this most basic of human rights. I call
on the elected officials and appointed civil servants, take this solemn responsibility
that you have been entrusted with seriously, remember that you are the servants
of the people, not their masters, and reassess your priorities. When a government
chooses to allocate some 60% of its federal budget to its military might,
whilst neglecting the welfare of its citizens, one has to question why and how
things have been prioritized and just why such a country has involved itself in
the lives of so many other nations when they have such a long way to go to get
their own house in order.
As former US Vice President once said, “the
moral test of a government is how that government treats those who are in the
dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly;
those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
Frankly America, it's time to grow up!
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