A foreigner experiences American “exceptionalism”
by digby
A woman from another land finds herself in America’s health care system. She characterizes it as the Wild West. A few choice quotes:
“Kind and attentive as the hospital staff may be, it’s hard to appreciate that you’re recovering when you have that constant, underlying fear of a giant bill.”
“Somewhere nearby, I can hear a nurse talking about the government shutdown. ‘They just have to have their Obamacare,’ she says, her words oozing contempt. I begin to wonder how the Republicans have managed to convince even those in the very midst of a system that punishes the poor, that the slightest implementation of state-funded healthcare is an evil, communist conspiracy. “
“A good-natured Polish nurse has just hooked me up to a drip and given me an injection of blood thinner in the stomach. Carmen is leaving.’Get better, darling,’ she says, ‘And remember – if you need anything – money talks.'”
I honestly don’t think that Americans, most of whom don’t travel outside the country, understand just how unusual it is to be petrified that you are going to go bankrupt or be denied care due to money. The rest of the developed world has found a way to provide universal health care to their people. In this case we are exceptional. Exceptionally heartless.
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