Dr. E

I really have to disagree. The “Poor” are normally very used to being that way and are normally adept at navigating the process to get needed services. No one in a sizable metropolitan area is in any danger of doing without food, shelter, or medical care thru lack of money if they know the system and are willing to “jump thru hoops”, as I like to say, to get it. Now the “working” class poor and recent immigrants have a tougher time navigating, and in some cases being willing to accept, the “system, but it's there. Those in rural settings have much more trouble because even with insurance or programs many just don't have reasonable access to care.

When you think sometimes of the few cents a thing actuallly costs to manufacture whether it be hp or anitbiotics or aceteminicides, it really might take only a few cents to treat a potentially perilous condition… if one had the cents to begin with.

dr.e

on the other one i think he is okay. . it was about 10 days ago. . .and we were able to gather up six antibiotics after he took the tooth out. . .and he did continue with the hydrogen peroxide. . .i am sure there are one that will cringe at the self-care antibiotics. . .but this is how people cope. . .rarely is a full script taken because people want to leave a few for emergencies. . .

Thanks Dr. E.. . . .much appreciated. . .

ordinarysparrow, at the very beginnning of her post asked “Does every American have the right to health care?”

My almost reflexive answer is, not only yes, but hell yes.

A country that can spend almost a trillion dollares on an elective war, surely can spend that much on non-elective health care for its citizens, including those who have served in those elective wars.

People who can spend millions/billions on private yachts, airplanes, palaces, etc., etc., (yes, they have worked hard for them) can certainly spare a few hundred/thousand more dollars to take care of the less fortunate ones (Yes, I know, those poor bas*#rds could have worked just a hard, too).

Need I go on?

we do need health care reform. . . all the concern for cost important . . . but once again even with this tooth removal situation it could of turned into something so much more costly than it ever needed to be. . . part of the needed reform is education. . .and special education classes for getting medical care need to be developed for men. . .

Thanks for pointing out other options. . .much appreciated. . .

Add also to EEllis' list, with care, Lutheran, Seven Day Adventist, Presbyterian hospitals, any that have a religious mission who are not also part owned or managed by an outside for-profit corporation. Also, any Catholic clinica; at the Catholic hosp where I teach they have a fund for emergency care for people who cannot afford even a few dollars, and once in program they are adjudicated for a year of care, and then re-eval'd. Same hospital, nuns bought themselves back from outside corporate that ran their hospital for a while. Reason: lack of compassionate care offered to the poorest of the poor. Much better now. Sisters of Charity. Leavenworth.

Other nun groups run hospitals throughout US… the number is huge. Some speak of taxing churches of all kinds. I think they may not realize the vast hospital system across the US funded by religious would fall… some estimate that nearly half the hospital, hospice, clinica, systems would collapse.

Of many notables: I've never heard any hospital nun in direct service of touching the poor, brag about what they do. They just do it, like others dedicated to helping and healing, religious or not… with such patience, knowing, and love.

dr.e

Tell the one that pulled his tooth to go to the ER of the county hospital or almost any catholic hospital and they will check it out, give him antibiotics, and limited pain pills. If it goes bad it can happen quick, less than a day, and should be taken very serious unless he is already feeling better. Don't forget local dental collages as a way to get low cost exams.

thanks for the prayers Dr. E. for my sister. . .

hang in there, and you sis is still in our prayers.
dr.e

Dorian's ” there must be more to it.”. . .i wonder about that often???. . .Is it American tribalism masking in modern garb banishing their weapons and being lead by the Shock Jocks. . .instead of being founded by poppies and heroine. . .the leaders are funded by advertisement of male enhancers and remedies for restoring hair loss. . .

In my small world this month concerning the issue of self-care. . . this is how some are coping. . .

two men have come knocking on my door with severe tooth problems. . .fever and abscess. . . one was able to get relief from a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. . . the other tried the hydrogen peroxide, the ambesol, the pain relievers dissolved into the tooth, but to no significant relief. . .i called every clinic for him but found there was a two month wait. . .so the guy got drunk and pulled it himself, in spite of the warning to do so could cause sepis. . .both of these guy served in the military. . .working in jobs without insurance. . .

another woman came looking for antibiotics or alternatives. . .she makes 7 $ a hour in a Deli. . .trying to feed a family of five. . no insurance. . .partner laid off. . .

another guy came to tell me he had just been notified he had hepatitis C. . .he was laid off a few months back and had made the decision to sell his plasma to buy food. . .the first several times he went his tests where clear, but this last time, was informed he had contacted hepatitis C. . .he is not a druggie. . .but probably got it from selling the plasma. . . he was feeling really low but needed to be pushed into going to a doctor because he did not have away to pay. . .

have yet to meet any of those people that are just looking for something for nothing. . .every person i know in these situations have to move through layers of shame for needing help and having to ask the gov to provide care. . .

it is only mid month. . .in the past couple of years i would say this is a typical month. . .

i would vote in a nano second. . . down with the layers upon layers of greed and economical self interest. . .let's slay the dragon and get Universal Health Care. .

i often ask them how is your situation different than the corporate privileged that have coverage and entitlements that pay for their health care?. . .they see their corporate health care as privilege and prestige it does not come out of their pockets. . . but for the working poor. . .they are to be shamed for the gov. providing care. . . there is so much class(ism) in the debate. . .

“Why does there have to be more to it?”

Steve K, just above your comment, may have just found the “more to it”

But, there must be more to it…

Why does there have to be more to it?

… EXCEPT when you hear that a anti-health care reform group (nameless?.. Faceless?..) ran one television ad 115 times over a day and a half before the President arrived… IN MONTANA… ONE AD… ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TIMES… IN A DAY AND A HALF.

And at the same time Republican legislators continue repeating BALD-FACE LIES… Death Panels!.. Euthanasia!.. Government panels that are going to kill Grannie… LIES… LIES… LIES.

It's not just health care reform they're after… they're after Obama. Some people just can not stand the fact that a smart, black Democrat is President of the United States.

Mike Lupica at the New York Daily News has nailed it: President Obama is the real target of health care protesters, not policy

[...]
“Yes, there were a few protesters en route. But the Montanans who were excited to hear the President far outnumbered the fringe groups.”

Then she said this about Obama: “He was smart, fair, funny.”

So this wasn't an occasion when people with legitimate concerns and legitimate points to make were overwhelmed by the wing nuts and screamers who take their marching orders from right-wing radio and television and the Internet.

Those idiots come to these town hall meetings more to be seen than heard, and think creating chaos makes them great Americans.
[...]
The most violent opposition isn't directed at his ideas about health care reform. It is directed at him. It is about him. They couldn't make enough of a majority to beat the Harvard-educated black guy out of the White House, so they will beat him on an issue where they see him as being most vulnerable.
[...]
With that kind of zealotry, screaming about government programs as if Medicare isn't one. It is why so many of them, all these wild-eyed red faces in the crowd, look completely certifiable, screaming about how Obama wants to kill Grandma, as if he's suddenly turned into Jack Kevorkian.
[...]
Even in Montana, the Swift Boaters who would line up against any health care plan endorsed by Barack Obama ran one television ad 115 times over a day and a half before the President arrived.

“Every time we are in sight of health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got,” the President said outside Bozeman. “They use their influence and run their ads. They use their political allies to scare the American people.”

He is right about that. But the special interests aren't fighting the reform, in a system that cries out for reform, as much as they are fighting him. They see their first real good opening and they go for it.
They don't just want to hijack this debate, they want to hijack his presidency. The rest of it, about your coverage and everything else, is just the cover story.

I have often said that I “have no dog in this fight,” as my family and I have, and have always had, the best possible medical care our government can provide.

But, call it stupidity, call it compassion–I don't care–I would want every American to have the same health care. And, call it stupidity or whatever, I am willing to pay a few more dollars in taxes to see this come about.

I understand–albeit I find it morally questionable–that others who are fortunate to be in a financial position to have good medical care whenever they need it, would not want others to be as fortunate, for whatever reasons: they want to hold on to the money they worked so hard for; or they don't want bigger government, bigger deficits, or they don't want “socialism,” etc., etc.

That, I can understand—I may not approve of it, but, then again, it is not up to me to approve or disapprove.

But what I don't understand is the philosophy of those who don't have insurance, don't have health care, don't have the financial resources–oftentimes have already bankrupted themselves and their families–who would badmouth and even reject a health care reform that, at the very least, would bring some much-needed medical care into their lives.

If it is self-reliance, pride, stoicism, independence, etc., etc. then I understand and salute them.

But, there must be more to it…