My name is Ronnie D.

McCain Really Wants Health Care Reform, He Told Me So

A few months ago, I contacted the good ol’ Maverick with some of my issues regarding health care reform. I urged him to please pass legislation before I die due to lack of health care access. This morning, I was lucky enough to find his response in my inbox. Apparently though, he’s hesitant about helping me and millions of other Americans because he’s still more concerned that the old folks will be losing some coverage… and that I may go and get an abortion with your tax money, tarnishing this great country’s moral sheen.

So instead of seeing it logically - that the lack of access to health care for EVERY American causes chronic disease and complicates issues that would be simple to treat in the early stages, thus leading to higher health care costs in the future and an unhealthy environment in which to actually give birth - he’s pushing to make sure more people have access to prescription pills by involving yet more nations in our chemistry consumerism and aiding to the control of big business in regards to our health and well-being.

To Senator McCain, who will be in Arizona with Sarah Palin March 26-27, I’m much better off taking my health concerns to the back of a Walgreens where they can only treat so much, overcharge me for prescriptions which are doubtful in regard to their efficacy, and allow contagious individuals who cannot make it to the hospital to mingle with non-communicable visitors and perfectly ‘healthy shoppers’ who just stopped by to pick up some candy for their depression.

Additionally, McCain is also giving a thumbs up to shady medical insurance practices. For example, as a graduate student at ASU, I opted for the student health insurance plan for an extremely high premium with minimal services. However, because ASU cares about women’s health, my “Yearly Well Woman Exam” was covered by the approximately $900 a semester plan. About three years ago now, I went in. I was then called in for another office visit as soon as possible where I was told that I needed a biopsy… and that my tests results, being questionable for possible cancerous activity, were immediately sent off to a third party testing facility - one that was not covered by my student health insurance.

This, of course, led to a bill that I was in no way capable of paying, which eventually ended up in collections, on my credit rating, and just recently paid off within the last year due to accumulated fees, hassles, and other bills (I’ll bitch about student loans later). The kicker is, they never communicated with me that this is what they needed to do and that it wouldn’t be covered, nor did they get my permission. What’s worse is I couldn’t return to investigate that concern because I no longer had any money.

But it’s OK, Senator McCain, if it is cancer, it’s not going anywhere. Just getting worse, leading to higher health care costs, and an increasing distrust of those in power. Maybe Walgreens could start providing oncology services too - they could have a table in the clearance aisle and have shoppers assist with the diagnosis - afterall, the Republicans have made themselves clear, if you don’t have money to afford proper health care, you’re also not entitled to personal dignity or respect by those providing the services you still can’t afford.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, Johnny. While you’ve gotten your mole removed so you can rest easy at night, dainty little band-aid on your face to match your cosmetic dentistry, I’m posting a wanted ad on Craigslist for health care and someone to stop an infection from spreading into my brain. But hey, it’s cool. I get it. If I, like millions of other Americans, were just smart enough or ambitious enough, we wouldn’t find ourselves in this position. It is our fault afterall. It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the distribution of power in this fair country of ours. And terrifyingly, I have it a thousand times better than millions of Americans who struggle every day and just don’t understand how they can never get anywhere.

I’ll see you next week, sir. You can tell me some more stories about your time as a POW, and maybe you could go visit some of our school systems, talk to the children and their families, and get a glimpse of what prolonged, consistent suffering is. In the meantime, keep uttering your catch phrases. We know you “refuse to let the government come between the good American people and their physicians,” but apparently those millions without physicians, just aren’t good Americans. I’m hearing you, loud and clear.

And in my humble, peasant opinion, a good start to “preventative health care” would be ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE. If “we must promote prevention for those conditions that are truly avoidable” please keep in mind, I am a highly educated, hard-working woman with, ontop of many other health concerns, a long untreated dental condition that was a leading cause of death in America’s first colony. I’m happy to personally see the progress our great nation has made… for you and your perfect smile.