That Part of Health Care Which Nobody Talks About

With the Affordable Health Care Act perhaps on the chopping block under the new government come January, I wanted to share some thoughts about health care that I haven't heard discussed often.

Health care costs have increased.  Yes.  Premiums are increasing.  Yes.  How about the services you and your loved ones have received?  Has that also increased?

I imagine that if you have health coverage, your answer is yes.  People are living longer.  Health care advances have grown by leaps and bounds.  I think most people would say that this is a good thing, especially if they are on the receiving end!  For example, the cancer fight is being fought so well that in some cases, it's almost become a chronic disease with which the victim learns to live.  Other folks are given years, and sometimes decades, longer to live with their loved ones.  Many are completely cured after long, expensive treatments.  The unfortunate ones who remain terminal would give up so much for another month, another year...

I chose cancer for my example because the cancer rates in America have grown so astronomically (for reasons that require a whole other post) that we all know several people who have suffered.  I think we can all agree that although there are things we can do to lessen or increase our risk, cancer generally does not discriminate.  Sadly, this is a disease we all need to deal with at some point in our inner circles.

Advances in health care are a blessing.  They are also very expensive, both to develop and to implement.  The only way to keep premiums from increasing is to either fund it somehow (through businesses, government, charity) OR to continuously exclude people and services covered.  If the latter is chosen, the scope of people negatively affected will continue to grow in a desperate attempt to stay on top of the world in medicine while trying to keep premiums steady.  The numbers of sick, the bankrupt, and the dead would be tilting heavily towards the disadvantaged.

As a society, I think it is time to accept that if we are on board with living longer and having the best medicine available to all of our citizens, we need to also accept that health care is going to become a larger portion of our personal budgets.  It is my belief that the best way to ensure that coverage is unbiased is to include it as part of our federal spending.  There are fewer things more important than our health--this is an ok thing to receive a bigger piece of the pie.  Few of us had a hard time increasing our spending for mobile phones, wireless internet, fancier (non-safety) features in our cars, etc, yet how important are these things, really?  How much to they contribute to the overall happiness of your family?  Do any of them get you another decade with your spouse or child?  Let's be OK with increasing our health care spending, and know that it's money well-spent.

This example of cancer can be extended to most diseases which we face.  Take a moment to think about your extended family and name all the medical issues they've faced in just the past 4 years.  In mine, I can quickly identify diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer (two cases), thyroid cancer, heart disease, severe allergies, asthma, osteoporosis, heart attack, esophageal cancer, congestive heart failure, liver failure, several broken bones (some requiring surgery), gynecological surgery, several births, and numerous chronic issues from traumatic car accident.  This is just family, and certainly I've forgotten some things!!!  There's no way we could've collected our incomes together to pay for all these services.  The village isn't big enough.  Which loved one would I deny coverage to?  Every single member of this circle is hard-working, middle class or retired after a fruitful career.  The numbers just don't add up.  There needs to be support for health care from the government, and yes, I support increased taxes to pay for it.  I prefer to see fair tax reform as opposed to a flat tax increase, but again, that's another post.

So that's the issue  I haven't heard proclaimed--that health care cost increases are a natural progression for the level of care we demand and should welcome, so let's stop talking about how to halt them and discuss how to fund them with shared burden between families, businesses, and government.

One last note:  I can't close this without listing just a few things that I'd like to address in a later blog, but don't want to take away from my central point by elaborating on here...yes, I know that Big Pharma rips us off, and I do support reform there, yes, I support many aspects of the Affordable Health Care Act such as not denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, coverage of children to age 26, and requiring coverage (which we all need at some point).  I do not propose that it is perfect in its current form, but to throw the baby out with the bath water is foolhardy.

STUFF! The Intangible, the Injurious, the Inevitable

My purse is heavy.  People laugh when they pick it up.  Sometimes, I then entertain them with riffling through it, laughing as I display the absurdity of carrying a partial roll of toilet paper, or a program brochure from a concert nearly a year past.  Very little of it do I actually need.

My son Andrew is currently taking a Field Biology class.  When he heads out to the woods, his messanger bag is filled with a notebook, special pens which write in the rain, binoculars, magnifying glass, reference books, and a snack.  Nothing extra, only carefully selected items to minimize the weight.

Tim O'Brien wrote a fabulous, yet horrible, book called The Things They Carried about soldiers in the Vietnam War.  Chapter 1 begins with a literal description of what they carried:

American soldiers in Vietnam during the war carry many things, most of them from home. First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries letters from a girl named Martha, a college student back in New Jersey. He loves her, and though he knows she doesn't love him, he hopes she will. He often daydreams about romantic vacations with her. He wonders if she is a virgin. His love sometimes distracts him from taking care of his soldiers. The men in his platoon carry objects that revealed their personalities.Henry Dobbins is a big man who liked to eat, so he carries extra food. Ted Lavender was scared, so he carried tranquilizers, which he took until he was shot and killed. Dave Jensen is worried about disease, so he carries soap and a toothbrush. They all carry heavy helmets and boots. Kiowacarries a bible--he is a deeply religious Baptist. Mitchell Sanders carries condoms, and Norma Bowker carries a diary. Rat Kiley, the medic, carries comic books. The nights are cold, the ground is wet, and you can bleed to death very quickly, so they carry ponchos and bandages. Almost everyone carries, or "humps," photographs. Jimmy Cross carries two photographs of Martha, one where she leans against a wall (he wonders who took the picture) and one where she is playing volleyball, her left knee supporting all her weight. He stares at that knee, remembering when they went to see the movie "Bonnie and Clyde" together. He had touched her knee, and she had given him a look that made him take his hand away. " Chapter 1, pg. 5

The literal "carry" becomes a figurative "carry" as the book transitions to the intangible,  the injurious, the inevitable.  The book as a whole begs the question of how much one can carry.  How does one deal with the demands of carrying beyond one's perceived capacity?

Mary Poppins had a magic bag (or Hermione Granger, if you prefer) which held an infinite amount of tangibles.  What does the vessel look like that would house our intangible "stuff"?

Let's imagine what that could maybe look like; each of us wearing our problems and cares in a container.  I see images of fanny packs, camel backs, baskets on heads, change purses, U-haul trucks, and luggage on rollers.  How often would we feel compassion for those trekking through their day with a wheelbarrow of worry or a tanker of trouble?  How quickly might we come to resent the passers-by light on their feet with a mere pillbox in their pocket?

Truth is, the volume of our "stuff" is not proportional to its container.  How we deal with our stuff is.  The chance encounter with a person toting a load of emotions, guilt, and heaviness the size of a mustard seed would not be someone for whom to resent their cakewalk of a life, but someone to learn from.  It would be wrong to assume that person hasn't been through the gamut of human tribulation.  Likewise, it is equally erroneous to assume the one found strapped to a shipping container bears the largest burden of events and trials.

Instead, how about we not judge at all?  There is no happiness which comes from comparing our place in life to another's.  However, there is joy found in helping others to reduce their stress or in standing in the light of those who have mastered and reduced their weight into more sensible packages.

Jesus sets a great example for this mastery.  Matthew 11:30 reads "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

When I received my second cancer diagnosis at age 41 two weeks ago, I slowly felt my own burden get heavier and heavier as my mind raced through all the scenarios for my near and distant future.   Normally, I carry a duffle bag of concern.  I quickly stuffed every available corner and pocket of that bag 'til it was nearly bursting open.  Tonight, at Meditation class, I realized it would behoove me to upgrade to a nice Samsonite hard-sided piece of luggage with wheels.  I am now toting this around more easily, and I know that in the coming weeks, I will reduce it little by little.  It won't be an easy process, but with the help of meditation, mindfulness, perspective, and faith, I might get it all into a backpack someday soon.  Like the toilet paper in my purse, I probably don't need most of it.

In the meantime, don't be afraid to talk with me about the cancer or any of the things in your own wallet/purse/hobo stick.  I'm the same girl I was a few weeks ago, but with a bigger suitcase.  Stopping to talk with you might mean we can both rest, and enjoy a human moment.