At least in this country it is. The care you get is entirely based on the insurance you have. Better insurance, better care. Because of that, the care you get in the United States is entirely dependent on where you work.
Where you work should not dictate the health care you get. Maybe I should say that louder. WHERE YOU WORK SHOULD NOT DICTATE THE HEALTH CARE YOU GET.
You don’t have a job? Tough shit, Skippy. Maybe you can get enough care to survive and let the bankruptcy courts give you a chance to move on. But probably you can’t. Even if you had a job but the insurance was inadequate you are hosed. Maybe you leave your widow in an impossible situation, struggling for years to catch up with the bills, only to finally give in.
I am not well, and it is impossible to imagine facing this if I didn’t work where I do. I just read more than one opinion that my insurer sucks in the biggest way, but my employer has paid extra for the “suck-less” version of the plan.
It is a privilege I’m happy to have at this moment, but it is absolutely privilege. It should not be. Staying alive when sick seems to fall under the inalienable “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness”. It’s even the first one mentioned! And while the Declaration of Independence is not legally binding, that phrase is an anchor of Who We Are.
We all have the right to live. And that means we all have the right to health care. I am wealthy, so I get better care than most. That is wrong.
There are people who want to change this. They want everyone in this land to have equal access to health care. Ironically, they are blocked by voters who generally would benefit from the change.
Insurance companies make absurd bank off the current system. They want it to continue. Maybe a few people die needlessly, but the money is bigly. Look past their sponsored candidates, look past the strange vibe that only worthwhile people should have health care, and the worthwhile are employed by big companies.
The biggest losers in the way things currently work are, in order: people, and small businesses who can’t afford the suck-less level of care.
Let’s just stop this whole thing. Tying health care to employment is demonstrably disastrous.
Not only is it wrong, it’s expensive and inefficient (most expensive system on the planet, twice as many dollars per cap as industrialized nations with single payer, 17th in outcomes). This is the argument that needs to be made to the masses. They care about morality right up to the point their wallet is affected.
I hope you’re holding up under chemo. I did not envy you prior to treatment, and I doubly don’t want this visited on either of us now. Let us all know if there is anything any of us can do about the embuggerance. Hugs.