Is now the time for universal health care?

While President Elect Obama has been favoring insurance run health care (where everybody that can afford it gets insurance, and those who can’t get the government insurance program), there’s people out there going for universal insurance now, such as Max Baucus of Montana, and Ted Kennedy is moving towards a universal health care bill.

I’m going to have more on this later (I know – I promised this article yesterday), but is now the time to switch to universal health care – or should it be kept on the “back burner” until things in the economy are fixed?

Iraq veteran suicides – where’s the VHA?

Suicides among Iraq war veterans returning to the US has risen to horrific levels.

And now, with another veteran having committed suicide, people are wondering – what was the VHA doing to help?

Police and medical records show that Henderson was given various antipsychotic medications, everything from Buspirone to Haldol, after he got back from Iraq. Yet none of the caregivers at the institutions where he was treated seemed prepared to take responsibility for him. On at least one occasion, an official at the Veterans Affairs hospital balked at receiving him in a psychiatric in-patient unit, and he was moved frequently from one institution to another. His mother, who is studying for a nursing degree at Eastern Kentucky University, says she tried to get help for him at the VA. “He wanted to be hospitalized, but they wouldn’t take things seriously,” she says. “I begged them, ‘Please help me to help my son before something bad happens.’ They thought I was goofy.”

The article does a good job showing just when things started to go wrong in the VHA with regards to treatment – right about the time the VA tried to treat patients more like the industrial health care system, which treats patients more like cogs to be cheaply disposed of than people to treat.

Really. This is how we treat our veterans. Like just another piece the machinery.

Women pay more for health insurance

Oh, I know the argument – “Women cost more to health companies, so of course they should pay more in health insurance than men.

Still, it seems that the levels are just getting silly:

Insurers say they have a sound reason for charging different premiums: Women ages 19 to 55 tend to cost more than men because they typically use more health care, especially in the childbearing years.

But women still pay more than men for insurance that does not cover maternity care. In the individual market, maternity coverage may be offered as an optional benefit, or rider, for a hefty additional premium.

Hm – and I’m not surprised why?

15% of US veterans traumatized sexually

I – I don’t even get how this has happened. 15% of US veterans seeking medical care has suffered sexual trauma.

15%. More than 1 in 10 veterans of the United States of America has been sexually harassed, abused, raped – and now they’re seeking mental help.

What. The. Fuck.

Kennedy still fighting for health care

Even from his own sick bed, Ted Kennedy is still working to try and get a health care bill passed that could change the face of America.

Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admire his determination. And a health care system could change the face of America. Some would argue it would provide a basic need to all citizens, allowing them to lead healthier, more productive lives. People could change jobs without fear of losing their health care, or for fear of having their medical condition denied treatment by an insurance company.

There are those who would argue about the cost, or the inefficiency of government run anything – but Senator Kennedy is still working his ass off to make it happen. In an environment that could see the biggest Democratic majority in decades, and the possibility of a very popular Democratic president, Kennedy might see his legacy finally come true.