As i’ve mentioned before, having to buy health care (if we can call it that!) on the open market (if we can call it that!) is rather scary. Now, with Republicans bend on taking what little reform we’ve achieved back, i am noticing an increase in anxiety. What if health insurance companies get what they want and can throw people off their rolls again? What if preexisting conditions become a way of denying health insurance again or make it so expensive i can’t afford it anymore?

Well, let’s look at my side comments: Why do i not think that health care is “health care”? Because a country that does not provide single payer insurance does not really care. And because the US insurance system isn’t interested in helping people stay or get healthy. It’s interested in making a profit, a huge profit. Otherwise the insurance companies would be non-profit. And the way to make a profit is to deny a claim – at a time when people most need the support to get healthy again. So, let’s call health care what it is in the US: sickness-profiteering insurance (I don’t like the “insurance” part in there either but i can’t think of a better term…).

What about the “open market”? Open market implies that anything is open to me – i could get onto government sponsored sickness-profiteering insurance (yes, that exists! It’s called Medicare…). But i can’t. It would also mean that i have full information but i don’t. It would mean that i can make a choice confident that i will not be taken advantage of. I don’t have that confidence. Buying sickness-profiteering insurance is like playing Russian roulette. So, i’ve started calling it USAmerican roulette.

What can we do? Short of moving to Europe or another civilized place? Well, we can continue the fight. There are organizations that fight for single payer, such as CaliforniaOne or Health Care for America Now. We can inform us about the sickness-profiteering insurance by listening to former insiders. We can contact our Congressperson and tell them to fight for single payer rather than eliminate what little reform we got. Most importantly, we need to tell our stories. We need to show that there are real people impacted by the sickness-profiteering system. And, yes, we need to use more descriptive terms! Feel free to add ideas in the comments!