Disclaimer: This will be a rant about social injustice in relation to health care.
It has been interesting observing the general demeanor of my patients. What I've noticed so far is that the people born in the United States tend to be a lot more angry about not getting the care they need. They often direct their frustrations at me, the practitioners, and the other people at the clinic, although deep down I know that these feelings are a result of facing years of injustices within many of our social service systems, especially health care.
On the other hand, the Hispanic patients at the clinic generally tend to be extremely grateful. Almost every conversation ends with "Gracias, muy amable". They don't usually get upset about having to wait to be seen by a practitioner, and if they are sent to a specialist that requires them to pay some amount of money, they generally lobby all of their friends and family members to assist them without any complaints.
I grew up in the United States, and although I've traveled to a handful of Latin American countries, I don't really know what my Hispanic patients grew up with. However, when thinking about health care injustice, I can't help but get extremely angry at the mixed messages we tell people in the U.S. When you are a child, if you don't feel well in school, you go to the nurse. No one asks you to prove how hard you're working in school (oftentimes, you don't even actually have to prove that you're sick!). You can go get an ice pack or super Motrin or whatever it may be, and then you go on your way. Our country has also set up CHIP, which is part of Medicaid, to try to medically insure every child under age 18. There are flaws in this program, especially since many doctors won't accept Medicaid because the reimbursement is low, but at least children's health has become somewhat of a priority in our government.
If our parents are insured, we now have the right to be on their health insurance plan until we're 26 years old. Since most of the uninsured individuals in the U.S. are in their 20s, this is helping to cover a lot of people. Even those who didn't actually want health care reform to pass aren't really complaining about this (especially if they're personally affected).
But what about those people whose parents aren't insured? Medicaid is controlled by individual states, so while a child may get covered, his or her parents may make slightly too much money to qualify. And don't even get me started about if the parents are not documented...that's another rant altogether. Furthermore, what about all the other people who can't get insurance for one reason or another? All of the sudden, after a certain age, health care is no longer a right. People fall through the cracks all the time, and I just can't understand how we let it happen as a society.
Yesterday, a middle-aged white man who had a blue-collar job called me. He dislocated his right shoulder while working, and his boss immediately fired him so that worker's comp wouldn't have to pay for his injury. He is in excruciating pain, which is preventing him from finding a new job. So now he has no income. He went to the ER after the accident, and the doctor there told him that he needs surgery. He has a court date in October to sue worker's comp and his former employer, hoping to get enough money to at least cover his hospital bills, but it's only August. He needs pain management until the surgery if he's going to function normally in society, but most clinics (including Good Samaritan) don't really have the resources for that.
This phone conversation broke my heart. I felt completely helpless. This man was doing everything right, but the system just wasn't serving him. I referred him to another clinic that might be able to help, but I'm not completely confident.
I've been hearing stories like these since I started volunteering at St. Catherine Laboure 4 years ago, but every time I talk to someone new, I still feel an overwhelming anger. And honestly, I don't know who to direct my own frustration to: the federal government, state governments, local leaders, celebrities? I guess all I can do is keep doing my own very small part, working for what I believe, and encourage others to do the same...
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