A rant about health care
A few weeks ago I was sitting on the #31 bus heading from the University of San Francisco to the Ferry Building. It was the middle of the afternoon, and for once there was plenty of seats available. I took one, jammed my headphones into my ears, and let the voice of Rilo Kiley drown out the city buzz. That is, until we lurched to a start in the Tenderloin as the MUNI driver barely let the doors close before he slammed on the gas. I looked up and saw an old woman begin to fall. I, along with several others, jumped out of my seat to steady her and helped her into the seat next to mine. She gave me an apologetic look and then clutched her right wrist. I looked down to see a badly bruised and swollen limb wrapped in a thin layer of gauze. The woman saw me take note of this and began to explain. It was a fall down her front steps three weeks prior, she said. I asked her if she had seen a doctor, she said she couldn’t. You see, as an 81 year old she cannot work and therefore has no health insurance. I immediately felt a pit in the bottom of my stomach. A man across the aisle jumped into the conversation and asked if she had thought about at least buying a wrist brace. Her face fell in embarrassment and she explained she could not afford anything more than the gauze to wrap it with. During this time a smiley toothless man in a leather jacket had gotten on board and sat in close proximity. He also picked up the conversation and pulled a packaged wrist brace out of his backpack and told the woman he would give it to her for five dollars, despite the price tag reading $26. Several of us immediately took out our wallets, but the elderly woman starting counting quarters out of her little change purse and insisted on purchasing it herself. I helped her put it on, she thanked me and told me to stay in school and get a good job so that I’d never find myself in her position. After she made her way off the bus at the next stop I realized how enraged I was. How is it that we live in a society where an 81 year old woman can be left to suffer in such a way? We give the rapists, murders, thieves, and pedophiles sitting in our jails free health care. Yet someone who has contributed to the community positively is denied these same benefits. It sickens me to know that there are people young and old experiencing this across this prosperous nation. Tax me all you want, just please give these people some help.
