I personally, feel the effects of Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act. In 2008, I was diagnosed with endometriosis and was denied coverage by my insurance company even though I purchased insurance before I was diagnosed. Thankfully, the hospital I used for my $12,000 operation had a privately funded program to help low-income families pay their medical bills and I was able to pay the balance out of pocket. However, I was in debilitating pain for months waiting to find out if the insurance company was going to pay for the operation or not. By the time I got the surgery, my doctor said that my case was one of the most advanced conditions she had ever seen. My reproductive system was ruined by my disease. Even though having insurance would not have prevented my illness, I could have gotten help sooner and maybe saved my internal organs before it was too late.
But that isn’t what this post is about, I’m only giving some background as to why I am so passionate about this topic. This post is about how Obama-care (used affectionately) compares to actual communism. I was on Facebook last night (surprise, surprise) when the news broke. It was this ABC News announcement I saw first. It took about 30 seconds for the first “Welcome to Communism!” comment to be posted. I made a few response posts about how healthcare actually works in Communist countries, but, of course, they were quickly burried in a sea of “Obama good!” or “America is now crap” posts. So I’m going to take a minute here to explain the healthcare system of an actual Communist country, China.
In a nutshell – China has no universal healthcare. The idea that Communism takes the needs of all the people and cares for them equally is a myth. The healthcare of an individual in China is squarely on the shoulders of that person. Compared to the US, the cost of healthcare in China is extremely high. A single hospital visit, on average, costs the same as a typical Chinse annual income. Also, while there are some programs to help with catastrophic illnesses, there is no preventative care. The result of this high cost, though, is not better quality of care. Ask any foreigner in China and he or she will tell you a personal horror story of visiting a Chinese hospital. This article on surviving a Chinese hospital is a great example. The hospitals are dirty, crowded, and frightening. There are a few nice Western-style hospitals in very large cities like Beijing and Shanghai, but they are insanely expensive.
In a semi-related note, China also does not provide education. All schools in China (even “public schools”) are not free or compulsory. Most families spend every dime they make just on sending their children to school. This is another example of how Communism does not take care of the basic needs of the people.
So, if you are the kind of person who doesn’t want to contribute to the healthcare of everyone else, better move to an actual Communist country, like China. It would suit you better.
