In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, Jeff Bauman’s image was seared into the American consciousness. An extremely graphic photo of Bauman being escorted in a wheelchair with most of his legs blown off quickly went viral. Bauman’s stock rose even further after reports surfaced that he had looked into the eyes of one of the bombing suspects minutes before the explosion, and that the moment he awoke from emergency care, he gave law enforcement critical information that substantially narrowed their field of suspects. But while police continue to scour the streets for at-large suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the uninsured Bauman is scouring the internet for donations to help pay for his outsized medical bills.
It was bad enough that three people were killed and over 100 injured by the bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line. That’s more than enough tragedy for anyone…but it appears the tragedy will be going into overtime as the injured, not all of them insured, try to figure out how to deal with the massive medical bills. Instead of basking in the joy and aura of accomplishment that normally envelops downtown Boston on Patriot’s Day, many of the injured find themselves dealing with the harsh reality forced upon them by self-interested, callous zealots who continue to define universal health care as “socialism.” The compassion-deprived hypocrites on the Right see nothing wrong with throwing ever more billions at the military-industrial complex. Somehow, though, providing a much smaller sum of money to ensure all Americans are guaranteed a basic level of health care is a bridge too far…’cuz that would be socialism, don’tchaknow??
We’ve become a nation far more willing to fund our capacity for killing and maiming than our ability to heal the sick and treat the injured. Because of this, people like Jeff Bauman are left to fend for themselves. Americans from coast to coast are applauding the work of law enforcement (as well they should). While doing so, they resist creation of a system that could assist people like Bauman, who through no fault of their own (save being in the wrong place at the wrong time) are facing untold thousands in medical bills.
You’re a hero, dude…but if we provide you with medical despite your lack of insurance…well, that’s socialism, don’tchathink??
A civilized country shouldn’t be satisified with a health care system which forces people like Bauman to beg for money on the internet. Americans like to convince themselves that we take care of our own…except that the reality is we really don’t. People on the right side of the political spectrum see nothing wrong with a system that essentially tells people in need to fend for themselves.
Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, man….
We’re America; we’re capable of big things…yet we refuse to create a rational healthcare system that doesn’t reduce people to begging for financial assistance on the Internet. No one in this country should have to do that…and yet so many Conservatives see absolutely nothing wrong with the most inefficient and unjust health care system in the industrial world. They continue to favor and promote a corrupt system that values the financial benefit of hospitals, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies over patient care, a system that in some cases will allow people to die once their bank account has been emptied.
THIS is American Exceptionalism? If we were honest about it, we’d admit that it’s American Self-Delusion.
