Breach—"Healthcare—A Basic Human Right"

“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”

—Martin Luther King, Jr.—Chicago Convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, 1966

“When I was a kid, the disaster we worried about most was a nuclear war. But today, if anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus, rather than a war.”         — Bill Gates, 2015 TED talk

April 7^th was World Health Day, and the World Health Organization’s theme this year is Universal Health with coverage for all by 2030.

With the world’s rise in population, growing income disparity, and the effects of climate change on health, Universal Healthcare has become a fundamental human right that is essential for the well being of the planet.

Vessel #81—Breach

In the 53 years since Martin Luther King spoke about the inequities of healthcare how far has the world progressed in overcoming these inequities?

 • At least half of the world’s population is currently unable to obtain essential health services (World Health Organization-WHO, Dec. 2017)    

• The effects of climate change are already having a profound effect on the spread of infectious diseases. 9 out of 10 people breathe unsafe air that results in 7 million deaths each year. (WHO, May 2018)

• More than 50% of the world lives with chronic disease (World Economic Forum, Jan. 2018)

* Since the current administration took office in 2017 the number of Americans without health insurance has increased by 7 million (National Health and Well-Being Index). Those that do have coverage saw their premiums rise by 34% in 2018. (Congressional Budget Office, May 2018).

• April 22 is Earth Day—Don’t forget to do something to improve the planet.

Breach

Tempers flare on the cusp of a bulging amaryllis.

Octopeds roam aimlessly with an androgynous gait,

sucking sap with inebriated abandon.

Tumors wake in the night

with an insatiable craving for healthy tissue,

dividing and scattering with the choreography

of a battalion reeling out of control.

The mission, defined by random improvisation,

begins with an order for the insurgents

to march into darkness and leave no survivors.

Somnolent heterotrophs spread their dormant blankets

on shelves lined with a mesozoic membrane.

Crystalline crust splits a glacial sentinel in Nome.

A bovine uterus entertains an entourage in a Chicago slaughterhouse.

A slumbering anemone shares its bed in a Somoan atoll.

The uninvited interloper folds

its pathogenic arms around an unsuspecting host,

using instinct and guile to mount

the climax of its preordained cycle.

A knock on the door at night

freezes worms chewing on battens

and sends chills through the crevices in dreams.

Buckled boots cross thresholds

with an authority forged in spit-shined metal,

and a belief that their tongues and hearts

reside in a place reserved for celestial bodies.

Motion comes to a halt for the impediments of time:

munitions, mortars, missiles, mines,

penicillin, potassium, procarbazine, plutonium,

a call to arms, a call to awaken, a call for help.

Bones turn to ash, ash to earth,

as spirits are set free to wander in a place

somewhere between a reveille and a refrain.

Universal Health Care—Possible Solutions in the United States:

• Work to reform and improve the Affordable Care Act not repeal it completely.

• Work to institute a national system that would provide healthcare for currently uninsured people, Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program recipients.

• No cost for preventative care, treatment for chronic disease, and generic drugs.

• Allow for employer-financed coverage.

• Insurance companies could offer complimentary benefits but would have caps on profits.

How to Pay for this coverage:

• Reduce health care costs—caps on service charges (doctors and administration), and negotiated drug prices.

• Increase taxes to cover premiums (including increasing corporate tax rates,

surtax on high-income earners, higher capital gains taxes, excise taxes).

 (To see a complete proposal called Medicare Extra for All from the Center for American Progress:

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/healthcare/reports/2018/02/22/447095/medicare-extra-for-all/)