A record number of Americans have donated their time and money to support relief efforts in Haiti, revealing the intense compassion and generosity Americans have. If you turn on your television, it’s impossible to avoid seeing the devastating images of those suffering in Haiti, and the terrible conditions survivors are living in. And since these images are everywhere we turn, it has caused us to donate as much as we can, either online or through cell phones. And for a brief moment last week, these devastating images were interrupted to report Republican Scott Brown’s, a health care reform critic, victory in Massachusetts. And soon after, coverage returned to Haiti and we saw “emergency responders and rescue teams dispatched from around the country to provide emergency relief. Doctors and medical teams scrambled to respond. A Haitian infant was airlifted to a Miami hospital for surgery and closer monitoring. Our shared humanity led us to act urgently. Republicans and Democrats alike gave generously, former Presidents Bush and Clinton united to encourage Americans to give generously,” states Dr. Peter Klatsky. And Klatsky went on to say that he was proud to be an American after seeing our fast actions and intense efforts to help those in need in Haiti.
Even though Klatsky was glad to see our country lending a hand to help save lives, it only made him think about those who he treats at the Free Clinic or other patients he’s treated who are uninsured. He says, “Some of my patients developed advanced cancer or complications from illnesses that went untreated because they had no insurance or couldn’t afford care. Every day, patients in our country stop filling prescriptions or delay medical visits because they lack adequate health insurance coverage.” But unlike the Haitian crisis, there aren’t many faces associated with the ongoing health care debate even though close to 45 million people don’t have any kind of medical coverage, and this lack of medical coverage leads to people avoiding doctors because they can’t afford proper treatments. Klatsky says, “They suffer silently, miss more days of work, and get sicker, until they come to the emergency room (and need more expensive care as a result).” And even though millions of uninsured Americans deal with this on a daily basis, the rest of America doesn’t see those suffering because it’s out of the television camera’s lens. “The problem is visibility. We are a country of caring, good people. In Haiti, we saw the suffering. In health care reform, most of the suffering is hidden, problems are discussed in numbers and calculations,” states Klatsky. And he says, “When we recognize faces rather than numbers, reform will be demanded and universal care will not only be possible, it will be demanded.”
Do you agree with Dr. Klatsky that if we associate a face with the issue, and show the stories of the millions of uninsured Americans suffering, then health care reform will be demanded?
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