In the fall of 2019, a new semester has begun, and it is also the last year of graduate students, and perhaps the last year of Xuehai career. The teacher recommended this movie in the first class of the elective case study (health technology assessment), although it is an old movie from 2007.
The movie starts with some people who are ill and cannot be reimbursed by insurance companies and lead to bankruptcy. They have to move to the basement of their daughter's house (it's too unfilial for American children to let the elderly live in the basement) and endure their daughter and Son complaining tone and eyes. Some people are American, but they will drive across the Detroit River to Canada to see a doctor, because there is universal health insurance there, and you can see a doctor and take medicine without spending any money. Some people who couldn't bear the inner suffering after working in insurance companies took the initiative to reveal how insurance companies refused to insure and reimburse people with A~Z diseases. From telephone operators to doctors who write denial on their diagnoses because they save companies a lot of money. The most important investments insurance companies make are those in Congress. Every congressman has a clear price tag. Of course, Bush Jr. has the most, about three or four times that of the others. It also turned out to be the smartest investment because these guys helped insurers get a congressional deal. These congressmen also went to insurance companies later, taking millions of salaries. There was once a man named Hillary who wanted to universalize medical insurance for all, but then disappeared.
Look at other developed countries. In the UK and France, they all have universal health insurance. France is not only medical insurance, but also 24-hour medical insurance. The doctor can arrive at the apartment in an hour and a half to diagnose you. Even child care is provided by the state, and the quality is very good, so that parents can work with confidence. Education here is also free. At this time, I compared an American student who was in his third year and said that he still had a loan of $35,000. (At this time, I felt that I should have gone to France or Germany. The cheapness of capitalist countries is not too much.) Not to mention that doctors here can get a very respectable position, even in places with very high living costs such as London, Can afford an Audi and a four-bedroom apartment. These all rely on taxpayer money.
In fact, the United States also has universal medical care, that is, those terrorists who are detained in Cuba. They have 24-hour care and free medicine to eat. And those who once volunteered to rescue the 911 scene had to go to the backcountry to endure the sequelae caused by the rescue, especially the throat disease. They came to Cuba to get the same treatment as other terrorists, without success. Walking in Cuba, I did not expect that there is a Pharmacy in a block here, and it is also a universal medical care. A bottle of the drug that sells for $120 in the US is only 5 cents here! Just ask, who doesn't want to live in this place without worries.
The most shocking scene is that some people are thrown away by the hospital like garbage, and more than one. The hospital hires a taxi, loads patients who can't pay for medical care into the car, doesn't tell them where to go, and doesn't care where they can go, they just pay the taxi fare. The taxi dropped them off at an unknown joint, and the man's life had no wiggle room. In a place that claims to be a humanitarian state every day, but throw away the sick like garbage, this is really more terrifying than terrorism. So the patients here have to worry about their bills and medical expenses, how can they have the leisure to live their own lives, they have to do a few jobs, and then burn out physically and mentally, and use the money they earn to buy medicines, And then consume to death.
This movie gave me a deeper understanding of democracy. Democracy is not about everyone having a vote. Democracy is a way to realize national interests. No matter what political party and political strategy, maximizing national interests is the ultimate goal. The maximization of national interests is not about how strong the country's GDP is, or the country's position in the world, but the citizens here don't have to worry about whether they will wait to die because they can't afford the medical bills, and don't worry about whether they will buy it or not. You don't have to worry that your illness will take a year and a half to be diagnosed and treated. Look at the living conditions of those who have national medical insurance, their smiles are so peaceful, and their lives are so leisurely. Lao Tzu said that "no one's ambition is true, but one's belly" is what politicians should do to enrich everyone's life.
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