This is how much the developed countries spent per capita on healthcare a few years ago, contrasted with average life-expectancy:

This is what privatisation with a vast government subsidy looks like–a perfect study in neoliberalism and the truth behind republican free market rhetoric. And it translates directly into how much my family has suffered over years without healthcare, and have continued to suffer even after achieving the insurance dream–large deductions from tiny paychecks, deductibles, unbelievable monthly medication costs.

All this in a country that has spent immensely more per capita on health care than any other, without actually providing it.

All this in a country where HMO profits have reached billions every year, even through the crisis. A desultory google search brings up Minnesota doctors protesting obscene HMO profits this year, the doubling of California profits in 2008, for the Bush years there’s a Senate investigation, and if you really want to vomit, the “good news” that 2010 profits bring and how they are achieved in Florida. All for a life expectancy that just beats Cuba who spends pennies compared to us, but provides what free healthcare it can to all of its residents.

Mum is now 66 years old. She suffers from heart problems that landed her in ER numerous times last year, and yet she’s still working 12 hour night shifts at a hospital as a tech. The principal reason? The health insurance–even though she pays more for less coverage every year–because it’s slightly better than Medicare. The secondary reason is the money, because social security doesn’t quite cover costs. But I don’t know that my parents ever were able to cover costs.