Reflection on a Mammogram and a Senate GOP Vote

(crossposted from Facebook; originally posted January 12, 2017)

I had a mammogram today. (Before you get all worried, I'll just say now that it's nothing serious.) The timing, coming as it did only a few hours after the Senate GOP voted to revoke health care from millions of others, is really the only reason I'm making this post.

In early December I noticed a lump in my right breast. I called my primary care practice and scheduled an appointment to have it looked at about a week after I got back from our holiday vacation.

Within 48 hours of that preliminary exam (and it could have been in 24 hours, but I had to schedule around jury duty), my PCP got me in for a mammogram at Jefferson, which is a top-of-the-line hospital with top-of-the-line imaging equipment and, conveniently, about a 15-minute walk from my front door. I had a mammogram and an ultrasound back-to-back, and two hours after walking into the imaging center I was back out and on my way to work, secure with the knowledge that the lump was a benign cyst and I don't have cancer.

Total cost to me: zero dollars.

There is a three-tier health care system in this country. If you're lucky enough to be on the top tier, with good insurance, your health care is gold-plated. The best in the world.

If you're on the bottom tier, you can go broke and then die in the street. Or, maybe, in the ER, where they can't send you away (and they can't send your catastrophic bill to anyone, except maybe to taxpayers).

Obamacare made something in the middle possible for millions. Maybe not gold-plated Cadillac coverage, but a damn sight better than "hand over every last penny and thanks, go die now." That's almost certainly going away now, thanks to a bunch of awfully clueless or awfully selfish voters and last night's midnight vote from the gang of maniacs they voted into office.

I didn't have cancer. It cost me nothing but two hours of my afternoon to learn that. A lot of other people don't have cancer either, but they do have lumps (like mine), and they'll have to live in uncertainty, because they won't be able to afford peace of mind. And a lot of people do have cancer, and it's going to cost them everything, because some of their fellow citizens couldn't stand to give up a little bit to help them. Not even the time to educate themselves about what they were really voting for.