As a Catholic I am for healthcare because Life has no price (an i-pod yes)
" it was above all the testimony of a friend, who had set up her own business in Northern California, that enlightened me about the danger of giving birth in the United States. Since her pregnancy began in 2007 and ended in 2008, she and her husband had to pay a deductible of $4,000 [2,700 euros] twice and pay out of pocket many benefits not covered by their insurance. In order to avoid a minimum hospital bill of $10,000 [6,900 euros], they opted for a home birth that would cost them “only” $4,500 [3,100 euros]. Already exhausted by their approach to insurance to get a discount, they had to deal with unforeseen expenses. After twelve hours of work, the midwife decided to transfer the expectant mother to the hospital. “I was devastated to see my calculations wiped out. At the time, money was clearly a big concern for me,” my friend later explained. Today, almost two years after this episode, she still has not finished repaying the $15,000 [10,300 euros] that her birth cost.
In France, the night of hospitalization for childbirth is fully taken care of, as well as the following three nights, in a room where the father is sometimes allowed to sleep on a mattress, near the mother’s bed. Caregivers provide breastfeeding advice and care for both mother and child. Diapers and medications are taken care of, as are caesarean section and epidural. In any case, even without having insurance concerns, a birth rarely goes as planned. Back in the room 'birth, I saw the head of my firstborn. I had prepared myself to live this moment when reality goes beyond fiction and out of his mouth would come out this first cry so moving that says “I’m alive”. Instead, a midwife had to pull out her little inert body from Chrystele’s. His eyes were closed, his skin strangely bluish. He was unconscious.
In the United States, in addition to a deadly anguish for our newborn, we would have been the victim of many questions: does our insurance cover resuscitation? Is there a moderator ticket for this intervention? Will this incident have an impact on the baby’s future health insurance? After all, an insurer refused to cover the baby of a couple of Californian friends because of prenatal illness, even though it came out of a perfectly insured belly.
The French health care system is far from perfect and it has a price, which my wife and her countrymen pay in the form of contributions and taxes. The French have less money in their pockets to buy iPods, laptops, 4x4 giants or motorhomes. But in return, the French expect their government to provide quality care and let them worry more about their health than about the details of their insurance policy. In fact, France generally tops the international health rankings, and its system costs, in proportion, significantly less than that of the United States. When your child makes his first cry, as Luka Matthew Pape did a minute after his birth, it is one of the most unforgettable moments of life. Living such a moment without worrying about financial problems or quarrels with your insurer, it also has no price." ( Courrier International)
