102 Think Piece: “Why We Must Fight for Medicare for All”
102 Think Piece: “Why We Must Fight for Medicare for All”
Cody Cantu
Lia Schuermann
ENG 1023.17
13 February 2021
Why We Must Fight for Medicare for All
Like many Americans living today, I battle with depressive episodes and anxiety-driven panic attacks. They have, at their worst, rendered me unfit to drive and unable to function at work. Mental health issues, although sometimes undiagnosed professionally, have been a part of much of my family life growing up – whether it be serious substance abuse, suicide attempts, or routine self-harming behaviors. I don’t mean to go too deep into the chasms of my life story, as I imagine and know that many peoples’ stories are not unlike my own. That is, in fact, the exact reason I mention it with any detail at all. There is a ubiquity of poor mental health in this country that necessitates a national conversation on the issue.
I don’t believe I am unlike many Americans who have found themselves finally accepting the fact that they need professional help but have had either no idea where to look or ended up having to choose between paying for therapy and medicine or essential groceries. Fees for doctor’s visits, therapists, and medicine rack up faster than a lot of people are reasonably able to pay, even with health insurance. In my time as a community organizer speaking with neighbors and organizers alike, I’ve been told so often that searching for mental health resources was ultimately more frustrating and emotionally taxing than coping with it in the ways they knew how. These same folks have told me it felt like they were wasting time they could have spent trying to unwind from a terrible day, taking care of important chores around the house, or perhaps searching for a job that didn’t treat them with contempt. “Fake it ‘til you make it” is the unfortunate turn of phrase coined by Dr. Phil that illustrates what understandably comes next. Unhappy and unhealthy people manage to make it, one moment at a time, through the daily motions of their life. These same people know that they must keep their job in order to keep what health benefits their employer does provide for them, even if their wage cannot cover the fees associated with the mental healthcare they seek to receive. They have also resisted the urge to go to the doctor whenever they have felt extraordinarily ill, for the costs incurred were usually more than they were able to spend that month. The condition is summed up pretty well in one simple sentence I heard once while on the job: the best healthcare is not getting sick. Whether it’s mental or physical health, our common treatment is to just deal with it. In my eyes, and in the eyes of many people I know and love, this reflects an even more profound reality – the evermore common inability to find access to or afford medicine and health care at large. Healthcare reform in America is long overdue, and there is no other policy proposition more unequivocally prepared to provide substantial and affordabl