In a country of such great wealth, our health care system is in shambles. Tens of millions un-insured, countless others under-insured. Easily preventable diseases go untreated and every once in a while we hear a devastatingly sad story such as this one.
From the Washington Post:
Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.
A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.
If his mother had been insured.
If his family had not lost its Medicaid.
If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.
If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.
By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.
Government should provide for adequate health care and in this case dental care specifically. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, dental care is extremely lacking. Many dentists do not want to have to deal with the paperwork and there are even fewer oral surgeons in that boat.
How does this happen in this great country of ours? Some will blame the mother, saying it is her fault for not taking care of her children. Alas, she was tending to her other son. So that argument has trouble treading water. Losing Medicaid is a system failure, not having enough dentists that can help the poor is a failure. Grover Norquist once said he wanted to drown the government in a bathtub. For this to happen, it seems like we are getting close to bathtub status.
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