Late Stage Capitalism

I know someone is gonna pipe up about the mean girl from their highschool that's a nurse now. It cones up constantly in these conversations. But what I wanna put here is this comment by u/nursemattycakes (it's also the highlighted comment in the link):

"Probably the first major wake up call I had as a new grad in 2006 was taking care of a guy just a couple of years older than me. He was a frequent flyer in our hospital… a super nice kid with cystic fibrosis. His mother was the sweetest person I have probably ever met, and was diligently by his side at every admission. She was honestly the best caregiver I have personally ever met and was always very kind to the staff. I had gotten to take care of him several times over the years, even prior to graduating nursing school when I was a tech. I had never personally met the dad, although a few of my coworkers had, but I knew he worked a shit ton of OT to pay for all the care for his son that he could.

One night I came to work and he was my patient, and the dad was in the room. The mood in the room was absolutely tense, and the vibe at the nurses station was especially tense. During report the day shift nurse told me that the patient had hit his lifetime maximum benefit. Worse yet, his pulmonologist who had been his doctor since birth told the patient “You can’t just come to the ER every time you’re short of breath. You’re going to have to learn to be short of breath at home” and essentially fired him. Fortunately, the hospital’s other pulmonologist was more than happy to assume care. Unfortunately, about six months later the patient died. His demographics sheet listed him as self pay.

I will never ever forgive his doctor for abandoning him once that sweet, sweet insurance money ran out, and the experience made me realize how unnecessary and evil for-profit health insurance providers are.

So no, I do not care one bit about some multi-multi-multi millionaire getting gunned down because the luxurious and worry-free lifestyle he led was made possible by the suffering and preventable deaths of thousands upon thousands of people every year. His family can dry their tears with their stock options. Because fuck ‘em.

I, on the other hand, will enjoy my Christmas season as per usual, with the understanding that with just a little bit of bad luck I could lose everything I own at any point because in this country healthcare is not a right, but a privilege extended to me as long as I work hard to make the unimaginably rich, richer."