In American Capitalism, Lack of #MedicareForAll Is State-Sanctioned Discrimination Toward the Disabled
People with chronic illnesses in America who aren’t eligible for their parent’s health insurance policy or 65-plus face an impossible catch 22:
- To get a job, we need healthcare so that we can function.
- To get said healthcare, we first need jobs with benefits.
I am one of those individuals. In over 15 years, I haven’t found a solution in America. I’m far from alone in my predicament.
The job market today demands you remain on your A-game from starting gate to gold watch. However, with the advent of the gig economy, the proliferation of part-time positions, and the utter lack of a social safety net, millions go without the care they need to perform at their best. The lack of universal healthcare in America creates de facto discrimination against those with chronic illnesses and makes it not a land of opportunity, but despair.
The Affordable Healthcare Myth
In the U.S. version of capitalism, there are only two ways to create wealth. You can inherit and invest, which is how most of the people gracing the cover of Fortune magazine and the halls of Congress got their start.
The only other alternative, given wage stagnation, is to work harder than is healthy for anyone. According to Statista, in July of 2020, the average hourly earnings of all employees stood at $11.36 per hour. Those working 40 hours per week who never take time off bring in $23,628.80 per year.
Financial experts recommend spending no more than 28% of your take-home pay on rent, but according to Adobo, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment rang in at more than $1,000. For a two-bedroom, it climbed to $1,343. Even if you choose to remain childless, merely keeping a roof over your head costs over half of your take-home pay.
To get ahead, you need to work multiple jobs, which adversely impacts anyone’s health. If you already have a chronic disease, it can take every spoon in your drawer to make it through one workday, let alone two or three.
That’s the first way you get shut out of the American Dream through de facto discrimination — you can’t tackle the unhealthy workload that no one in a sane and civilized society would demand that anyone manage. There’s a reason the ancient Greeks said Hercules was half-god and half-man — we mere mortals can’t physically handle the 12 labors cutthroat capitalism demands unless you get fortunate.
Democrats like Joe Biden claim that expanding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through a public option will solve the problem. With all due respect to the Democratic nominee, that’s pure malarkey. As long as people have to decide between meeting immediate needs — like food and a roof over their head — and paying insurance premiums, they’ll choose the former. It’s not a matter of necessity: it’s triage.
Even Republicans can see the inherent injustice in this system. According to a Hill.TV and Harris Poll from 2018, 52% of Republicans favored #MedicareForAll. Now, amid an ongoing pandemic and job loss, support will likely continue to grow. It makes you wonder what the DNC thought when they left it out of their platform.
The Catch-22 of Employer-Sponsored Healthcare
Anyone who has struggled to find suitable employment knows that finding a position that pays a living wage takes perseverance blended with a hefty dose of luck. Now, with job loss rates at over 10%, the competition will only grow more fierce. Some experts believe the actual joblessness figures may not yet reflect those who technically remain employed, even though they aren’t bringing home a paycheck.
People with disabilities face additional hurdles. Most experts advise not asking about benefits during the interview process, but your ability to perform your role may well hinge on access to coverage.
I’m an example of this conundrum. With the accommodations I need — which consist only of affordable benefits and time off to attend appointments — I can perform every bit as well as any other office worker. I can’t drive, nor can I sit upright or stand for more than 15 minutes or so, but I can sit in a chair, crunch numbers, or write copy.
Without access to the medications I need, though, I become a mess. My concentration and focus falter because I’m distracted by physical agony. The terror that my heart could seize up at any moment also puts a damper on my productivity. Knowing I can’t go to the hospital for chest pain without ending up bankrupt leaves me shattered. On the outside, I may appear fine. On the inside, I’m huddled in a corner, crying in panic and begging for mercy.
The problem isn’t mine alone, however. The gig economy’s proliferation means that many workers have zero protections even if their essential duties should justifiably classify them as employees. You can see this phenomenon in the recent Uber and Lyft case in California.
Even though many drivers put in more than full-time hours, the parent companies nevertheless want to deny them the basics of health insurance, worker’s compensation, and unemployment that those classified as employees enjoy. Instead of stepping up to the plate, corporate leadership plans to change its business model, even though the CEO of neither entity hurts for money.
Other businesses deliberately classify workers as part-time to avoid paying them benefits. This phenomenon exploded after the advent of the ACA. Corporations haven’t changed heart since, and the current political climate gives them zero incentive to treat the backbones of their businesses — their workers — with respect for their basic human needs. Suffice it to say, it also keeps them scrambling for sufficient hours to pay their bills.
How can you safely drive customers when you have visual disturbances due to a neurological disease? You can’t.
How can you make it into the office when you barely have the energy to leave the couch? You can’t.
How can you give it your all and keep a positive, forward-thinking, team-player attitude when it feels like you have a mule behind you repeatedly kicking your back? I’m living proof it can be done — but it’s not easy. Or always possible.
That’s the second way that the lack of #MedicareForAll stands as legal discrimination against the chronically ill. The system forces people to do something as de facto impossible as changing the color of their skin or gender — pretend their physical limitations don’t exist.
It’s no different from sitting a child whose parents can’t afford glasses in the back of the classroom, then punishing them for their inability to see the board. Expecting people who need ongoing medical care to perform without it is like blaming a fish for its inability to climb a tree.
Tying health insurance coverage to employment is cruel and unusual in the extreme when you need coverage to perform your essential functions. What’s even more heartbreaking? No citizen of any other developed nation experiences this Catch-22. Why is the United States the only country where this form of systemic oppression of the disabled continues to exist? Do we not have the resources of France, Germany, or Canada? Or are our spending priorities skewed?
Until #MedicareForAll Is the Law of the Land, the Disabled Will Experience De Facto Discrimination
The United States must end the de facto discrimination against the disabled by divorcing healthcare coverage from employment. Until they do this, we cannot call ourselves a fair or equitable nation.
