Australia, a gentler, kinder America

Australia, a gentler, kinder America Good Citizen of Humanity

I lived in Australia for a year back in 1997.  My family came and visited me for a long summer for some great times. At the time I still thought that America was the greatest place to live on the earth, because that was what I’ve always been told.  We were always the good guys.   The Aussies soon tired of my bragging about America and they told me, we do not want to be America, we want to be a Gentler, Kinder America.   I slowed down my bragging but the phrase stuck in my head, what do they mean, a Gentler, Kinder America.

By the end of my stay and with a decade to think about it, I think I have the answer -- which I can share with a couple of stories.

The Australian Medical Scene

My family and I visited the outback to see kangaroos, parrots, all sorts of strange mammals and wolf bats among other things.  Somewhere in a log cabin my daughter, Olesia, got something in her eye.  She was in pain and we couldn’t get it out.  We were directed to a local clinic in the middle of nowhere.  They got to us quickly and the doctor soon had Olesia on a big table, got a magnifying glass and deftly picked out a piece of what looked like part of a plant from her eye.  He then put some eye drops in her eye and handed us another bottle of eye drops.  

I asked the doctor, what do we owe you.  He answered, “there is no charge, I am sure if I were in your country and needed help your country would do the same for us.”  I nodded, but I knew it wasn’t so.  In the U.S. if you don’t have medical insurance you are more or less screwed.  Perhaps an emergency room could remove that piece of grass from one’s eye for about $1000.  But, nope, we would not take care of a foreigner at a clinic for free. And well, a doctor’s office would give you the unnegotiated rate that it charges people who have no insurance to negotiate for them.

The Texan Medical Scene

My brother in Texas recently got a blood clot in his leg.  He went to the emergency room and they gave him a shot and then a prescription for two more shots that he could pick up at the pharmacy for $700.  He said he didn’t have the $700.  They told him then the only recourse was to wait until he had a heart attack and if he lived come  back in because they could help him once his heart attack started.  Big brother of course, bailed him out.  He unfortunately lives in a Republican state that did not extend medicaid up to cover people that make too little to be on Obamacare and too much to be on medicaid.  In short, they had no compassion for these people.

Caring for the Weak is being a Gentler, Kinder America

Of course, Australia takes care of more than just little children from foreign lands with grass in their eyes.  They take of all the weak in their society.  Yes, universal medical care, universal retirement and low-cost public transportation that is very good.  Its not too expensive for Australians and the country does not go up in flames.  I went to a doctor several times and it seemed about the same as here.  I have no doubt that my brother and the other Americans caught in the gap between Obamacare and Medicaid in the 34 Republican states would be better loved and cared for in Australia. They have compassion.