(Fish) Food For Thought
Many years ago, before ObamaCare existed, I ended up with a severe infection. My husband had been unemployed for 6 months, so we had no health insurance and literally no money... literally, NONE! We were paying rent with credit cards and relying on church-run food banks to not starve.
I couldn’t afford $200 to see a doctor, nor the thousands of dollars it would cost for lab tests. We even looked into if driving to Canada would be cheaper, that is how desperate we were getting. (By the way, it isn’t. For non-residents, a hospital visit in Canada is about the same cost as an American hospital.)
A “prepper” friend of mine suggested fish antibiotics. It was sulfa capsules, and at only $5 for a bottle, it was affordable.
Sulfa powder was used in WWII to fight off infection, before penicillin replaced it as an antibiotic. It was part of a soldier’s basic medical kit, so at least I knew it was (relatively) safe to use.
Still, I was VERY hesitant to take some random pills, so I looked up all I could beforehand. It was rather sad to see just how many websites existed teaching people how to use pet supplies because medication was unaffordable. Only about 50% of Americans have health insurance through their employer, so before Obamacare, Americans just had to make due with what they could afford, or go into bankruptcy.
Luckily for me, the fish pills worked and cleared up the problem, although I strongly do NOT recommend it.
History lesson:
In the Sulfanilamide Disaster of 1937, 100 people died after using a liquid form of sulfa. The pharmaceutical company had tested it for consistency and flavor, but the never tested it for toxicity. In 1937, there were no laws requiring companies to make sure their products aren’t toxic!
Americans who promoted “small government” with minimal federal oversight felt businesses should not have to obey some bureaucrats, they would obviously test to make sure their products aren’t deadly… totally underestimating the power of capitalist greed.
The Sulfanilamide incident spurred on the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the statute that today remains the basis for FDA regulation in America.
Despite the mass poisoning, sulfa was normally safe and a highly effective means of treating bacterial infections. It saved millions of lives in World War II.
Anyway, this little story of mine is an example of just how fucked up America’s health care system is, where a person has to take pills meant for FISH because she can’t afford to see a doctor.
When 58% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck, a single health disaster can leave someone in massive debt that can take years, if not decades, to recover from. Back in 2010, nearly 20% of Americans had no health care at all.
It really was a PRIVILEGE to be able to go into the doctor, but even then, a $100 co-pay might not be affordable when you struggle to put food on the table.
Today, only 8% of Americans still have no health care -- some by choice, some because we have such a broken system for helping rural areas, immigrants, and homeless people. We’ve done a lot to help people get the care they need, but we still have a long way to go before Americans don’t have to weigh if being healthy is more important than being fed.
No one should have to take FISH MEDICINE just to survive.
