jenroses:

socialjusticespellsword:

latining:

feminismandmedia:

Advances in medicine only help if people have access to them.

There’s an HIV epidemic in Saskatchewan and part of the cause is people not being able to afford or access retrovirals.

Just to make this clear, these people aren’t dying because they, say, live in a remote mountain village or because their hospitals have been destroyed by war or lack the necessary equipment. Everything needed to save them from certain death is right there, often in the same building in which they are taking their last breaths. The only reason these people are dying is because they lack the necessary amount of an entity that was originally conceived to facilitate complex trade arrangements, an entity that is completely fictional and yet considered more important than the people it was created to serve. In other words, these people aren’t dying because there is no way to save them, these people are dying because in Capitalism, money is more important than human lives.

I’m not poor but there’s no way I’m going to pay $150 per week to see my physical therapist as often as I really need to see her because my insurance won’t cover that but probably will cover if I end up in the hospital with subluxation pain. I’m literally going to have to ask for opiates to get through the rest of the year because of this fuckery. I can pay out of pocket for a couple of visits, but not the six or so I really need, not and also pay out of pocket for a power wheelchair they probably won’t cover either. And I *have* insurance. But the criteria is “medical need” and since I can walk to the bathroom, I don’t have a medical need for the chair, nevermind that I can’t stand long enough to cook a meal or do anything outside the house that doesn’t involve a place with a scooter.