Déjà vu and Healthcare Debate

Issue #752

Timely Advice from a Soviet Émigré to the Blue, Red and any other political colors out there.

I was silent for too long as I watched the healthcare reform debate unfold in my living room. Now, I scream at the TV. I screamed when I heard the 1,000 page bill was not being read by the Congressmen who would vote for it… and it was presented as if it was not really a big deal.

I screamed when I heard there were planned reductions in the care for the elderly. I had the same outburst when I heard that “fat” people could also be singled out on the false basis that “thin” people don’t get sick and are less expensive to care for when they do. What about the lifetime medical costs for those who suffer from HIV or depression? Why not start our national savings with denying them care? What – not politically correct?! Who will be the target of the next witch hunt… you…children with special needs?!

I can no longer remain silent! I am experiencing déjà vu and have to speak up before it’s too late. Please note that I am not paid, organized, nor recruited by anyone. I am my own cause; I’m speaking out at the demand of my conscience and my social/moral obligations.

America has voted into power a “special” group of people who will not participate in a “changed” slim and trim health care program. Our House Representatives and Senators long ago created for themselves a vastly superior plan that they will NOT abandon for the ‘healthcare reform’ that they want to impose on us. Yet, they get to make ALL the choices for you, our family members, and me. Choices and decisions that don’t have our best interests at heart…the regular folks. The ugly truth is, I have been there before.

I emigrated from the former USSR, as a political refuge 21 year ago, in an attempt to have my freedom. That freedom is now slipping away, one “change” at a time. Soon, I fear, I will have nothing to hold onto. I left the Soviet Union; now it has followed me here.

As a US citizen now, it’s my civic duty to warn you that true freedom can only be achieved when those who govern have the same benefits and are subject to the same laws and procedures as the governed. Elected officials, who make life-changing decisions, need to share the same risks for the impacts of their choices. They should never be exempt. Never!

They need to eat from the same pot of borscht they are cooking for us. And if they don’t, it means one of two things – it’s either poisoned or not good enough. If they won’t eat what they have cooked and served us, why should we? Spit it out!

Given our speedy march to the land of Change or Perestroika (they’re the same), let’s insist that our Government bureaucrats and the Congress, who live and work on our dime, experience the same health benefits and medical care system.
Why should we have to live with Change and not them? If you want fairness and freedom, speak up now!

Fight discrimination that is based on elected or bureaucratic status… and its perks. Unless and until America’s leadership has to live with the same risks as its citizens, there will be no real equality or clear solutions.

We need to stop the Federal Government’s creation of a nomenklatura (Russian term for the elite ruling class), as the former Soviet Union once had. Ironically, it’s become the same here as it was for the Politburo and “special people” who ran the government in the USSR. The further irony is that even the US’s “Czars Team” that has been created under our radar, is structured very similarly to the Politburo and its role in the former USSR.

Now, the Nomenklatura, aka “Special people”, who were the Politburo, Communist Party members and other groups in power, were accorded special treatment that was paid for by the rest of the country. They enjoyed special health care benefits in special hospitals and clinics, while we non-Special People, regular working folks, had most of our dental work and many other medical procedures performed without even the benefit of anesthetics.

We shared rooms in a hospitals with 15-20 other people and our family members brought us food from home, so that we could survive what the system offered. Sadly, many did not survive… and it wasn’t due to their illness. Of course, this isn’t how the program is being sold to us, but it will morph over time as it becomes more centrally controlled and Federalized.

Furthermore, in the Soviet Union, it was common to pay a nurse under the table, out of our own pocket, so that we could purchase her special attention for our loved ones. When calling an ambulance, you were asked your age. If you were over 65, good luck in ever seeing help arrive at your doorstep. I could recite example after example of my experience with the Federalized, dual payer medical healthcare system.

Here’s the bottom line: Do you want to have the same dual system here?
If not, bring the real change that is so needed to the White House and Congress first… and then to the rest of the country. Insist that all government officials have the same health access that we, the people would have. Don’t expect them to fight for you or me. They and their families are already well taken care of on our dime, why should they bother to look after us?

Can a well-fed person fully understand the mindset, feelings, and needs of a hungry one?
Insofar as healthcare is concerned, our leaders are not “hungry” right now, you are. And you will remain “hungry” until they join you. Let’s ask our Senators, Representatives, and all who make our choices for us to level the playing field. Is your life, your child’s, or your parent’s less valuable than theirs? Are the lives of Obama’s daughters dearer than the lives of our own children?
My older son, who was four at the time, had a surgical procedure performed without any anesthetics. While he was screaming his lungs out and kicking doctors left and right, I stayed behind a closed door frozen in my hopelessness listening to what was happening. There was absolutely nothing that I could do to help him. Nothing. Afterwords, one of the doctors complained to me that he had a very difficult time trying to hold my son down in order to work on him.

Do you think that their “special” children had the same health care? Do you think they cared about my son and his pain and horror? That was the way of our social (dual) healthcare system. That’s just a sample of what we, the working/ regular folks, had to endure. Everything was available for them, the “special people” and just a bare minimum for us.

Now I see this happening here in the US; that’s why I feel such an urgent need to warn you and to inform you of the following:
Act now; speak up while there’s still time. If you won’t fight for your life, freedom, and loved ones, who do you think will… the fat cats/ the ‘special ones’? They must be put on the same new “slim and trim” diet that they’re creating and offering to us. No extra calories for them! Maybe then they will feel motivated enough to start exercising their reading skills and tone their critical thinking, logic and integrity. Say “No” to a dual healthcare system. Say “No” to a “Special People”. Say “Yes” to Freedom and Fairness for all!

If this letter and my message feel “fishy” to you, as the White House put it recently, feel free to report me- just as they asked you to do. This would be nothing new for me too. Once I was already reported …to the KGB.

Now you can see “why” I am experiencing déjà vu. Do you?

Ella Ivshin, Ph.D.
Dr. Ivshin lived under Communist rule in the former USSR for about 30 years. She emigrated to the West in 1987 and has since become a US citizen. Dr. Ella is an adjunct professor, management consultant, life coach, and author. She lives in the Los Angeles area.