I'm not Sure it's Enough

Let me try to convey how incredibly comforting it is to receive a health care card in the mail. One for you, one for your husband and one for your child. A card that costs nothing. Health care could be the single reason we don't come back to the States. I struggle with the idea constantly. Thank you Obama for fighting for health care reform. It's blasphemous that we've allowed the system to continue out of control for so long. But I'm afraid it's not enough.

If you are like the millions of Americans who are afraid of "socialized medicine" let me put your fears at ease. It's possible to have both a public option and a private option. Don't want to wait? Go to a private doctor. Period. What is there to be afraid of? Here in Italy, you only pay for the visit at the private doctor. And the costs aren't inflated; it's expensive, but it's feasible. And there are no other fees, nothing to pay per month, just the cost of the visit.

If you think about our system, or you try to explain it to foreigners, it is really ridiculous; and embarrassing. Basically, we or our employers pay a monthly fee to an insurance company; no less than $100 a month. Then you go to the doctor and you pay a co-pay for the visit, anywhere from 10 to 40 dollars. After the visit you get a bill from the doctor. Usually you have to pay some percentage for tests or x-rays, prescriptions, etc. Remind me, why do we pay the monthly fee? It's really hard to explain to people who have their health care paid for by their government. Which, let me remind you, is the case in every "first world" country outside of America. People in the world expect it. Americans have been convinced they don't need it so that the people who make all of the money off of our ignorance, can keep making money.

Obama had to fight for reform but he still didn't get the public option passed. Which means people still have to pay, a lot, for insurance for themselves and their families. The changes he's made: the inability for insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions, the ability for young adults to stay on their parent's insurance longer; I wouldn't really call it reform, it's more like tightening the belt. But I am happy things are changing. I just hope it will start the momentum to actually create public health care in the U.S.

In Italy, everyone can receive health care. Even if you are poor, even if you are an immigrant; you will not be denied health care, on any level. Just think, immigrants with the swine flu don't wander the streets getting everyone sick. They get well and they don't spread epidemics. Go to the doctor and get yourself better. You are indeed a human being above all. In my experience, and from talking with people, the care at the public hospitals and the private care is the same. Just because doctors work in the public hospital doesn't mean that they don't work just as hard as the doctors in the private ones. Doctors care about people, not about money. And they still make a really good living in both cases.

So what is the problem? What are people afraid of? Higher taxes? If only my tax money went to health care instead of the military. If we didn't spend billions everyday in the wars, we could take care of the people who have hundreds in debt because of health care, retirees who can't retire because they have to pay for their prescriptions and the children who are dying because the parents can't pay for their needed surgeries.

If you're not on board, you're not a compassionate human being. It's not complicated.

Escaping the Rat Race

I'm working as an English teacher. Ok so it's not a career move in the forward direction, but I'm in Italy and jobs are not easy to come by here. To be honest, I actually really like this job. I've always loved teaching. My classes usually consist of one or two people so I get a chance to talk to and learn about people from all walks of life. Everyone has a different story.

Yesterday, my students were from Ecuador and Moldova. I'm always curious what brings people here, so they began to talk about their experiences as immigrants in Rome. The woman from Ecuador came here illegally in the 90's to escape the political situation there. She lived for three years without papers, going from job to job, working under the table. She had to move around a lot because she often couldn't afford the rent. The Moldavian woman moved here to pursue academics, she completed her University degree in her early 30's while working at a pizzeria. Years later, here they are, learning their third language, in the hopes that by knowing English, they will increase their chances for finding better jobs.

And then there's me. The Moldavian woman remarked that normally people immigrate to a new country to improve their economic situation, not the opposite. Here in Italy most people with degrees can't find work; the unemployment rate was at 6.7% in 2009. It's an epidemic. People with a Master's or PHD typically move abroad, and often to the U.S. So why did I leave my comfortable job to move here and make a third of what I used to earn? This wasn't a career move, that's for sure. It was an escape.

There is a universal quest by all people not born into rich families, to somehow find a way to win or make a substantial amount of money so that they don't have to work. Not working allows them the time to do what they want to do. That might include traveling, pursuing hobbies, turning hobbies into a profession without having to worry about money, or spending more time with family. If you don't win this substantial amount of money, then you are left to try and earn it. And by working to earn enough money to both live day to day and take the occasional trip, you have to find a job where you work many hours for a good rate of pay. When you work many hours, you have less time for the things you enjoy. You save up enough for a trip and your job only allows you two weeks vacation. So instead of going on vacation you decide it's better to spend the saved money on a new car to get you to work and back. Now you spend an hour in the car, you spend eight hours at work and you spend one hour each evening with your newborn son, giving him a bath before he goes to bed.

That was Lorenzo's life. For my life, replace the car drive with a plane ride, then insert 'spend the summer away from home' and 'never turn off your phone'. At some point in your adult life, you have to admit to yourself that this abundance of money will most likely not be won, and since no one in your family is rich, it will not be inherited. Which leaves you with one option, to get inside the wheel and run as fast as you can because it won't stop turning to let you off. And it's not really a race because if you run faster than the other little rodents, there's no prize to be won. You're only left with high blood pressure, insomnia and very little time for much else.

For us, Italy (and Lorenzo's mom) has provided us with the opportunity to live as if we had a lot of money because we can live without spending a lot of money. We are lucky to have the opportunity. We are lucky that Lorenzo was able to keep his American job. We are lucky that I'm American (Romans are ridiculously racist and anti-immigrant, but they accept Americans and offer them jobs). We are lucky that we have a house, family and friends. We are extremely lucky. And I'm not bragging, I'm appreciating. When I hear my student's stories, I commend them and their strength. It's not easy to start a new life in a new country. But they wanted something better and they weren't about to let their home country stop them from getting what they knew they deserved.

Well, America, I've stepped away from your race. The race to keep people from receiving free health care, the race to keep the military fighting, the race to keep everything private so that the rich can stay rich, the race to keep your borders closed to people from third world countries, the race to keep people who love each other but happen to share a gender, from getting married, the race to keep our kids ignorant by increasing classroom sizes without hiring new teachers or raising pay.

I've decided to see what happens if the wheel spins without me. I've stopped running; for now.