MONEY
My Latest Medical Bill Was Shocking. Here’s What Happened.
Affordable healthcare should be a basic human right, period
Why the hell am I forced to pay such high amounts for my healthcare?!
Such price gouging by the private sector is utterly unacceptable and must be permanently stopped!
To put things in context, I went for a psychiatric appointment yesterday.
I was very much reluctant as I hate therapy sessions in general. Each time, the process takes such a huge mental toll on me.
However, my anxiety has worsened of late, which in turn has greatly reduced my functionality in certain aspects.
My parents, noticing this deterioration, strongly felt it would be good to seek additional help so I could get better.
And so, I grudgingly agreed to have a session with this particular psychiatrist.
A rude reminder of our broken healthcare system!
Once the session finished, her staff handed me the bill and I was shocked and angry to see the total amount.
It came to 630 Malaysian Ringgit ($142 U.S.)! Of all the therapy sessions I’ve gone to, this was the most expensive by far!
The total bill consisted of the consultation fees, psychotherapy fees, and the cost of two weeks’ worth of medication.
Now, the bills for all the previous sessions I’ve had with other psychiatrists and psychologists were quite expensive as well.
And each time I went for those sessions, I was always heavily disappointed at those high costs. I’d also feel bad for all those from lower socioeconomic classes who would struggle to pay such unreasonable costs for their treatment.
So, it’s not uncommon for me to deal with such practices. I’ve experienced them more times than I care to admit!
But this latest bill was just too much for the service I received. It was a rude reminder of how truly broken our system is.
A truly inhumane, greedy practice
I’ve always felt strongly towards the unfair costs of services by the private sector in general.
At worst, we’re routinely being charged tens of thousands of dollars for various life-saving procedures!
Frankly, it’s obscene and cruel to charge patients such exorbitant fees for the treatment upon which their life depends.
People suffering from any health condition deserve to receive affordable, quality healthcare. It should be treated as their basic human right!
Thus, for corporations in the private sector to abuse such essential services by jacking up prices is absolutely criminal. And what more when you consider the impact towards the poor in our society.
Such people are already struggling to make ends meet, and then you make essential healthcare services highly unaffordable. How the hell do you expect them to pay such high fees?! It’s just an egregious wrong!
These unscrupulous businessmen have essentially transformed healthcare into a profit-making industry.
Rather than saving people’s lives, the priority for these private institutions is reaping huge profits!
Talk about life not being fair! This right here is one perfect example.
Our governments are in bed with these corporations
I’m damn sure that many of us have dealt with this insanity in our local private healthcare institutions.
Sadly, this is one of the many crushing symptoms of having a corporate oligarchy as a political system.
Such inhumane practices have become deeply entrenched in many of our societies.
The main reason? Our political class are beholden to all these rich corporations who fund them.
Hence, in return, our political leaders don’t impose strict regulations on them. This scenario applies to other industrial complexes as well, not just healthcare.
Neoliberal capitalism is such a blight on our society!
Another big reason is that our ruling classes strongly subscribe to neoliberal capitalism.
Under this ideology, governments mainly rely on the private sector and the free market to develop important sectors, including healthcare. This is the case in Malaysia as well.
Rather than the government being in control of these essential sectors, they’ve instead allowed the private sector to dominate them.
And as we know, the private sector’s main goal is to reap maximum profits for themselves. They’re not at all concerned about the average citizen’s well-being.
When you take into account just how high the current cost of essential services and goods is, I think you’ll agree that much more regulation and oversight by the government is in order.
I feel that governments must be in charge of providing essential services, rather than the private sector. To prevent corruption, there needs to be proper check-and-balance mechanisms installed as well.
These essential services should be made affordable and of good quality. They must never be treated as business opportunities to reap high profits.
The masses must push for change
So what can we do about this mess we find ourselves in? How do we put an end to this obscene practice of charging exorbitant medical fees?
We need to start by raising awareness among average citizens of the prevalence of such practices in our healthcare system.
This would mostly be the task of certain groups and independent NGOs that champion social justice causes. Ideally, on widespread causes such as this, these groups should be collaborating.
Once more people are aware, these groups can start organizing big groups of people to protest against these corporations and their political leaders. They can demand stricter regulations be imposed on the private healthcare sector.
Aside from that, we need to apply pressure on our governments to establish more government healthcare institutions that aren’t profit-driven and provide affordable healthcare.
There are a lot more nitty-gritty details to consider, but for now, this is the basis of what can be done to bring about positive change.
To be sure, these types of initiatives will take time and a lot of effort. However, as with many systemic problems nowadays, true change can only come from significant people’s power.
We as the masses need to unite, mobilize and apply consistent pressure on our leaders to bring about these much-needed changes.
We all deserve affordable healthcare!
It’s completely unfair that we’re forced to pay such exorbitant fees for our healthcare!
We all must strongly reject this system that prioritizes maximum profits at the expense of people’s health.
Regardless of whether we’re suffering from mental or physical health conditions, we all deserve good quality healthcare that’s genuinely affordable.
Affordable healthcare should be treated as a basic human right, period!
Find me on !
