OPPapers.com

Healthcare Is Needed

large portion of the 40,000 people who worked at Ground Zero in the days following 9/11 have come down with life changing respiratory illnesses. The dust in the aftermath of the terrorist attack was filled with asbestos and tiny bits of glass. Those affected are among the workers who came to the site after the Twin Towers were struck on September 11. They included firefighters, cops and paramedics. Many worked until they dropped from exhaustion, breathing in an atmosphere that was so toxic from concrete dust, poisonous chemicals and smoke. In the first days of the rescue most of these workers were not provided with respirators. Later many did not wear the devices and no federal, state or city agency took it upon itself to enforce their use.

This is a terrible fact, but one would assume that these people would have nothing to worry about. Surely the government wouldn’t forget about the people who sacrificed their personal well being on that day. Forty percent of 9/11 responders are without health care, either because they never had it, or because they have lost their jobs since becoming ill. The government pledged to help these people by covering their health care costs. It has gotten so bad for 9/11 workers that they recently have been forced to sue the World Trade Center insurance fund so that their health care needs could be met or travel to another country for healthcare. We are so concerned about having quick access to health care ourselves that we are willing to tolerate the fact that many others do not have any health care at all. That seems like a cultural problem to me.

Some rescuers travel to Cuba. Michael Moore takes a group of 9/11 relief workers to Cuba in the movie Sicko, to receive health care. The boats first traveled to Guantánamo Bay. Some of the world’s deadliest terrorists and alleged terrorists are poisoned here. The U.S. claims its prisoners receive the best health care. After being denied services there, the group ends up at a...