This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA.
There is an obvious healthcare crisis in the U.S. Every year thousands of people struggle to pay for medical care, and many go through the unpleasant surprise that, despite paying for health insurance every month, they still have to pay large sums for crucial treatment out-of-pocket. This unfortunate reality leads many to avoid going to the doctor or skip preventive care altogether because it’s simply unaffordable.
But perhaps the most ironic part is this: hospital workers – nurses, medical assistants, lab techs, security guards, shuttle drivers — all of us who make the hospital run everyday — cannot even profit from this system and our labor. WE don’t even have decent healthcare for ourselves and loved ones. Shouldn’t at least every hospital worker and their family members be entitled to complete and free healthcare?
Every day at Kaiser, for example, we spend so many hours at work because of short staffing and the unwillingness to give us benefited, consistent positions (yet we are so short staffed that workers often get called in enough to be benefited twice over). We go above and beyond for the hospital and our patients. We are the very reason this place is able to function. And yet many of us are still paying high copays and other out-of-pocket costs because our Kaiser insurance does not fully cover our needs.
Being a healthcare worker without good healthcare is not just bitter irony – it is proof that hospitals and insurance companies prioritize profit over everyone’s health. No wonder there are so many people across the country fed up with this healthcare system.
Click here to read the article printed in the 05-21-25 Healthcare Newsletter
