"Galveston, oh Galveston…"

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• This is an interesting article that seems to gloss over anything that looks like hope and doesn't understand the hospital system.

  First the fact UT Galveston is the only state own facility isn't that big a deal. States in general don't own hospitals. The only reason they own this one is because it is a University of Texas medical school. Most public hospitals in Texas are owned by the counties.

  They mention in passing that there is a county hospital in Galveston, but don' tell you if people get treatment there. Since they do in most counties in Texas why wouldn't they here? They say the people at UTG don't know if it works that way in practice. So? Does it or doesn't it? Seems to be shoddy reporting to make Canadians feel good about their system.

• I live about 30 minutes away from Galveston, and I personally can believe the article. I live rather in the Houston area, and our hospitals are one of the busiest in the United States because our area is so urban and diverse. I myself didn't have much luck with the insurance and hospitals here. About 4 months ago, both my parents got laid off and paying for things became difficult for our family. My father was the main provider in our family, and about 2 months ago he died from a heart attack; he was 60. Well, we didn't have insurance at that time and he was in the hospital for about 2 weeks. When he passed away, we received a $260,000 bill. Luckily, we were able to have the hospital write off most of it since he did not survive. However, we still had to pay $75,000. So my mother had to give up her retirement, and she's around 55 and I had to give up my money my parents had been saving for me for college. It got paid off, but now my mother can't retire until she dies, and I have to scrounge up every penny I can for college or get a job so I can pay for college. I'm not trying to say what happened to me is the usual in Texas or the United States. But it does happen regardless, and I want something to be done about it.