by Larik Sonfar

Created on: May 23, 2008

"I have no health insurance, no dental plan. When you walk into a doctor's office, the first thing they say is: How will you pay? What insurance do you have?' I have to go to the bank before I go to the doctor" (Pear 41-42). Over the past century, the American Health Care industry has gradually regressed from a state of purely Samaritan service to one of financial lust. Now, like many Americans, Mildred Davis, a custodian and security guard living in Austin, Texas, is plagued by concerns over his health care coverage. Unlike other products of the 21st century, health care plays an indispensable role in society. While most everyday items such as iPods or television are no more than infinitesimal luxuries, the possession or absence of health care is often a matter of life and death. Being an issue of such profound importance to the populace, health care coverage has inevitably found its way into the world of fictional literature. One such novel, Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton, vividly illustrates the severe lack of health care coverage for the impoverished, the often fatal repercussions of this lack, and evokes in humanity a sympathetic pang to provide universal health care as a right of the many, and not a privilege of the few.

A health care system is defined as an "organization by which health care is provided" ("Health Care System"). The health care system in the U.S. is primarily composed of two institutions: Medicare and Medicaid. These two services provide care for the majority of Americans. Medicare offers the user a greater variety of coverage and primarily provides health care insurance to those ages 65 and older. Medicaid, on the other hand, sharply limits what services the recipient can or cannot have covered and is the service designed for low-income families and individuals.

Health care costs are nearing an unbearable height and are continuing to rise. Back in 1970, the U.S. spent only 7% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on health care (Wexler 79). The U.S. now spends 13.2% of its GDP, or 1.3 trillion dollars on health care (Wexler 79). For average Americans, this meant a 27% rise for individual workers and 16% rise for families in employer sponsored health care (Wexler 79). The already extreme costs of health care are further exacerbated in two groups of people. The first is those who are chronically ill or have major illnesses. For example, "persons with AIDS could spend up to 77,000 per year on medication alone" (Wexler 96). This is a daunting

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