I'm white, post graduate education, upper middle class income, english is my first language, I'm articulate, and perfectly capable of advocating on my own behalf when I'm relatively healthy. God help you if you don't have any of my advantages. When I was really sick, I got superb care, but only becuase of the resources I put into place when I was healthy. When my pdoc left the hospital, the hospital wanted to drop me without any referals. If I hadn't known my legal rights and be willing to complain and fight the system I would have been dropped. As it was it was a major hassle to get assigned to aa new psychiatrist. Now try to imagine doing the same thing if English isn't your first language or you're on disability wondering where your next meal is giong to come from. We definitely have a two tier system - those for the wealthy, and those for everyone else. It's not a sytem, it's a patchwork of loosely tied together supports.

--splitimage