A little over two years ago I was part of an elite group known as "The Insured of America." We had excellent full coverage insurance through Teamsters which included dental AND vision for about the same cost to us monthly as a week's worth of Venti Lattes. Then inappropriately on April Fool's Day came the news that the mom and pop trucking company was shutting down after over 50 years in existence.
We spent the next 30 "covered" days scrambling to get our medical affairs in order. Begging Drs to write new prescriptions for generic equivalents to be redeemed at Walmart for $4. Squeezing in office visits and medical tests where we could. Dentists, optometrists and lab visits, such were our days that April.
Cobra was available but unaffordable and even that only covered 18 months. We're too young for Medicare, too "wealthy" for Medicaid and too "poor" to pay out of pocket for a decent private medical plan. That's when the crap shoot began, and I still pray, please let's not roll snakes eyes.
So as one of millions of Americans without health insurance, I'm very interested in learning more about this new hot topic health reform plan. The comments I have read so far have been mostly negative and I have no time to read and comprehend all 1018 pages of the proposed plan. I want to hear both the pros and cons. Therefore as today's assignment, I'm inviting my readers to submit a guest post regarding this very important issue OR send me links to posts you've written or come across in the Blogosphere. I'll feature as many as possible here on The Avenue between now and Wednesday August 12th.
Class dismissed. Go spread the word. And as always anyone with knowledge of a full time logistics opening with benefits is encouraged to contact me.
19 comments:
I'm looking forward to what you get in the comments. From what I have "heard" it sounds like there needs to be a better way to accomplish this goal... I just haven't heard any Plan B's.
I recently read on my friends fb page his opinion of universal health care. He is from Costa Rica and his grandfather was one of the 'founders' of the universal health care there. He says its horrible. He sited all kinds of problems and reasons it does not work.
If you'd like I could copy and paste the whole conversation and email it to you. I found it to be very interesting coming from someone who actually had experience with UHC.
The argument isn't about Universal Health Care tho.
It's about Health INSURANCE reform.
As in more reasonably priced and available INSURANCE for everyone.
And if there is a Public Option available, among every other option that is out there, then that competition will help to lower the prices for everyone.
The insurance companies are spending $1.4 MILLION a DAY to try to convince you it's not a good thing.
Ask yourself why.
It is my understanding (I could be wrong) that Obama's health care will not be like Canada or any of the other countries. It will simply offer a low priced health insurance to Americans who want to get it. I heard a speech where Obama was asked if this would put big insurance companies out of business and he laughed and said "They just need to become more competitive". I feel that insurance companies are ripping off people with high premiums and apparently so do a lot of people. I think there is a lot of misinformation floating around and I look forward to reading proof about exactly what is being offered here.
Yeah, I need to read up this issue more, too. I know what my heart feels, but my brain sometimes finds what my heart feels to be illogical. The aim is to be able to get everyone good medical care, without hospitals turning into medical DMV offices.
I'm in the majority at the moment...with less than 30 days left of insurance after being laid off. It hurts, it's scary and it's a gamble but there's nothing more I can do until I get another job with benefits.
I don't know enough about the health care reform but I'd be interested in others opinions.
This Obama plan has me very nervous. As do Governor Quinn's shenanigans with the budget and social services.
I know something has to help out the middle class. We are slowly becoming the lower class. I feel this is going to be an ongoing problem trying to get this bill through congress. if you remember Clinton wanted to get a health plan passed also. Obviously that never happened. If there is money to be made by somebody under the table this will get done. Otherwise it will never happen.
My COBRA is 2800/ month. It's a good thing Obama's making my employer pay 65% of it.
Can you freakin' believe 2800/ month?
We do need some sort of national health insurance available for those who cannot qualify or afford group or private health insurance. I don't think that means we have to totally scrap the present system. My main complaint is that Republicans and Democrats are more interested in winning (read--defeat the other side) than in collaborating on an actual workable solution.
I'm not good at understand legal/medical/politcal statements. I guess that makes me a sheep that just follows the flock and hopes the flock knows what it's doing. But it's true.
What I do know is that this statement that you made:
"Cobra was available but unaffordable and even that only covered 18 months. We're too young for Medicare, too "wealthy" for Medicaid and too "poor" to pay out of pocket for a decent private medical plan. That's when the crap shoot began, and I still pray, please let's not roll snakes eyes."
Is all too true in this day and age. It can happen to most of us, the middle class, and it scares the pants off of me! I'll be checking back to see what the rest of my sheep flock has to say on the subject.
Thank you for writing this post!
Hey there...here's my two cents http://www.napwarden.com/2009/08/ohmommy-made-me-do-it.html
Here we go. A video and written Health Insurance Reform Reality Check. This is what people have been looking for. The truth laid out in simple language for everyone.
My stepdad is British, where they have the sort of national healthcare being talked about here. Unless you pay for private insurance over there, healthcare is crappy...and of course private insurance is too pricey for most people to afford. I fear employers would defer to the national plan once it was available and stop providing real insurance. Over there, if you get a heart attack and you're over a certain age do you think they pay for quadruple bypasses? Heck no. They give you a bottle of aspirin and send you home.
No disrespect intended, but it's uneducated statements claiming that we will have a health care system like Canada, like the UK, like Costa Rica, etc... that are the lies. These lies are the reason many Americans are against the health care REFORM. Read the comment by Miz Q. This is one of the educated comments. Then go to the website that Roxanne posted.
If you are going to spread things around on the internet, spread truth, not lies. This is why our country is in the shape it's in. Someone hears a lie and it spreads like wildfire. There are so many people out there who have no clue, but others are actually listening to them. GO DO YOUR RESEARCH and stop perpetuating these lies.
Karen
Looking forward to reading/hearing more about this too MRM
This is such a hotbed topic that I just had to comment.
My opposition is that we have enough government intrusion in our lives. They are already in the medical insurance biz and are failing miserably at it. It is alled Medicare and it is in horrible financial trouble.
Part of the problem with our health care system has ALWAYS been too much govt regulation & interference.
Sorry about the intensity of my 1st comment. I'm usually quite amusing.
Two things.... You will find if you pay close attention to miz q you will learn much. She is a very smart woman. Second is this binks hits the nail right on the head. Our government's interferance and mandates are much of the problem with our current healthcare situation.
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