I don’t watch Fox News or MSNBC. I don’t read left or right-wing extremist sites. I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh or whomever his left-wing equivalent would be. So this blog post won’t be about politics because frankly, I try to block all of that out. But here’s what I do know. Health care reform is needed in this country, badly. What’s happening now may not be the complete solution, in fact I know it isn’t, but I firmly believe it’s a step in the right direction. I’ve always considered myself lucky. Lucky because 1. I have health insurance through my employer and 2. because I’m relatively healthy.
A couple of weeks ago, when my doctor prescribed me an inhaler with a spacer for my asthma, I assumed my prescription would be covered. It wasn’t.
And when my husband was referred by his doctor to see a hand specialist for this funky genetic disease he apparently has, that consultation wasn’t covered.
In the last month I’ve paid $400 in visits and medicine that wasn’t covered by my insurance. Stuff that SHOULD have been covered.
Last week, my cousin was diagnosed with cancer. It’s in his jaw, his throat, and in both lungs. He’s self-employed and doesn’t have health insurance. He went to the doctor for a sore throat and came out with a cancer diagnosis. But his doctor won’t treat him because he doesn’t have health insurance. And it’s not like he can go out and get insurance because his cancer is now considered a “pre-existing condition.”
I could sit here and tell you that it’s his own fault. He’s been a smoker for at least 25 years and probably chewed quite a bit too. I don’t know his financial situation (he’s not wealthy by any means) so I don’t know if it was possible for him to get private insurance before. Maybe he could. Maybe he was just being cheap. I don’t really know. I do know that he lost his teenage daughter a couple of years ago when she was hit by a car while trying to help a friend change a flat tire on the side of the road. He’s definitely had his share of bad breaks, and I realize that’s one hell of a understament. But does any of that matter now? No. Because all that matters now is that he’s a 45-year-old man, with a family to support, and he is in desperate need of health insurance so he can afford to fight the gruesome battle that lies ahead. And if this bill makes health care more accessible, for him or for anyone like him, then I just don’t see how something like that can be “bad”?
When I think of people who opposed this bill, and how they’re so afraid of this affecting them – specifically their pocket books – I’m appalled at the selfishness of people. Especially when much of that argument doesn’t even make sense. The passing of this bill will not affect my coverage or how much I pay for that coverage. My taxes will not go up. And if they did? I’d be okay with that too.
I don’t claim to be a very religious person, meaning that I can’t spout off Bible verses or recount old Bible stories, but all of this reminds me of a famous Bible verse. Paraphrasing here:
When Jesus was asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus replied, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” ~Matthew 12: 28-31
I want healthcare. I want it for me. I want it for you. I want it for everyone.
But... Will There Be Cake? 
THANK YOU! :)
I don’t agree that our costs won’t go up. I’m afraid of the exact opposite, really. And if people don’t WANT to carry insurance, they’ll pay a $700 fine for not doing so. I don’t see how that’s really fair to dictate that. But maybe your cousin would have benefited from that? Or would it have been cheaper for him to pay the fine and continue to go without coverage? I think the latter is very likely, and not exclusive in any way to your cousin.
However, some sort of change to the system has been desperately needed for a long time. And if these changes can help people like your cousin get the treatment they need (and, as fellow human beings, deserve), then I won’t call the new plan bad. I’m hopeful that things WILL be good and this will be the step we need in the right direction.
I just wish lobbying hadn’t played such a huge role in the bill because any hopes of regulating the massive insurance industry is gone for now. They weren’t given any regulations on how much they can charge for coverage, so they stand to profit quite a bit from this. If they see a loss from insuring sick people who they haven’t had to worry about before, they will raise everyone else’s rates to make up for that.
But for the most part, I’m with you. I definitely have some hangups with it, but I’m very hopeful that this something will be far better than the years of nothing we have seen so far. When it comes to the government in general, I tend to think the worst, so I really, really hope my fears are unfounded. I want this to work.
And I wish your cousin all the best. I’m so sorry to hear about that – his story is one that keeps me so optimistic about this bill.
I agree, reform was needed. What bothers me most about all the oppositions is that I dont understand all the hatred and downright ignorance that some people are spewing. If you don’t agree with it, thats fine. But to call people such horrific names and act in such appalling manners, is sad to me. I for one am of the philosophy that if I can help make someone else’s life a little easier, I should do that.
I’m thankful to be Canadian. :)
As a cancer patient I am extremely thankful to have the wonderful coverage I have. I’m sorry to hear about your cousin; I understand the battle and I know it’s rough.
I believe whole-heartedly that something needs to be done about health care in america. I do think people are pinning all their hopes on this reform and in reality it will take a very long time to come to a full reality. But here’s to hoping it’s better than what’s going on now…
http://senseofstyleiseternal.blogspot.com/
I have a feeling some people won’t realize how great this is until THEY need it, or a LOVED one needs it, or they see the direct result of it.
I agree that reform is needed. While being a healthy person, my allergies throw a wrench into the works and my epi-pens are expensive and only good for 6 months to a year, Nexium is crazy expensive. It’s just insane how much prescriptions are. It’s almost like they want us to be sick so we have to keep going back… anyway, I digress.
Government is not supposed to be big business.
It’s not supposed to be about money.
It’s supposed to be about the people. For the people. And like it or not, we are all in this together, so we should take care of each other. Maybe if we focus on America for a bit, we can regroup and grow stronger.
I also agree with Mandy how insane some of the hatred has been among Congress members. Just appalling. They are supposed to be our leaders!?
All this to say: HERE, HERE!
I love this post and I couldn’t agree more. I hate politics and I hate how lobbying and special interests play into everything. I know this bill isn’t a total fix, but I am so glad to see SOMETHING happening, because stories like your cousin’s are not uncommon. Insurance is so expensive if you don’t have it through an employer (my parents are both self-employed and used to pay $1000 a month for insurance for our family — and it was SHITTY insurance that covered almost nothing) and I am OK with a rule that everyone should have insurance. We all have to have car insurance or pay a fine. Everyone is eventually going to need healthcare of some sort, so everyone should have health insurance.
There are so many other ways the system needs to be fixed, but I really think that this is a step in the right direction and I don’t care if it raises my costs or my taxes. This is what I think taxes are for.
hear hear! it’s about damn time is all i can say.
All I know is that if I didn’t have health insurance through my office, I wouldn’t be able to get it independently, because I’ve had moles removed and I have asthma – both things that are considered “pre-existing” conditions, even though I’m otherwise perfectly healthy.
This bill might not be a perfect solution, in fact, it’s not. But it’s SOMETHING, and our country desperately needs SOMETHING.
I work in insurance in Canada and we had the most interesting talk about this today- it’s so wild because up here it’s just so hard to understand what everyone is so afraid of. The anti-government oversight of…. everything stance in the US just kind of boggles my mind! I’m so excited for this change for you guys though- I have young family in Florida and it’s been so scary to hear about the level of financial insecurity that health can bring into their lives. I’m so glad that this will level the playing field.
I absolutely LOVE hearing from my Canadian freaders on this issue. Because everytime I bring up Canada and their system, people try to tell me “but they wait forever to see a doctor! You’ll die before you get treated!” Well guess what? Everyone I know that has ever had to go to the emergency room has waited somewhere around 8-10 HOURS before even getting placed into a room. It makes me furious. I would LOVE to have a system like Canada’s.