Health Care in this country

OK, some might say I'm obsessed with the health care system in this country. They wouldn't necessarily be wrong. I get so frustrated with people. People like my mother. She complains and complains about all the same things I complain about and then she tells me that we shouldn't change health care in America. Her reasoning? We would have to wait for care. I have 3 things to say about that. First, why would we have to wait for care? She claims people in Canada have to wait for care. That may or may not be true. We, however, won't have the same system as Canada so it is irrelevant. Second, if the sicker people went first and the healthy people had to wait longer that would make sense to me. Right now we have a system where if you are healthy or sick it doesn't matter. What matters is that you have money and insurance. If you have money and insurance you are seen by someone eventually. If you are poor and have no health insurance you never get seen and you die of curable illnesses. To me, as a christian, but also as a caring individual, I think that is wrong. Third, I have health insurance and I still have to wait. I have to see certain doctors that are approved by my insurance company. Right now I have a rash on my face and I can't get in to see anyone. The insurance company only approves certain doctors and they aren't taking new patients until August or September. I'm one of the rich folks that has health insurance and I still can't be seen for a rash on my face! If I were in Canada I would go down to the local doctor's office and I may have to wait for awhile but they would look at my face and give me some cream that I would buy for $5. Now, if I do ever get in to see someone, I will pay $15 for the privilege and then they will charge me $100 for the same cream that I need to put on it to clear it up. Imagine if I were not insured but had a job. If I ever got in to see someone I would be charged $150 for the privilege and would be charged $200 for the cream. And if I were poor. Working minimum wage 60 hours a week but still making below the poverty line and with no insurance. I wouldn't ever get to see anyone for the rash on my face. I would have to live with it. IN AMERICA this is unbelievable!



My mom's friend just lost her health insurance at work. This is going to happen more and more to people who work full time but aren't in a union. They can yank your benefits whenever they want to people! She can't get new insurance because she is on medication that she has to take every day. She doesn't have a deadly disease, she doesn't have a disease that requires regular doctor visits or costly treatments. She has something that requires daily medication. She can't get health care! Here in America she can not see doctors because they don't see people who aren't insured. If she does get in with a doctor she will have to pay hundreds of dollars each time she is ill. The right wing would suggest that she must be lazy if she doesn't have health care. I actually had a guy at my daughter's gymnastics class a few weeks ago tell me that we should round up all the people who don't have health care and make them go to a separate hospital. He said the government should have hospitals to deal with those people who don't have health insurance. One would find this shocking except it is a normal belief of right wingers. Only lazy people who don't work don't have health insurance. They are less than human and therefore don't deserve proper medical attention. The people who work hard should be served first and THOSE people without insurance should get the minimum of care if any. Even my mother, by saying that our health care system shouldn't change to cover everyone because that would make us have to wait longer, is really saying that the rich should get the care and the poor should not.



I have a friend whose husband has changed jobs several times over the years. He is in a field that has high turnover. When a project is done he must look for a new job. Frequently he is self employed. They aren't poor. I don't know how much he makes but for a long time he made more than my husband did. They have been paying cobra as health insurance for many many years. $1200 a month. That is a mortgage payment. They have to pay this just to remain insured. They have 2 children. They are afraid to just let their insurance go because someone could get a catastrophic illness and they would be bankrupt. 80% of bankruptcies in this country are due to medical expenses. Every 30 seconds someone goes bankrupt in America due to medical bills. Thanks to the republican congress 6 years ago you can now lose your home if you owe medical bills. So instead my friends pays $1200 a month and then pay the copays and medical bills that I pay (because cobra is just your regular insurance so you still have to pay for health care as much as you did before). Should good, hardworking people get stuck paying $1200 a month just to insure themselves so they can get care when they are sick?



What about the family that works hard but doesn't make more than minimum wage per hour. What about the family of four where both parents work, one may work 2 jobs, but still barely make the rent and food payments. Millions of Americans work hard (longer hours than most middle class folks work) but can't afford more than the basic needs. Health care is out of reach for these people. These are the people you see in the emergency room at 11 pm with their children. Right wingers like to paint them as the lazy losers in the population. The people "living off of the rich". Really, many of these people work harder, work more hours, and are more committed than those who have insurance. Then there are the people who have major medical problems and can no longer work and are forced to "live off of our tax dollars." Many of those illnesses are caused by their poverty and their lack of medical care either as a child or as an adult. This could have been prevented by providing health insurance or health care to all Americans. They would then be able to work and would not be forced to live off of the system. They are victims of our system yet are seen as lazy loafers who just want to live off of all the hardworking Americans in our country. Not all of the people who live off the system are hard workers. There are certainly people out there who take advantage. However, the majority of people in our country and in our world want better lives and are willing to work to get a better life. They don't want to be poor,they don't want to be sick and they don't want a hand out. Their circumstances have put them where they are. Our health care system is helping to keep them where they are. It is time to change that.

The oddest twist to this issue is the people who vote against democrats and don't want health care for everyone but who are actually voting against their own most important issues. For example, pro-lifers vote against democrats and therefore health care for everyone. Health care for everyone, however, would significantly reduce the number of abortions in this country. Ironic. If everyone had access to birth control there would be less unwanted pregnancies and less abortions. If women had access to free prenatal care, free hospital visits for the birth and free medical care for their children there would be fewer abortions. Many women have abortions because they know they won't be able to pay for the birth and the medical care of the child after the birth. A massive portion of family debt in this country is health care costs. Women who have other children may choose not to abort if they weren't so far in debt with their current health care bills.

The most misguided group of people in this country are the small business men. They consistently are talked into voting against themselves and are frequently irrationally angry about the democratic viewpoint. Maybe they are so angry because they realize subconsciously they are voting against their own best interests. It may just be the personality of small business owners (although I do know some very nice rational small business owners). It just seems I've had the worst experience with the republican small business owners who consistently vote against their own best interests. I mentioned the crazy loud guy at my daughter's gymnastics. (He is one of those guys who believes if you are loud then you must be right). He said that he owns a company that makes electrical systems for cars. He is the guy who wants to round up all the poor lazy folks without health insurance and make them go to one hospital. So I asked him how much he pays for health care. He pays $5000 a month for health insurance for himself and his top employees (I assume the other peons in the company don't get health insurance...they are replaceable right?) He doesn't want Obama to make health insurance available to everyone because that would be socialist. He doesn't want Obama to force insurance companies to accept people with pre-existing conditions because that would be socialist. I will address the socialist craziness in a moment. First, lets look at loud guy's bottom line. If health care were affordable to people who are self employed and available to people individually rather than through work this guy would save his business $5000 a month. His employees could find insurance on their own and his employees that currently don't have insurance would be healthier. Those same employees would have more money to possibly go buy something like a CAR that would ultimately help his business. As it is now this guy may not even have a business much longer because of what his party, that he so rabidly (and loudly) defends, did to the economy, and therefore the car sales in this country. This guy is totally voting against his own best interest but he is so worked up because Rush calls Obama's plan socialism that he hasn't stopped to read the plan or think about what socialism is. The funniest part of this story is that this guy suggested I read the socialist health care plan because I must not know what it says. It is obvious he hasn't read anything because the plan isn't anything like the plans of other countries that are more socialized. Obama's plan still goes through the insurance industry.

Socialism is an economic theory of government. It involves government owning all business and passing out the money from those businesses to the people so that everyone is equal. The equality part is what is throwing off the right wingers with the health care system. They are thinking that since all people will have equal access to being healthy then in must be a socialist plot. (actually, the leaders of the party such as Rush know this isn't true but if they say "socialism" to their sheeple followers then their followers will believe and repeat). Equal access to being healthy appears to puzzle people who thrive on the idea that they are the haves and they need to keep the have nots sick and poor. Ironically these are also the people who claim to be the most christian. Apparently they believe that Jesus would have liked the idea that the rich folk get medical care and the poor folk live under a bridge so they can afford their heart medication. I digress. The system of health care in most countries might be considered socialized in that everyone has access to it and the government pays for it (although they pay for it through taxes not by selling goods). However, it involves the health and lives of the citizens not their economic status so these countries are not socialist countries. They are capitalists with health care for everyone. Obama isn't even proposing this type of plan. If loud conservative dude had actually read the plan he would know that Obama's plan continues to work through the insurance companies. He is proposing regulating the system so that everyone can afford to buy health care from an insurance company if they want it. It would not even be required. If you have health care nothing would change for you! If you lost your insurance at work or lost your job or work for a business that doesn't provide insurance you would now be able to purchase health insurance from a company. You would not be able to be excluded just because you are sick. This is not a socialist system at all. The only socialist type event that has occurred recently is when George W. Bush decided to start buying banks. Again I digress.

The most important part of this entire issue is the way the christian right has lobbied against health care for everyone. As mentioned above, I have difficulty believing that Jesus would have been against access to medical care for everyone. I really have a problem with Christians who claim that republicans are the more christian party and overlook this issue completely. I believe that Jesus wants Christians to fight for the poor. I believe he wants us to fight for the sick. I believe Jesus wants us to fight for equality for everyone when it comes to health care. More babies die in this country per capita than in 39 other countries. That is because people may care a lot about fetuses but those same people vote against providing the mothers who choose not to abort with prenatal care! How can people vote for someone because they believe women should CHOOSE life but then vote against providing prenatal care, vaccinations, and health care for those same babies after they are born? How can people claim to be "for the troops" and then vote against increasing money to care for their health when they return? How can people brag about their superior christian beliefs but then vote against providing health care for every person in our country regardless of their economic status? People die from curable illnesses because they can't afford to see a doctor (or can't find one to see them) and that is OK with some Christians as long as they don't have to wait longer for care themselves. How can Christians say that poor people deserve to be sick because they are too lazy to get good paying jobs? It is time to make health care a christian issue in America. It is time for Christians to stand up and say that every person deserves the same chance to live healthy. Jesus walked among the lepers and made them healthy. Jesus knew that lepers are people. Lepers are not sick through any fault of their own and God loves them. God still loves the poor and we, as Christians, should follow his lead.