What a hot button issue.
President Obama and his family are in town today. I am not the type to camp out in order to acquire tickets so I will watch the Town Hall Meeting from the comfort of my home. I’ll get a better view and better sound.
What is up with Health Care? Seems like every administration at least since Clinton has used the topic in campaigns. I was out and about promoting Hillary Clinton’s ideas and was told flat out by a small business owner that they simply did not want to provide insurance for their employees.
I know people with disabilities, PWDs, who resist going back to work because they will loose the State and Federal Insurance that come with their disability payments. I have also known PWDs who do not get married because a combined income would effect their coverage. PWDs have not been very vocal about the current Health Care issues.
I remember listening to the insurance agent who dropped by my parent’s home once a year to renew their insurance policy. Every year, my dad would nod at me and every year the agent would shake his head and say, “One more year.”
The second President Bush took care that our prescription costs would be covered. Here is what happened to me in as few words as possible.
Like Medicare, if I didn’t opt into the Prescription Plan, there would be a percentage fee to pay when I finally did use the option. I have prescriptions, so, I got into the plan. I even got a medigap type thing. Every month I pay somewhere around two hundred bucks, over 25 % of my SSDI and it takes a half a year to meet my deductibles. This is for health care and prescriptions. Then there are co-pays and those never go away. My teeth hurt and until I pay off the visit I had that wasn’t covered about three years ago, I don’t dare go back.
So, what do I think about the Health Care Plans? I want change. I want better care. I want a lot of things. What I don’t want is to pay like crazy and not be able to use what I pay for because the monthly policy payments leave me unable to meet a deductible or a copay.
Will the new plan change anything for me? I seriously doubt it.
However, my PWD counterparts should be able to go back to work without fear of becoming uninsured. They should also be able to marry without risking their plans.
Really, this is a case of the people who ‘have’ not wanting to give an inch to the ‘have nots.’ It has always been that way, health care, minimum wage, housing, and the list goes on.
Feel free to comment, keep it nice and I’ll be posting again soon.
Comments
7 responses to “President Obama is coming to Bozeman, Today”
Change has come to mean as much as honor in the current administration, apologizing to the world at large for the United States. The Democratic Majority rushed through unmanaged bailouts for the banks so they (with our tax money) could buy naming rights for ballparks (the new Yankee Stadium – CapitalBank), funded ACORN to provide two years guaraneed home ‘ownership’ to their constituents (about the time it takes for unpaid property taxes to force county sheriff’s sale eviction). Now they want to ram unmanaged assessments on small businesses and taxpayers (yes, middle class tax increase cited) to add another layer of beaurocracy to medical care (payment for need assessment instead of treatment).
I propose Congress prove the plan will work by showing us. All members of Congress, their families, staff, bodyguards, servants, and the Executive branch (including secret service) be mandated the ‘new’ health care plan, After the required 5% paycut to fund it (the minimum most of us still working have had to accept). The next time a senior member has a health issue, he/she will accept the mandatory need assessment prior to treatment? Or will Michelle Obama take her daughter to three physicians to obtain independent assessment prior to treatment for an allergy attack? The 5% is really minimal, since we pay their living expenses, it won’t even eliminate their ‘fact-finding’ junkets to Barbados – but they can’t get treatment for Montezuma’s revenge without prior permission from the mandatory health care plan.
Redistributing income produced by working folk to the indigents in Congress and fourth-generation welfare recipients and ‘uninvited guests’ (fkn illegal aliens) simply buys voters for the self-proclaimed elite and leaves the rest of us with ‘chump change.’ Read the bill, not the hype, this isn’t American Idol, vote once with thought for your right to live as you earn, your life.
Just a reminder, keep commenting, but remember all of the people reading and posting are real and human. In other words … And thank-you, everyone of you for sharing and caring about this issue. Sally
I am sorry Ms. Lane but I don’t believe you understand the concept of socialized. For one, just for the record, our old adversary in the Cold War was the USSR, the Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics. The USSR never claimed to be Communist, they claimed to be socialist. Your other characterizations of socialist institutions are also miscategorized. Public does not mean socialist. The idea of police and public schools predate the notions of socialism by (at least) several hundred years. As to your founding father’s statement…well, I will let that one go.
No argument, including yours, is ever effective by telling those that disagree with you to “SHUT THE HELL UP.” The majority of Americans like the current system and the plan before congress has seen a dramatic slip in popularity to about 1/3rd of the voting public (Rasmussen polling data over the last week) while nearly 60% oppose the plan. Congressmen are not particularly strong and numbers like that will take their toll.
I think the majority of Americans want change (again, Rasmussen polling data) but not the current proposal. Effectively, not passing the plan before the break means it will not pass at all. My suggestion, for what its worth, is for Congress to go back and craft a plan that has significant Republican support. Until that happens, no changes will occur. The Democrats tried the SHUT THE HELL UP approach and it will fail.
I agree with all of you – and I’m one of those lucky enough to have decent health insurance coverage (though it doesn’t cover treatment for MY medical condition). I grew up in the military world, and in Europe. I’ve seen the good and bad in socialized medicine… Are there problems? Sure. But there are MAJOR problems with our health care in this country, as it stands now. I pay hundreds of dollars on top of what my employer kicks in for health insurance, every year, in order to just have coverage at all, given my medical conditions and history. I pay out hundreds of $$ a year on medications just necessary to help me manage the pain and side conditions of my illness. And I get damned sick and tired of people who are blessed to be totally healthy and wealthy telling me that health care shouldn’t ever be regulated by the govt because it’ll hurt small businesses… I say, screw it. If you can’t afford to make sure your employees are able to be healthy and happy working for you, maybe you shouldn’t go into business in the first place… Crass, yes, but all too true.
Anyway, just my two cents on the issue…
Thanks for the comments. You both say it so well. The Town Hall meeting is over. My husband asked what my question would be and I told him, I really don’t have a question except to ask where all of the PWDs are. Doctors, what do they think about Health Care? Where have all the people gone?
Really, good job on the comments. I hope to see more.
B*B
Sally Life is a Story!
Write your congressmen weekly, daily , hourly . . . whatever it takes. It’s important that they know how you feel about the issue ( for or against).
I’ve been writing weekly. I see medicaid fraud everyday in the ED where I work. There are so many patients on Medicaid who admit to expensive vacations. They drive up in Hummers and hi end SUVS . I’m not against helping the poor and disabled, but this is not poor in my world. The government needs to clean up billions of dollars in fraud and abuse before passing another bill and increasing the burden on taxpayers Keep health care patient centered and not controlled by government.
I’m right there with you: I WANT CHANGE. I want to be able to afford my health care. I don’t want to be in debt just to get the medications I need. Those who are opposed to health care reform either have never had a serious illness or injury affect their lives (i.e. given that sick choice between paying for medical bills/medications/treatment or buying groceries for the month) or they’re just too financially well off to care (and in that case, shame on them!)…
People freak out over the mention of anything “socialized.” SOCIALIZED, people–not Communistic–there’s a difference! How long ago did the Cold War end, and we STILL freak out over the word “socialized”? People have no problem with:
SOCIALIZED SCHOOLS (can we say “public school”?–it’s a RIGHT, right?)
SOCIALIZED POLICE (unless you want to pay extra for private security)
SOCIALIZED MILITARY (even though our founding fathers expressed that they did NOT intend for us to have a standing military….)
SOCIALIZED MEDICINE CURRENTLY IN PLACE FOR THE MILITARY, GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, THE POOR AND THE DISABLED (which many people NOW have to subsidize out-of-pocket).
I think health care should be a RIGHT–and that means I believe it should be provided to EVERYONE, by our government. People can use the example of Canadian health care all they want (I have relatives in Canada, and that are very happy with their socialized medicine), with horror stories of waiting three months to see a specialist (try getting one any quicker in Vegas) … but unless those same naysayers are currently going into debt just to keep their health above water, THOSE PEOPLE CAN SHUT THE HELL UP.