Sunday, August 09, 2009

Health Care's Perfect Storm Brewing

TwitThis



Frank Rich wrote about President Obama, and the battle
over health care here.

The most insightful comments that I saw was this one:

Diana
New York
August 9th, 2009
8:50 am
There’s a perfect storm brewing: a government that (but for a few ethical souls) only advances the interests of the monied class; a monied class that owns the media; and a media that exploits and advances the fears of millions--millions who are angry and growing desperate over an economy that is short on jobs and big on rewarding the monied class.

Where’s the way out? I've always taken pride in being a conscientious, informed citizen, but the last few months have forced me to finally face the fact that our government is beyond repair, beyond redemption. If I had money and a job to go to, I would leave.
This commenter was interesting, in that it became clear to
me how some of us are beginning to analyze what was promised
and what has occurred.

The surefire way to ensure that you have learned
something, is to try and teach it to someone.

Where is the website showing, in a ten point plan, what the
healthcare
plan is and is not?

We can not list or teach, what we do not know.

The following comment resonated with me because of
the honesty but also the willingness to still expect politicians
to solve our problems, when it has been made clear that
there is no apparent incentive to do so.
Anya
NC
August 9th, 2009
8:50 am
Until there is universal health care, everyone is set up for failure. If you get sick or even just become one of the millions of people in a car accident, you can lose your finances. Assuming you have good insurance, they can decide to ditch you after they say they won't pay for an illness.

Say your neighbor has melanoma. Well this neighbor's insurance will only cover $10k of the cost of treatment, but that treatment can be five to ten times the maximum the insurance company will pay. The hospital wants their money, so you are on the hook for it. What are you going to do? Refuse treatment? But the doctors want to save your life! The insurance company wants to destroy it.

No matter what Suzie Orman says, you can't prepare yourself for $100,000 in medical bills. The median income for a family of four is around $40000 per year! We expect people to have three years gross salary saved in case they get sick?

That also assumes that once you get so sick, you'll be able to continue working. Now if you're on chemo, it's a lot harder to sit at a desk and answer the phone. It's even harder if you have a job in a service sector where it is vital that employees stay whole and healthy. You can't get hours if you're too sick to stand for eight hours a day. If you can't get hours, then you'll have no income. If you have no income, how are you supposed to pay for medical care in addition to the expenses we all have like rent/mortgage, car payment, utilities for the home, and food?

We, the members of the middle class (or what's left of it), have all been set up. I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it. However, he or she would face such opposition from much mightier forces than voters that they'd probably never make it to an office of any consequence. It's why change is easy to promise: we all want a change. It's probably going to be impossible to deliver a true change. I voted for Obama because I didn't want to see someone like John McCain who put women's health in air quotation marks running the country and making decisions that would affect my life.

I'm in my 20s and I don't have health insurance. I may get some when I go to grad school in a few weeks. I may even be able to get my teeth cleaned after two years of not seeing a dentist. Why have we been abandoned in the last 40 years by our government, and why did people buy Reagan's nonsense that the government was the problem? My generation is going to be paying for all of it. We're going to have to work longer, harder, and for less. What we've sacrificed is our standard of living to lobbyists.

It's enough to make me want to move to another country, and I'm lucky enough to speak Spanish. I have my pick of about 25 places to go! I could probably get my teeth cleaned in Cuba for free!
I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it.
I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it.
I wish there were a politician out there who would admit it and fix it.

Our coming new way of life will demand that we understand
that it will be our responsibility to solve our own problems.

Thoughts?

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