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Thursday, March 18. 2010
Keeping It Real
Health Care — that’s a topic near and dear to my family right about now and it’s about to get passed through Congress and signed by the president. After 50 years of failure, the Democrats are finally getting the job done. It ain’t pretty, but, as big proponents of the plan say, it’s a start.Lately my sister and I have had serious health issues. In fact, mine have kept me from work for two days. Elaine, a little more serious than that. She and I are lucky in that we are covered by health plans. Me, with the Veterans Administration, she with an insurance company.
There are some 50 million Americans without health care and at least three of my siblings are part of that group. Two are dealing with diabetes and the other, she has health issues galore herself. I was just talking with one sister, talking about diabetes and I was frightened because my glucose levels were 132 the morning after a lunch that was over the top in fat and calories. My sister almost laughed because hers had been over 200! She needs health care and is still almost 18 months away from getting Social Security and Medicare. I hope she survives until then.
The people who think our present system is just fine — Republicans — have no idea what so many Americans go through everyday because of health care costs. People die from curable or treatable diseases because they can’t get medical help. Families go broke and fall into poverty because the cost of medical care bankrupts so many people. The number one reason for home foreclosures, it isn’t the financial malfeasance of the banks that caused the bank failures of 2008, it’s health care costs.
Right now health care takes up over 16% of our Gross Domestic Product — 1/6 of our economy — and that number continues to grow. Premiums for health insurance have risen over 130% in the past ten years. In other words, if you were paying $2,000 a year for your health insurance in 2000, you are now paying over $5,000 a year for that same coverage, or actually, maybe less coverage.
The last time I had private insurance, in 2005, as a single person I was paying roughly $120.00 a month, almost $1,500.00 a year. If I still had that same insurance — which denied services after my second heart attack — that yearly expense would be about $2,300 per year.
That doesn’t even include co-pays for medications, procedures and office visits. YIKES!
Glad I’m a veteran.
At that rate, a family could expect to pay over $7,600.00 a year for health insurance 10 years from now. If a family could get health insurance for that amount. A family of four pays far more than $2,000.00 per month for health insurance premiums and I wouldn’t even venture a guess as to how much they pay in out of pocket expenses.
Then when you add in the cost for dental insurance — sheesh, no one has even mentioned dental care in this debate — dental insurance and the over all cost of dental care, the cost of maintaining our health in the United States is outrageous.
Who can afford it? Well, health insurance company executives. The top people in the health insurance industry make that much every minute. Then of course, they probably get free health care as one of their corporate perks.
But don’t worry, the Congressional Budget Office assures us we will be bankrupt as a nation well before that happens and the cost of health care will be the reason. Health care in its present form. The weight of our capitalist greed will be our own undoing when it comes to health care and that will eventually push us into a single payer, socialized health system.
Not a very good one because the present system will be so decimated it will be nearly third world in it’s abilities and capacities.
Just imagine, if “we” took away those thousands of dollars in health care costs and replaced it with taxes — that were just a third of that cost — to pay for a national health care system, how much of a savings would that be for America’s citizens?
But, what’s so fascinating and appealing about our current health care system to so many people who oppose single payer and even the public option: we get to choose who fucks us in the end! The Republicans and their followers don’t want to loose that ability to choose who will jack up our premiums 13% every year, deny us services and procedures based on vague rules or dump us all together if they find we cost just to damn much to cover.
Did you see the video of the anti-reform people verbally abusing the man with Parkinson’s Disease? That’s the face of the anti-reform movement: hostile, violent and selfish. That’s reality.
Yeah, the freedom of choice; ain’t it grand, Ma?Health insurance will pass on Saturday. Ohio liberal of all Liberals Dennis Kucinich on Wednesday said he will vote for the current bill, even though it doesn’t measure up to most of his standards. But as he said, something right now is better than nothing.
I’m betting there will be a few Republicans who vote for it as well. Pleasing their constituents will be more important than sticking with the party line. Roughly half of all Americans polled support health care reform, and half oppose it.
We deserve better than what we now have — which is 50 million uninsured and some of the worst health statistics in the industrialized world. Let’s hope it is just a start.
You know what’s really ironic, all the information and stats I got are from the Kaiser Family Foundation, named in honor of Henry J. Kaiser, one of the founders of Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care and health insurance providers in the nation and a not so vocal opponent of the health care legislation about to get voted on in Congress. Kudos to them for keeping it real.
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