Been thinking a bit more about the health care issue and I wanted to add my comment here. Feel free to add yours as well.
I think it helps to talk in less generalized terms and more in personal experience.
I was one of the uninsured for multiple times during my life. One time was for about five years as I was going to college. I went to college early...I got to leave high school when I was only sixteen to enter a university. During the time it took me to get my undergrad degree and some of my first graduate degree I was totally uninsured. My mother...as I have mentioned...is severely mentally ill so she didn't work and had no health insurance to give me. At that time I was working two jobs...one was a minimum wage bakery job where I got up at four in the morning so I could get there by five to open the store. In between times I took my full load of classes and then worked another job at the university library....also for minimum wage. Of course it is a given that my two jobs did not grant me health insurance. During that time I just never went to the doctor. Good thing for me that I was never sick!
I wouldn't consider myself to be a slacker...I was just...out of luck. And so are many many other folks in this country.
Imagine if you lost your job right now. Or perhaps you are are in between jobs or contracts and in between times you or your loved one gets cancer, or diabetes, or multiple sclerosis. Insurance companies won't want to pick you up. It happens everyday.
We think of this anonymous "poor" person who is uninsured as the lazy bum...sitting around drinking beers...not responsible for themselves and wanting a hand out. Many of the poor are actually children, who through no fault of their own, have no health insurance. They are real people. And we...the land of wealth and opportunity...allows this to happen.
I am going to go out on a long limb here and talk about those taxes we pay. I can't even tell you what this war in Iraq is costing us in terms of lives and money. You are paying taxes...you always pay taxes...isn't it time you paid for something you actually want and believe in?
Just a thought....
Sometimes I think about if I had my MS back then....well...oh well.
Come sit a spell and shoot the breeze. Sweeten the day with a little synchronicity...
13 comments:
"We think of this anonymous "poor" person who is uninsured as the lazy bum...sitting around drinking beers...not responsible for themselves and wanting a hand out."
Actually, I personally don't think anything of the sort unless it is proven that that individual is in a mess of his own doing by acting in such a manner.
Yes, there are people who are without health insurance, some of them are children. There are also many people who do sit around, drinking and using drugs on the dole when they could be productive members of society.
But we all have issues that speak to us on a more immediate and personal level but I don't recall asking or expecting that tax dollars pay for it.
As usual, where does it stop?
How about lobbying drug companies to pay for nationaal health care for the needy?
Churches? Whom, in my opinion, should not be tax exempt?
How about corporations?
Uber-rich doctors?
Or, as I said below, all of us fairly and not just the middle class, as usual?
And I don't think that advancing an opinion that rejects national healthcare as something that is unnecessary or a further burden on an already tax-burdened populace is something that should result in a personal attack by any other commenters.
Just sayin' in advance here.
There are a lot of people working who don't have health insurance (the companies/small businesses can't afford it or won't offer it), so where the idea of slacking comes from is beyond me.
What I find interesting in this country is that for all the talk about encouraging entrepreneurship, the biggest killer of this is lack of health insurance (and private health insurance is not only cripplingly expensive,there are lots of ways for them to weasel out of paying).
Having lived with National Health Care in England, and then in the USA I prefer a middle ground. I have heard Canada has a good system (although no system is perfect and there always going to be a minority that abuses whatever system is in place). I just don't like the limits that come with the American Healthcare system.
And a very good thought, too. I'd love to be able to choose where my tax dollars went, and your case for health insurance is an excellent one.
Aw c'mon. Do you guys REALLY want the same gov't that is running the IRS, the Post Office and Social Security to be running your healthcare, too? Sigh. ** Please fill out form 1050IM-ILL before proceeding to the doctor of our choosing for your ailment. **
Mmmm...lobster...yummy. :>) i concede on that one...main lobster person...there would undobutedly be issues. good point.
I whole heartedly agree with you girl. It's absurd that we are draining our treasury playing with our expensive toys in that big sand box that is Iraq. And yet, we can't even keep our own people healthy.
Our priorities are so screwed up.
Interesting thoughts!
As the movie "Sicko" points out, many people who are "insured" in actuality have very poor coverage.
Health care should not be profit-driven.
Something people don't think about those who are trying to get the best but unable due to their own circumstances which is why we need to start thinking about this. :)
I have family who don't have any healthy insurance and I pray they don't get sick. They are trying to find a job with health benefits but they are having a terrible time.
My husband is thinking of retiring from the military in a few years. We have been Tricare Prime for years, which basically means that we use the base hospital first and if we need a specialist, we can do that, but you wouldn't believe how long it takes to get anything approved. Also, many doctors won't take Tricare because it pays so little and it takes so long to get any payment. I'm not sure what will happen when he becomes a retiree. You wouldn't believe how low on the list retiree's needs are.
I am so with you on the what if's regarding MS and being uninsured. In fact, I was not insured when optic neuritis caused my sight to go opaquely gray for 2 months in 2000.
My parents were/are both civilian employees and I was able to stay on their policy until age 24 while I was in college. So during my doctoral degree, I purchased 'student' health insurance. After completing coursework and moving to DC, I no longer qualified for the 'student' policy and was uninsured for about 2 years (and unmedicated for depression.)
After the optic neuritis which was deemed an isolated event following a viral infection without any signs of a demyelinating disease, I got off my butt and researched insurance options knowing that I needed the best I could get. Unbelievably I passed the underwriting process (I was straightforward about the previous depression and the optic neuritis) and chose an individual policy (which I still have.) I went into it knowing I needed really good coverage...just in case.
Well, 'just in case' became reality in 2005 with the MS dx and guess what? I have lousy prescription coverage. One aspect of the overall 'healthcare debate' that annoys me greatly is the vast difference in protections provided by group policies versus individual policies. That's wrong!!
Ok, off my soapbox for now. BTW, I worked two library jobs and played in two regional orchestras while working on my doctorate. I actually enjoyed the library, probably because I did not have to work circulation or shelving.
I'm with you too. We live in a country that can afford to take care of it's citizens, but does not want to.
I hope all is well with you, Merely. Thank you for your sweet comments at my blog. The funny thing is I write my poems for myself and my memories, I write with my friend Singleton, but my poems well from personal sources, to be truthful. Yep, I'm single. That's how I have so much time to write!
Talk to you when I get back from my weekend with my family.
Take care.
i'm with you on your thoughts, but the reality is: no matter who's 'in charge', the chances of that happening are more remote than my captaining the mars mission :(
Post a Comment