Health Care Reform

As the debate rages on about health care reform (which really seems more like insurance reform at this point), I wonder what is taking so long. We have needed this for decades.

Thirty years ago, when I was just starting out in the working world, I had to find a job with insurance benefits because no starting jobs paid enough to cover out-of-pocket health care costs, much less individual health insurance. Not long after that, the Reagan recession hit, and there were hiring and salary (and benefits) freezes, and it was considered insane to leave a job for one without benefits.

By the time the economy recovered, the cost of individual health care had risen to the point where many companies that had offered it were discontinuing the service, passing it on to remaining companies. And then we were saying that costs had to be brought under control, or pretty soon no one would be able to afford it.

So here we are. Health care costs have skyrocketed, health insurance companies control which doctors their insureds see and which procedures they will pay for while making huge profits, and we have a Congress that's wringing its hands, worried about their campaign financing.

The time to reform, including a public option, is now. Not down the road, not when it's politically expedient. There is NO EXCUSE for millions of people unable to get basic medical attention because they are unable to pay for it. There will always be naysayers, people afraid of changing the status quo. But we reach a point where the status quo becomes more dangerous than change. This is one of those points.

So stop yapping about this might happen and that might happen and oh we shouldn't do this and that. Find a way for everyone to have equal access to health care. End of story.

Go Away and Come Back When You Want to Help America

I have had it with the self-righteous indignation of the Republican minority over health care reform, and the weak whining of the Democrats in Congress.

I am fed up with hearing, "We don't want the government getting between the patient and the doctor, with a bureaucrat determining care, and telling you you can't see your family physician."

And that is different than right now how? Right now doctors look at insurance first before determining treatment. And even when they make their best decision, an insurance company will still deny payment of a claim because they don't think the doctor made the right decision. Which is exactly what the Republicans claim will happen if there is a public option for health coverage.

I have to find a doctor who is a "member" of my insurance company's plan in order to receive coverage; if I choose to see a doctor outside the system, or, God forbid, out of state, it is a crap shoot whether or not I will be reimbursed. More than one year we have paid out of pocket expenses for our children's care after a certain point a wellness check with mandatory booster shots has put us over the "limit" the insurance company set for the amount they will pay annually for a child's doctor visits. And we still are required to pay our co-pay. And we have what is considered a good health plan.

Congress is not concerned with the well being of the health care industry, they are concerned with the well being of the health insurance industry. It is ludicrous that we function within a payment system that measures its success on how much profit it makes. So it doesn't matter that 60 percent of bankruptcies are a result of health care bills; it matters that the CEOs and executives of health insurance companies continue to make millions of dollars a year. And where does that money come from? From the premiums paid by those people who filed for bankruptcy.

The Republicans sanctimoniously speak against a public health insurance option as being anti-free market. What a bunch of hypocrites! Their health insurance, which they have for life even after leaving the Congress, is public health insurance!

In light of this opposition to government health care, I have a proposal. Completely eliminate any government health care, and let the members of Congress use COBRA or purchase private health insurance. Let them get those denial letters for payment of a prostate exam, or be told which specialist to see or what kind of treatment they can receive for cancer. Let them make a choice between sending their children to college or providing them with health care. Then when they stand before their peers and speak out against a public health insurance option, they will not be hypocrites.

I am sick of this. The Democrats need to stop worrying about looking like bullies just because FOX News says they are. And the Republicans need to just go away until they are ready to face the fact that the American people elected a Democratic majority and the president they did because they wanted a change from the way things have been done for the past 25 years.

And through all of this, they have yet to present an alternate plan that will allow anyone in the country to get medical care without worrying about whether or not they can afford to pay the bills. And forget that tax credit; a tax credit doesn't help when you are facing a 100,000 hospital bill and you make $19,000 a year.

It is time to stop debating. We are hearing the same debate, the same arguments, we have heard since the beginning of the 20th century, especially for the last 20 years. We are long past due to provide basic health care to anyone in the country. We are America: when we do something right, we do it better than any other country. Congress needs to stop worrying about where they're going to get their campaign donations, and restore the dignity of the American people, by making sure everyone can get medical care without having to fight for it.