The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Alex

I have no problem with that. I do have a lot of problem with said leaders telling outright lies and fabrications in pursuit of it. And no, to say that the health care reform opposition is telling some amazing whoppers is not to say that everything they say is a lie. So pointing out some valid concerns is not an amelioration of the charge.

Nor is focus on the outrageous claims (both by those that mke them and those who focus on them) reason to ignore the real problems.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Visible.Alex.Mojo.

[Betty]

We've had health insurance through my husbands employer for 15 years. He's now on disability and since his office is less then what's required for the FMLA, they are under no obligation to continue his health coverage.

My office doesn't have at least 80% of employees willing to sign up. Large percentage of employees are low waged factory workers and just won't sign up. So, it's not available through my employer.

We now qualify for COBRA and with my husband not working and required to continue his medical coverage to remain on disability, we have no choice but to pay for COBRA coverage at about $600 per month or pay substantially more for doctor's visits (that are required for him to continue receiving benefits). We could also sign up for private health insurance.

Friends of mine, who work for the same place I do, pay for their own health insurance and pay, nearly $1000 a month for it.

So, we pay $600 a month - or will anyway.

That won't last forever.

Not having health insurance is not something I want but may be what we get because we just can't afford the $600 a month let alone the $1000. We'll be able to keep it up for a little while but for how long? And then what?

What the heck do I do if I have no health insurance and one of my kids get sick? And let's just hope that's it's not something serious that would require any sort of long term care or hospital stay. That scares me to death.

Why do I suddenly feel like some lower class citizen not deemed worthy enough for health care?

[scaeagles]

I don't know much about it, but have you considered some form of catastrophic health insurance? That could lead to some debt if something big happens, but I would gather that is the biggest concern.

Here is a web page I found rather quickly that might help point you to something that you could use.

[BarTopDancer]

I have a catastrophic policy that my parents are graciously paying for until I got a job/insurance kicked in.

It doesn't cover doctors visits, lab fees or anything that isn't remotely catastrophic. Which means preventative care isn't covered and OOP doctors visits + lab fees aren't cheap.

Sure if Betty's family can afford the $600 a month for COBRA then it seems that they could afford a cheaper catastrophic policy but whose to say they could afford the preventative care visits that would prevent a lot of the catastrophic issues?

Leo - put yourself in other people's shoes. Life circumstances now put you in a situation where neither your job nor your wife's job provides medical insurance. What are you going to do? Would you have laid out the tens of thousands of dollars for your daughters knee surgery?

Your life circumstances, that give you the perspective you have can change at any time. Sure, now you have a nice emergency fund but what would you do when that ran out? Start thinking outside your little world, because you never know when you may find yourself in a completely different one.

[scaeagles]

I have been there. I had NO medical insurance as a kid (my family was very lower middle class). My mom died of lupus and nothing about it was covered. She had a brain tumor at the start of the process in 1970, and my dad was still paying for the surgery while I was in highschool. It did, along with some poor decision making processes by my dad, end up in him declaring bankruptcy.

As a kid, we had one TV. One beat up car. Decent house we rented. I can only remember getting one birthday present my entire life as a kid. I had to have a job starting in HS to purchase anything I needed that wasn't food, including clothes. I had to pay for all college expenses that weren't covered by a scholarship I got.

You know what? I survived. I didn't have much of anything material. I have experienced death, not poverty, but a lack of meterial possessions, and most of that came from paying for my mom's health care.

So please, get off your pious high horse and quit making assumptions about me that I don't know what it's like.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

So please, get off your pious high horse and quit making assumptions about me that I don't know what it's like.

Well the tone of all your posts sure as heck implies that you don't have a clue.

And your rant didn't answer my question. What would you do now if you lost your insurance and couldn't afford COBRA.

[Strangler Lewis]

I think Scaeagles' experience illustrates why everyone needs to be covered. If his father could have put more money into his education or into the economy, I submit that would have been a better outcome than paying it to a doctor or, perhaps more aptly, paying interest to a bank. While I don't think that government can or should create a perfectly level playing field, I think we can try to eradicate differences based on things we have no control over such as race, gender and health.

[scaeagles]

Thanks for making assumptions about me, BTD. I guess since I don't sound like you in what I think I must not have any sort of clue at all!

I would do EXACTLY what I had to do. I would sell what I could to afford it. I could sell my home, be rid of my mortgage, and rent an apartment a small apartment if necessary. Cancel my cell phones. Cancel cable and internet. How many people (and i really don't know) who don't have insurance have those things but are complaining that they can't afford insurance? It's an issue of priorities.

Should I have to, I would take on debt, much like my dad did. I would ask relatives to assist. Anything I needed to do.

Would I have paid for the knee surgery my daughter needed? Absolutely. I had to pay for a pretty high percentage of it the way my insurance is set up anyway (mine is not catastrophic but is set up in more that way with higher copays but a lower out of pocket maximum, etc).

All of this being said...would I want to have to do any of that? No. I do consider myself fortunate to have a job and insurance.

Hopefully that has answered your question. Sorry my "rant" about you presumptions of me didn't quite cut it the first time. "Oh, he's against that? He must not have any idea what it's like to be on the other side!". Sheesh.

To be against this plan does not mean I am against any sort of reform. It means I am against this plan.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

I would ask relatives to assist.

Which means that you don't see it as an absolute moral imperative for each individual or each family to soldier on alone. I know you would see nothing wrong with neighbors or church groups rallying to assist the only people on the block whose house burned down in a wildfire. It's a way of spreading the burden, much as insurance companies spread the risk. To my mind whether that burden is spread on the small scale among neighbors or on the large scale as an act of government makes little difference as to the rightness of the enterprise.