Healthcare Debate

As a person who is currently jobless along with millions of other people I am hoping that President Obama can pass the Healthcare Reform Act, but it seems at this point that the country does not know what is in its best interest, as usual. It seems to me that people scream socialism every time they don't like the issue of taxes being raised but do most Americans realize how socialist this country is? Take a look at all of the services that are paid for by the government in some way or another - the list is endless; police, firefighters, paramedics, utilities, education, libraries, musuems, roads, highways, mail service, public education, transportation, housing, regulators and on and on and on...... So why do people throw a fit when the government says it is looking at helping with healthcare and more importantly who is throwing the fits in the first place?



Whether people want to admit it or not the truth is that our healthcare system is broken and right now this country provides healthcare based on three conditions; money, job or no pre-existing conditions - if you meet these standards you are ok, if you don't you may die.



1. Money - you need to have it if you don't have a job, I know of very few people who can afford insurance out of pocket and Cobra can cost as much as $600.00 a month because you are paying not only your share but your previous employers as well. Who can come up with $600.00 a month when you just got canned from your job, how the hell are you going to pay your rent and/or mortgage, buy groceries for you and your family, and pay for this very costly insurance on an unemployment check, which is what most of us are getting when we get laid off. Take into consideration the massive amount of credit card debt that most people have, mix in some illnesses and you have.....Bankruptcy!!!!



2. Job Insurance being tied to a job is a very risky proposal, yes it's wonderful to have but what happens when you are laid off or if your pay/hours get cut?



If your pay gets cut (as it has for millions of Americans in this economy), are you going to be able to continue to afford that $2,500 - $5,000 a year deductible plus the high cost of medicines without having to sacrifice something important like food and/or shelter?



What about an employee's hours being cut - many companies use parttime employment as a way to get out of insuring a huge portion of their employees, Walmart being a prime example, was finally forced to insure all of their employees after many years of passing their healthcare costs to local city and county hospitals/clinics.

3. Pre-existing conditions; This one's a real bitch and a nightmare for many of us because it says that you can't even purchase private insurance unless you have the approval of some mega HMO who looks for reasons to disqualify you. I had this problem with Kaiser Permanente years ago when I lost my job and had some breathing problems that caused me to be in and out of emergency rooms for about a month, I tried to purchase insurance on my own but they rejected me, and what's even more wonderful is that they were not required to tell me why they rejected me, they just did. I was left leaving the emergency room with sort of a cure and hoping that whatever I had never came back, I was lucky it never did, at one point they thought I had Lupus.

The healthcare companies have decided that they will cherry pick who they wish to provide services to and people will be told to eat right, exercise and don't smoke and everything will be alright. You can't diet your way out of cancer!!!! So as a healthcare company, what you are telling me is that as long as the worst thing I get is a case of the flu or some broken bones you will treat me but anything more substantial than that you'll deny my coverage or force me to pay so much out-of-pocket it will be like not having coverage at all. So to healthcare companies - what is it that you are good for?