If you are one of the almost 50 million American citizens who are uninsured you need to read the linked article…
No Power in Numbers For the Uninsured
Here are just a couple of quotes that caught my attention:
“If the uninsured were a political
lobbying group, they'd have more
members than AARP. The National Mall
couldn't hold them if they decided to
march on Washington.”
More important is the following because it
illustrates a key factor in why politicians don’t
fight tooth and nail for the Uninsured!
“The uninsured "do not provide political
benefit for the aid you give them," said
Robert Blendon, a professor of health
policy and political analysis at the
Harvard School of Public Health. "That's
one of the dilemmas in getting all this
money. If I'm in Congress, and I help
out farmers, they'll help me out
politically. But if I help out the
uninsured, they are not likely to help
members of Congress get re-elected."
This is why it is so important for those of you
here who are without Health Insurance need
to write or e-mail your Member of Congress
and your Senate representative. Go to sites
like Change.org and let your voices be heard
LOUDLY!
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 41
My message to those who fight against me and others like me and do not want us to have health coverage is F*CK YOU.
If knowing that a medical crisis could wipe out your life savings and take your house from under you is good enough for me, then it's good enough for you too. If not being able to live without pain is good enough for me, then it's good enough for you too. If not being able to realize my full potential because of health issues is good enough for me, then it's good enough for you too.
The uninsured have jobs. The uninsured vote. The uninsured know better how to take care of themselves because they don't have the "luxury" of getting sick.
I am fortunate. I don't have any major health problems. In the years to come, I know some of my teeth are going to fall out because I can't afford the root canals and crowns they need now. I know I have to save up for eyeglasses and hope that the macular degeneration does not rob me of my eyesight, leaving me unable to work. I know that I cannot take risks with my diet or engage in activities that could lead to serious injury.
If you knew that a major health crisis, say a heart attack, which is very treatable, would clean out your savings and leave you without a home, what would you do? After seeing the cost of Wil's heart attack (luckily he is insured), I know if I have chest pains, I should just go off to the woods and die.
They do have some free clinics ... you have to be in line for at least an hour before they open, and you have to be one of the first 25 people, or you won't be seen. It can easily take 4-6 hours to be seen. If you go to the emergency room, it could take 24 hours to be seen.
There's something wrong here.
Also, if you risk your life fighting for your country, and you come home with a problem, tough. The VA has a policy of always turning down any claim the first time. How many veterans give up at that point? I know an ex-Marine who is in serious need of mental health care. Does it make any sense at all to teach these guys how to kill, bend their minds by exposing them to war, then let them loose -- with no help or support -- into the general population? Are we NUTS?
Our soldiers, our firemen, our police ... should have the best FREE health care we can offer.
Please join and post this to ! Healthcare forEVERYBODY ! And Check out the posts there.
Marilyn
Done and Done!
I'm sick to death of this Marie Antoinette attitude of "I have mine, let everyone else eat sh*t"
Most people are fortunate enough not to know how close they are to losing everything because of medical costs.
OH wait, you were talking about "free" health care. The kind somebody else should have to pay.......my bad.
Where do liberals come up with asinine comments like this?
Jeff pull your head out of you ass...
Most uninsured end up paying one way or another.
Even in countries with Universal Health Care people pay for it through their income taxes among other things. In Canada the revenue to pay for health insurance comes partially through income taxes and partially through the so-called "Sin Taxes" on Alcohol and Tobacco.
It's not free--you pay for it. Everyone who has an income pays, and everyone benefits. Here we manage to actually pay more and yet fail to cover everyone.
Kathleen perhaps you need to pull your head out of your ass. Uninsured America won't unite behind a plan to change our health care system to a model like Canada's. Nobody runs to Canada for their "superior" health care. People come to America for ours.
The issue in America regarding health care isn't quality, like it is in countries that have nationalized medicine. It's cost. Reform to lower costs is needed in America. Too much of the costs come from insurance mandates and tort laws and liability pertaining to doctors and hospital. There is no way in hell that America will bastardize the quality of health care to a terrible system like Canada's or the U.K.'s.
We all have seen how well government runs education. The last thing we need is for them to run health care.
Considering that when I worked in Canada at an Internationally renowned transplant Center where a good 20% of our patients came to us from Europe and some of the wealthier nations in the Middle East, not to mention the occasional American your above comment is just another example of your lack of real knowledge in this topic, Jeff.
Do some real research, Jeff instead of regurgitating the crap you hear from the talking heads on Faux news or whatever the equivalent is that you read or listen to.
In this country I take care of patients who have coverage ranging from none to "full" coverage from such Medicare replacements as Secure Horizons, Humana etc. so far the BEST basic coverage is that received from either Medicare and Medicaid, Tri-care (which is the Military version of Medicare) and the VA. When you add a good medicare supplement that covers Medications it is almost as good as what my parents have in Canada.
Their skills I wouldnt doubt but their scruples I do.
Why work for government pay in places like England and Canada when you can come to the US and work for big bucks.
However it is getting to the point that insurance companies cant afford the specialists and are shipping their patients overseas for many major operations.
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
The occasional American LOL. Yeah, we get people from Europe and the Middle east too. And much more than the occasional Canadian. Do your research. And if you want America's insurance policies to change, you have plenty of proof why it needs it. Just try not to point to failed second rate country's systems as a solution. THAT'S why the uninsured don't unite.
Jeff, I personally know a few people who go to Canada for their healthcare. If I know a few, that must mean there are a lot because I live in a very rural area with a small population.
Kathleen! This is a good wake-up call. We all do need to contact our congressmen, and anyone else we can think of that will work for the change. It's crazy to have folks who can't get healthcare.
The Scandinavian countries, France, and many more, are examples of how to do single payer right. Why do conservatives all point to the very countries where conservative governments in the past few decades have consciously tried to undermine the health care system, such as Canada, and Britain, to justify their arguments against it? Because that's what those conservative efforts were meant to do. Where the ugly head of conservatism has not had effect, the system of single payer is cheaper, and more efficient, than what we have here.
Thanks for you comment on my short story. I appreciate it.
I am guessing that if they were to offer universal or "Free" Health care here it would most likely require you to sign up initially if you were unable to purchase a private policy from a regular insurance company. I don't know for sure because they really haven't discussed the logistics yet. I suspect that using people's Social Security number as their ID would work best as that is how Medicare works.
The US already has a basic Government run Health Insurance policy in the Medicare program. It would make the most sense to extend that coverage to all legal U.S. residents. Probably initially it would be offered to those who have no insurance or who can't afford Private Insurance Premiums.
Those developed countries that have Universal Health Care pay for it through a combination of income tax and "sin" taxes on alcohol and tobacco.
My wife's meds and I'm told this is cheap, cost about $300.00 per month. Is that all she needs? No, but that's all we can do and that's counting every penny. She did have one ER visit, over two years ago, and believe me, none of you are paying for it - when the bill came in, she immediately set up payment arrangements with the hospital and is still paying on it, and we're hopefully going to get it paid off this year. This woman worked for most of her life, prior to becoming disabled, and had five different specialists going to bat for her - with five different debilitating disabilities. She lost. She's more disabled than I am and that's saying a lot.
Being that I'm on SSDI, she cannot take advantage of any free programs, if there were any to take advantage of - she's on something called a Spend-down, from my SSDI, which between the two of ours, is about what we make in a year. Even the IRS rejected our income tax return (that we saved to pay for as we wanted to be counted as at least, people!), because we didn't make enough money to file one!
The spend-down is redone every six months, so it restarts again, in six months. With the same high amounts that it had in the first place. She AVOIDS Doctors, and is sick a lot.
I'm not surprised. My mother was turned down after having been given six months to live from an inoperable cancerous brain tumor. She passed away during that time.
And we've already contacted our Congressmen, our Senators, and the President. Nothing. Of course, we had Dodd and Lieberman, but I doubt if we had anyone else, they could actually do anything about this - most of the time, if you look around you, NOBODY wants to be disabled - they'd much rather be healthy.
Thanks for a great article,
Mark
Mark (sorry to take up so much room on your article, but you're so right... so very right)
I don't think that the Judges in other states are that crazy about having to hear another state's cases on top of their own, as it's a lot for them, but what else to do if your case is transferred. Afterwards, my attorney told me that this Judge had never approved any Connecticut case, including any of hers.
The harder part of the equation about now, is if one owns a home, and we were lucky in that we undersold ours (twice), back several years ago. I doubt that one could do that these days, what with the property values sinking below what one owes on a mortgage. That's even sadder. Someone would also have to for once, take the homeless into account as they too, have nothing, no health insurance for sure. They generally don't have a way to even get to a Dr. or hospital when they need one.
And yes, I vote and have called, written to, my state reps and also emailed www.change.gov, and have gotten standard letters from the reps, having nothing to do with healthcare, and nothing from change. Guess things aren't changing?
Marilyn
Let's fight The good fight!