What's In It for Jim?

The insurance industry-planted extremists who have been trying to disrupt health care reform should talk to Jim from St. James, Missouri. Jim's not a paid activist. He's not a spin doctor. He's just a hard-working guy from middle America. And Jim is exactly the kind of person that health insurance reform will help.

Jim works full-time as a truck driver for St. James Ready-Mix in St. James, Missouri. He takes home about $400 a week after taxes, which is enough to get by on in rural, eastern Missouri, but not enough to pay for health care for his family. And in Jim's family, like families across the United States, the lack of affordable, quality health insurance is devastating.

Jim could get health insurance from his employer but the cost, recently lowered to $369 per month, is more than Jim's monthly rent. And he has two teenage kids, a cat and a dog, a long commute to work with the high cost of gas, not to mention food to put on the table, school supplies and clothes, etc. As a single parent, Jim says it's near impossible to make ends meet.

All of which would be hard enough. But Jim's daughter Tabitha has kidney disease. They already pay out of pocket for her medicine, which is expensive but, considering how much they would pay in prescription co-pays even if they had insurance, still less than if Tabitha were insured. Still, Jim and his daughter worry about what might happen if Tabitha got sick. Jim is a hard-working father forced to gamble with his family's well-being because our health insurance system puts big profits ahead of our health care needs.

Jim is like many of us sandwiched in the middle. He earns more than the average person in his town (the per capita income for St. James was $14,509 in 2000 -- after taxes). But even though Jim is by no means rich, he still earns too much to qualify for subsidized insurance programs like the State Children's Health Insurance Program. "I tried," Jim says.

Health insurance reform will help the millions of Americans without jobs or access to any health insurance options. But it will also help even more Americans like Jim, who are paying for insurance that's making them broke or have access to insurance but just can't afford it. Creating a competitive and regulated health insurance market, including a public health insurance option, will hold the insurance corporations accountable and drive down the cost of coverage for everyone while improving care, too.

Jim didn't vote for President Obama. But, he now says, "If he did something about health care reform... Well, I'd sure shake his hand." While partisan bickering divides Washington, average Americans like Jim are putting partisanship aside because they need help. "And if government can help, they should help," says Jim.

Jim is like so many Americans, who every morning they wake up, work hard to make our nation strong and prosperous. But every night, so many people like Jim go to sleep worrying about the risks and dangers the next day might hold. "This is a great country I live in," Jim told me. "I just hope I can make it better." Let's hope our great country can help make Jim's life better, too.

Find more stories like Jim's at the Health Care Reform for the Heartland website: www.statefairstories.org.

Follow Sally Kohn on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sallykohn

Comments

[creolechild]

If you are concerned about receiving "real" health care reform in this country, please take the time to watch a video on our current system. The video was created by Oregon physicians who are advocating for the single-payer option. The video is very informative and helped me to gain a better understanding of various aspect of health care, as we know now it.

https://www.madashelldoctorstour.com/Mad_as_Hell_Video.html

These Oregon physicians are in the process of organizing a caravan designed to inform the public about the benefits of the single-payer option. At last count they will be stopping in approximately 23 states, on their way to demonstrate in Washington. They need volunteers and our support. Please spread the word.

[sunnybunny]

I'm like Jim (except I make $400. before taxes- but thankfully, I don't have a sick person in my family), and I'm confused about the new healthcare bill. I too have found it cheaper to pay out of pocket than to pay the premiums (the ones I found are similar in price to what was mentioned in the article-like 350 a month more or less, not the outragious rates I've read about, but still, more than my house payment and not affordable by me) and then pay co-payments and for all the stuff not covered. My boss (who is a republican) tells me that with this new plan I would be forced to buy a policy at the rate they decide I should be able to afford and it won't be likely to cover anything I need.This concerns me because: A) It seems stupid to pay for a policy that doesn't cover my expenses - which is a big part of why I don't buy it now. and B) I have dealt with clinics before (like Planned Parenthood) who operate on what they call a "sliding scale" and it's always way more than I actually can afford to pay. Soemone please enlighten me here.

[dsram1535]

Continued from previous post...

The HR Bill will also eliminate individual insurance, which is the ONLY affordable option small business, self employed, and people like Jim have. This will leave them with only more expensive group coverage, you know, the kind that Jim can't afford! How will this help anyone Sally??? The Bill will offer 3 health options to choose from, we currently have 100's of plan options. The Bill has mandated coverage, which is a good idea, or at least it would be if the mandated coverage were better than any quality plan already offers, but the mandates are far less. Who will be helped by these actions???

These are just a FEW of the things this bill will do to us! Read the bill, learn the facts! Tell Jim to talk to a health insurance broker, who will find affordable options for him. Do it soon though, the bill will also eliminate brokers and replace them with a government "EXCHANGE"

[PUAAN]

Sorry to burst your idealistic bubble, but Jim will not find ANY insurance company to sell his family a policy on the individual market AT ANY PRICE because of his daughter's illness.

Not sure where you get your idea that there are "100's of plan options" or that group coverage is more expensive than individual coverage.

You also say "Adding a public option, at best, will do nothing but cost taxpayers for another government bureaucracy. At worst, if it can somehow do a better job then the established companies, and acutually cut costs, it will drive competition out of business. " First, I think you got your "at best" and "at worst" mixed up. At best, a good public option would do the job so well that the private for profit insurance companies WOULD go out of business.

In response to your question, "How will this improve HEALTH CARE???" I'd just ask you, how do the for profit insurance companies improve HEALTH CARE now?

[dsram1535]

Jim is like millions of hard working Americans who COULD be helped by healthcare reform, unfortunately, the so called healthcare reform Obama is pushing will harm more than it will help, IF it really helps anyone at all!

Sally Kohn should read the HR Bill AND get an understanding of it's realities! I am glad to see she did call it health INSURANCE reform, which has very little to do with HEALTHCARE reform, but her OPIONION that reform will drive down cost and improve care is far from reality. First of all, health insurance profits, unlike obscene profits like the oil industry, account for 3%, on average, of the cost of insurance, so even if the bill somehow reduced that profit margine, how much effect will that have? Health insurance is already highly competitive and one of the MOST regulated industries. Adding a public option, at best, will do nothing but cost taxpayers for another government bureaucracy. At worst, if it can somehow do a better job then the established companies, and acutually cut costs, it will drive competition out of business. How will this improve HEALTH CARE??? Also let's keep in mind what health insurance does, it pays for the the actual high cost of healthcare when we need it! We need to focus on the high cost of poor healthcare far more than the price of the insurance that pays for it!

This post is continued.­..

[BarryS]

It really all boils down to a simple fact: THey [congresspeople, business people, etc.] get theirs, and screw everyone else.