Universal Health Care and the New America -- Where is my Year End Bonus for Just Surviving

As I begin this entry, I am perplexed and overwhelmed. How did things get so very out of hand and, yet, at times, seem so very uncorrectable? How did our leaders go so very, very far astray, as if they had the government on some kind of autopilot button? We are left with this country in shambles, and yet the culprits get to run away, albeit legally and, sometimes, with our blessings, holding all of our loot.

More than ten percent of the population admits to not having health insurance. An even greater percentage of it is clearly under-insured, meaning their health insurance will not provide them with enough coverage to get through most of life's problems. I am one of those people. This current economic downturn means only one thing for me - less of a chance to provide the care I need to keep my health in shape to move forward with my life.

The end of this year is rapidly approaching and I have yet to meet my deductible, and it's not for lack of trying. My insurance company spends more money employing people to think of ways to reduce my access to my coverage rather than actually paying for my health car services. I have a dental appointment I am scared to make - not for the usual reasons - but because I know its going to cost me $150 (at least) and I don't have the money to pay for it right now. Another doctor, my GI specialist had to be cancelled last minute because I had a last minute work crisis - thank God they said they would cover the cancellation fee - but I still have to deal with that appointment. That's the part that scares me. Not only is this doctor strictly out of pocket, but also she is watching a looming co-infection with HIV that could potentially kill me. Honestly, I just don't have the cash to handle it right now and know that could be a big mistake.

More good news - the Screen Actors Guild is about to authorize a strike, which would cripple Los Angeles potentially in March of 2009. Simply put, Schenectady here I come. If the strike were to happen I would have no other choice but to move back with my parents, at age 45, because the combination of health issues and the havoc the strike will create on my bank account, is one I cannot even begin to tackle.

Yet, why is there no one fighting for me, and others like me? There is no union of uninsured or the under-insured, or for just your average American who knows that, in spite of their current health insurance, that a trip to the doctor still isn't an affordable thing to do, or that the medication they should be on they cant even begin to pay for, so they do without. I know that one first hand - next year I will be stopping one of my side effect medications. Because of one of my past drug regiments, I have a side effect called Neuropathy, which is a pain, burning, stabbing sensation in my hands and feet. Extreme hot and cold temperatures usually bring it on, but honestly it usually takes me by surprise. The drug that helps reduce that pain, Lyrica, is a $95 co-payment each month, and next month I will have to stop taking it. I will have to learn how to deal with the pain, which some days can be quite debilitating, and frankly will have to hope for the best.

We have bailed out the financial institutes, not because it did anything to improve the daily life of the American consumer, but rather, to save their friends on Wall Street and the other half's way of life. The average American is still facing foreclosures, a non-stop credit crunch, and ever-decreasing wages. We were about to bail out the non-deserving auto industry, an industry that is about as pertinent as analog televisions, but apparently Congress and many others thinks it's worth saving. Maybe the right place for the Auto Industry is not Detroit, but rather a hall in the Smithsonian.

Today I received five phone calls from friends that are either losing their jobs, lost their jobs and have no prospects for new ones, and others whose small businesses are on the verge of collapse. Thomas Paine stated this situation so very eloquently, "These are the times that try men's souls." Little did he know it would continue to apply many, many years later. I have been around 45 years, have seen most of my friends die during the AIDS crisis, been through this recession thing before, but I have never seen it as systemic as this. People that I know and love very dearly are having trouble getting to the next breath, much less making it to the end of the month. How was this supposed to happen in, what apparently was, the richest nation ever to exist ever on the face of this planet? Was it just the hubris that did us in, or was it something more?

I know inside, that these calls from friends will only increase as the days go on. I wish I could hold them all, and take care of them, and make their pain go away. However, I know that is not humanly possible. It makes it even harder for me because these are the very same people that rallied around my hospital bed, in my greatest time of need, cheering me on, helping me keep both feet firmly on this planet. How I wish I could return the favor, but somehow the words keep falling short.

What we all need is need is something to fall back on - something that would give us jobs, pension plans and, yes, a health care system that actually works. We need to give ourselves a chance at a present so we can move into their future with nothing short of grace and dignity.

Surviving a disease gives you many coping skills, most of which you do not realize at the time. It gives you an inner strength and courage to face what seems to be completely insurmountable, and it gives you the drive to go on, even on those days the disease is trying to win. Most of you reading this don't understand that concept - and I wish with all of my heart that you never do. However, as with any war, it is the ones that need to win it most that fight the hardest.

During the recent House Financial Services Committee hearings, Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) asked General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner if he would state that GM supported a national health care program in order to stay viable. Given the fact that other countries do not have this financial burden on their auto industry, and that GM has identified the problem, why do they fall short of supporting an overhaul of the health care system. Wagoner declared that since their arrival in Washington, which was just hours before his testimony on his infamous private jet, they have been very active in the health care debate. What could they have possibly said in a few hours? Here, take our tired, our sick, our poor, for we don't want them any more?

I believe that it comes down to two basic things - fear and compassion. People are afraid that if they give up something, say some money, or their freedom, that they are not going to get anything in return. In giving, and in giving of yourself, you show true compassion, and isn't that what a Christian Nation is supposed to be based on?

Health care could easily be the glue that brings us all together, but instead it is the stuff that is keeping us apart. I hope that President Elect Obama and HHS Secretary Thomas Daschle keep their promise to make health care a priority, in spite of these overwhelming times.

Comments

[hothardtop]

Good words Tom, come see us in Palm Springs again.

[CosmicChaos]

I am a disabled woman with GOOD insurance. I still have to fight regularly to get my bills paid. I especially dread going to the ER.

For some reason Ambulances and ER doctors are not covered by "GOOD" insurances now. ER's provide piss poor care for someone like myself with a rare genetic condition that they are too lazy to look up or read the information I provide them before they treat me. Nothing more fun than going into Anaphalyctic Shock, experiencing full body paralysis, and be non-responsive and have the nurses try to put an IV in that has more of the food in it that caused the Anaphalyctic Shock in the first place. Since this happens all the time and I go to the same ERs, you would think they would have me in their records about how to treat me safely instead of trying to make the problem worse.

It has made me reluctant to go out in public because I have paralysis attacks all the time and people freak out and call 911 on me.

The reason I have insurance at all is I worked for the Automotive Industry. They have some of the few companies that cover or employ someone like me, even if I am an Engineer.

I had months of nasty fights over getting a scooter with my insurance company so I would stop falling at work. Eventually I got another organization to put major pressure on them to approve the scooter.

[candyperfumegirl]

Cosmic, your insurance is not "good", even if is better than most. Health care should enhance your ability to function freely, not inhibit it. No one should have to pressure their provider to do what they're supposed to - the system is an outrage!

[PennP]

It's horribly simple, really. The ascension of the uncompassionate class to power, the abdication of leadership to self-preservation among the people-I-thought-gave-a-damn class, the continuing stigmatization of disease as personal failure, and the coverage of children through things like SCHIP are all part of the problem. Before I get stoned for implicating SCHIP, think about the likely ruckus those millions of parents would have made eventually, as health-care costs rose and they had no coverage for their kids. SCHIP covered their kids--unquestionably a good thing--but it also helped take health care coverage off the table as a pressing issue.

[militantlibrarian]

People ARE fighting for you! But as with so many issues, the MSM won't allow us access to tell you about it.

HR 676, a bill called expanded and improved medicare for all, will use the profits now extorted from us by health insurance companies to cover everyone. This is called a "single-payer" system. Many grass roots groups support this bill, including many healthcare professionals such as Physicians for a National Health Program -- see http://www.pnhp.org/ (thousands of doctors). Single payer bills are also proposed in states such as Pennsylvania and California.

Single-payer builds upon a platform, medicare, which already works -- and will work even better when the insurance industry is stopped from bleeding it with their hugely-profit making "advantage" plans.

In PA, we have organized a thriving movement for HR 676. Our website has a lot of info about how single-payer would work. Check it out! http://www.wpasinglepayer.org/

[Arthur954]

Our new President should send a delegation to Europe to find out how national universal healthcare works : its great, and in the end is a lot cheaper for the economy : all those redundant layers of administrative costs, lawyers, lobbyists, insurance companies, middlemen and speculators that have to make a profit, etc are eliminated.

It makes life easier for everyone, and is a much more fair and moraly correct situation : right now there are seniors going blind and dying of diabetes because of lack of coverage : how can we tolerate this any longer ? PLEASE lets do something soon, and not just some little reform : GO ALL THE WAY

[Thomas DeLorenzo - Huffpost Blogger]

It is happening to all of us. Years ago the LA Times wrote that AIDS would not be dealt with effectively until it hit the White House - as in one of the President's Family. Well it did -- his name was Rock Hudson -- we need our own Rock Hudson to get this movement off the ground and make it happen.

[sheisme]

I too can't buy insurance ... a pre-existing condition from birth. I am not disabled. I have children, grandchildren and enjoy relatively good health, but I cannot afford health care without insurance. I do without routine and preventative care which I am sure will catch up to me in short order. Hundreds of letters through the years to congress and my state representatives go nowhere ... not even a reply. Obama is my last great hope. But he can't do it without a grassroots mandate and so far, that is missing. Why? Because the majority of Americans still have private insurance and think not of their neighbor, their sister, their friend, or their co-worker who has none. I have come to believe that we are a nation of selfish individuals. Like a cancer cell, individuals have been programmed to gobble up all the nutrients and resources available for themselves, damned the organism (society) as a whole. Better wake up ... we are all in this together. The person without healthcare today becomes the dependent, sick drain on society of tomorrow. Cynical? You betcha.

[brassminnie]

Pay us to pay thousands to assure most health care claims are rejected. Oh, you need a medication that costs $3000 a month, which is about 90% profit, to stay alive? Too bad you're not rich enough to afford it.

[tomas0808]

I feel your pain. I'm in the same boat, partially handicapped, 47 yrs old and moved in with my mom to take care of her and cuz it's cheaper. The only reason America hasn't adopted socialized healthcare is one simple reason, the corporations wouldn't be able to make obscene amounts of money. Just like big oil and Detroit made LA tear down all their mass transit so people would have to drive cars, the so called healthcare industry in this country's interests lie in having more sick people.

[Halsey]

Thomas (and others here)...you are not alone..not that that helps....I DO have "decent" heath insurance..paid for the "best" my CO had to offer..a PPO...5 months ago...I was diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer....now..I get call every day from.primarily Cedars..asking for money...fees NOT paid by my carrier...I want to yell.."put the friggin tumor back!"..I don't HAVE the money...I tried to send $10 a month...but I get like 20 different invoices..and I don't know what there for..I even got one in the name of someone else...at mY address...so how do I even know these bill are right? It's horrible..and yes..at times..I wish I could just "go to sleep and not wake up"....but..I won't...I literally think..better start looking for a nice shopping cart..for when the cancer is gone...I will have, sure..my health..but NOTHING else. 5 years ago...I was in a auto accident (other driver at fault..but ininsured"..and yes..I DID end up ...at 48,...living in my parents' basement...someone..I was able to make my way "back"...get a decent job...then cancer...and bills which are a cancer in themselves..they have destroyed my "future"..even if I live... You column...got me on my "pity pot"...I apologize for that....while we are voiceless...we are not along..just seems that way..

[Thomas DeLorenzo - Huffpost Blogger]

When you get a bill at your address under someone else's name, that is clear violation of Federal Privacy laws (HIPPA) and use it for your own good. i did and it saved me $2300 in lab work. you do what you have to do to survive and god knows they will make it off someone who isnt paying attention to the bills.

[Thomas DeLorenzo - Huffpost Blogger]

i could not agree with you more.

[Rayme]

People keep calling it Health Care Reform, it's not, it should be called what it is, Medical Coverage Reform. What is Medical Coverage Reform, access to drugs and surgery for all, that's it. Health Care Reform would be teaching everyone what good health is and how to achieve it, it's so easy. We in America do not have Free Speech when it comes to our health. There are over a 100 different systems of Health Care around the world. Western Medicine is only one system. Look at it's results, 60% of Americans are overweight, 106,000 Americans die each year from taking their medicine as directed, most surgeries are unnecessary, diabeties is considered uncureable, cancer is running rapid and will soon overtake heart disease as the number one killer and infant mortality rate are extremely high for a so called developed nation. Common sense would dictate to a rational person that Western Medicine is a enormous failure. Tell me why everyone wants Medical Coverage. I know now what good health truly is and would not be scared at all to be without Medical Coverage. Don't get me wrong, if I were in a car accident, I would want to be taken to a hospital if seriously injured, but that's it. If you want a clue about real health care, see www.naturalnews.com. I don't get paid to promote this website.

[Jp2]

I feel for you and think healthcare should be a right for all americans.But that non-deserving auto industry has provided millions of jobs and healthcare to over one million americans.

[brooklyncitizen]

I'm so sorry about your plight....but definitely pay the money for the care you need now. I find myself making similar decisions though I am not ill but simply in making choices that are preventative and support long-term health though they may mean money upfront.

[mbaty]

Compassion or fear. I think you said it very succinctly. And, perhaps in the face of much evidence to the contrary, I think Compassion is rising as we look around and see that we really are all in this together. We either build a system that works for all of us, or the entire system crumbles. I just saw a story the other day about a dog rescuing another dog. These are not the "dog eat dog" days of yore. If even dogs can show compassion, surely we can too.

[redneckliberalpostbush]

hey, RNs work in the USA now without health insurance. If that's not sick and hypocritical and depraved, I don't know what is. Yet we are spending more $$$ than all other nations on earth combined for empire building. And we are paying for >700 military bases all over the empire while our kids have no health care.
More people die in the USA from lack of access to health care in one week than died in WTC attacks on 9/11. Our misleaders just use that as an excuse for more war and empire building. They terrorize us out of our own health care, college educations for our kids, safety and peace in the streets, and our freedoms, yet try to make us believe they are doing this BS to "keep our freedom and prosperity" BS!!!

[schatsie]

Health Care in the US over 2 trillion dollars per year is the 5th largest economy in the world and it is so stupid that while Seniors have healthcare, CHILDREN don't.. and that the PTSD soldiers are left out to dry.. What a "CHRISTIAN' country.....

[freshnotbitter]

You are not alone.

I have an individual policy and every time I get a letter from my insurer I get an anxiety attack because they simply, as routine, send out letter saying that they don't accept my claim on grounds it is pre-existing.

My lawyer friends tells me that health insurance comanies can pretty much do what they want because the laws written by democratic congressmen (ERISA) were written to favor the lobbyists of insurance companies way back in the 70's and the federal judges just basically act as employees of the insurance companies. The exceptions are generally trumpeted by the "liberal" (NOT) media to give the appearance that everything is fair and square out there but it isn't.

Mega big companies like INTEL band with the insurance industry to ensure the status quo because they like the idea that talented employess will be scared to death to move to smaller companies and endanger their "group" health insurance policies at the corporation which are, OF COURSE, honored to the letter and then some by the insurance companies.

It's a rotten dirty system and I hate it as much as you do.

[doctoraaron]

It is a great tragedy that Obama and Daschle both understand that a single payer system would be the best way to save money on health care and the only way to cover everyone at essentially no additional cost to our economy and yet they seem afraid to make the argument to the American people. Thank you for making the argument; I wish we could think of a way to get them to hear, and respond....