Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Another health care story and proof that conservatives are assholes.
Opening Pandora's Box: Why my 22-year-old kid needs Mommy's insurance
by Susan Gardner
<...>
Thirty-three days ago, my 22-year-old daughter had an eight-hour open heart surgery at one of the top cardiac care facilities in the world. On my employer's health insurance.
Thank you, President Obama.
Her Pandora's Box of problems began opening in September 2010. She worked full time, went to college part time. She was doing all the "get ahead" go-go-go moves conservatives love to laud—paying taxes, working, going to school—all the while keeping her regular cardiology check-ups. With a heart pumping in reverse, a pacemaker, strong beta-blockers, an internal cardio-defibrillator, and a terrific cardiologist specializing in adults with congenital heart defects, she was able to function at a level that made her indistinguishable on the surface from any other young adult.
<...>
While she was insured as an adult through work, it was not an ideal plan for someone with her condition—high deductibles, high co-pays, high out-of-pocket on a salary set right at living wage. Her employer hires lots of young, healthy adults and for those workers, it serves. For my daughter, not so much. Until Obamacare, it was the best she could do. My employer, on the other hand, had a great insurance plan. The moment adult children under 26 became eligible, I moved her onto my insurance, and with zest and thankful prayers, I paid the extra premium. Just in time, as it turns out, for the downward spiral of hospitalizations.
<...>
Yes, jpod. But some people are born with bodies of kindling, and more and more of them are catching fire as adults every year, through no fault of their own except getting premier surgical intervention at birth, following doctor's orders, seeking medical attention when necessary and flooding your precious free market by staying alive. And they are astoundingly, astonishingly, astronomically expensive. (We had one out-patient procedure that was billed at nearly $150,000. That's no overnight hospital stay. In that morning, out in the late afternoon, with a new ICD implanted that cost in the neighborhood of $125,000.)
The problem goes so far beyond "infantilization" of adult children that it's laughable. When you're 22, with chronic illness that will likely require millions of dollars of medical treatment over your lifetime—and when there are millions and millions more just like you—it points to deep, real, systemic problems, ones that we uncomfortably avoid throughout this political debate: Who dies? (No one!) Who lives? (Everyone!) At what cost life? (The sky's the limit!) Who pays? (The 10-hour-old baby who gave "informed consent" to agree to pay millions over a lifetime for a reconstructed heart! Wait ...)
What's the point of all the medical breakthroughs if no individual or society can ultimately afford them? Why save children if we're going to abandon them as adults?
- more -
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/01/1078753/-Opening-Pandora-s-Box-Why-my-22-year-old-kid-needs-Mommy-s-insurance
by Susan Gardner
Infantilization of America--notion that a 26 year old is a kid needing Daddy's insurance
— @jpodhoretz via web
— @jpodhoretz via web
<...>
Thirty-three days ago, my 22-year-old daughter had an eight-hour open heart surgery at one of the top cardiac care facilities in the world. On my employer's health insurance.
Thank you, President Obama.
Her Pandora's Box of problems began opening in September 2010. She worked full time, went to college part time. She was doing all the "get ahead" go-go-go moves conservatives love to laud—paying taxes, working, going to school—all the while keeping her regular cardiology check-ups. With a heart pumping in reverse, a pacemaker, strong beta-blockers, an internal cardio-defibrillator, and a terrific cardiologist specializing in adults with congenital heart defects, she was able to function at a level that made her indistinguishable on the surface from any other young adult.
<...>
While she was insured as an adult through work, it was not an ideal plan for someone with her condition—high deductibles, high co-pays, high out-of-pocket on a salary set right at living wage. Her employer hires lots of young, healthy adults and for those workers, it serves. For my daughter, not so much. Until Obamacare, it was the best she could do. My employer, on the other hand, had a great insurance plan. The moment adult children under 26 became eligible, I moved her onto my insurance, and with zest and thankful prayers, I paid the extra premium. Just in time, as it turns out, for the downward spiral of hospitalizations.
<...>
Yes, jpod. But some people are born with bodies of kindling, and more and more of them are catching fire as adults every year, through no fault of their own except getting premier surgical intervention at birth, following doctor's orders, seeking medical attention when necessary and flooding your precious free market by staying alive. And they are astoundingly, astonishingly, astronomically expensive. (We had one out-patient procedure that was billed at nearly $150,000. That's no overnight hospital stay. In that morning, out in the late afternoon, with a new ICD implanted that cost in the neighborhood of $125,000.)
The problem goes so far beyond "infantilization" of adult children that it's laughable. When you're 22, with chronic illness that will likely require millions of dollars of medical treatment over your lifetime—and when there are millions and millions more just like you—it points to deep, real, systemic problems, ones that we uncomfortably avoid throughout this political debate: Who dies? (No one!) Who lives? (Everyone!) At what cost life? (The sky's the limit!) Who pays? (The 10-hour-old baby who gave "informed consent" to agree to pay millions over a lifetime for a reconstructed heart! Wait ...)
What's the point of all the medical breakthroughs if no individual or society can ultimately afford them? Why save children if we're going to abandon them as adults?
- more -
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/01/1078753/-Opening-Pandora-s-Box-Why-my-22-year-old-kid-needs-Mommy-s-insurance
This shows the callousness of conservatives. It's displayed by every Republican, including Rick Santorum, despite his daughter's pre-existing condition.
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
