A Political Issue Hits Home

[Heathen57]

Although I have been here on DU for several months, this is the first time I have posted a topic. But this time something has hit home that for most is an abstract political issue.

Our adult son has come down with symptoms of appendicitis. Severe pain, vomiting, the whole thing. He is on the state program that provides medical care, but it is minimal. We took him into the ER and they did do some tests to decide just what was the problem. Once they ruled out appendicitis, they gave him a prescription for pain pills and sent him home.

The symptoms worsened, and again we found ourselves in the local ER. And once again they sent him home with another prescription for pain pills, a different one this time. I asked the attending doctor why they didn't look further since they had ruled out appendicitis. After all he still had the symptoms, something had to be wrong. The answer I received shocked me.

The doctor admitted that hospital rules said that once they ruled out anything life threatening, they were not to go any farther in finding the problem. It was a matter of costs and getting a high turnover on the beds. With so many using the ER because of no insurance, the hospital was losing money and the backup in the waiting room was horrid. At least our son has the CICP program from the state.

My wife and I recently lost our insurance (medicaid) due to our daughter turning 19 years old. We are trying to apply for the same thing our son is on, but there is a waiting list of 3-6 months. We are both disabled, her due to work injuries, and myself with degenerative nerve disease and fybromaliga. Neither one of us has seen a doctor for months. Our prescriptions just to keep us functioning would run around $2,400 a month. We are fortunate in that our Doctor gives us samples of the most expensive ones. Otherwise, we would be out of luck.

Please excuse the long explanation, but I wanted to show that the Healthcare issue is not just a political talking point, it affects real people. And IMO none of the candidates for President are really getting to the heart of this crisis.

Hillary's as well as Barack's plans are a step in the right direction. I support both, but feel that they really do not fix the problem. They are still relying on the insurance companies who are going to be looking for ways to increase profits. And guess where those profits will ultimately come from?

McCain's plan is even worse. It just ignores the problem completely. Typical of the Republicans.

What we need, and now is a universal healthcare system where there is a single payer. Without the high premiums coming out of your paycheck an extra tax would not be felt as bad. We can take the best of the plans from Canada and Europe and adopt them. The advantages far out weigh the problems. And it is important to the continued future of this nation.

[Yael]

1. I am sorry that you are going through this

Health care is my watershed issue. It is the first and foremost reason that I supported John Edwards and it is the reason that I now support Barack Obama as I believe he has the coattails to get the people in office elected to make this happen.

I can only hope that in my lifetime, we will see HR676 enacted. I'm not naive enough to think that this can happen overnight, but I believe that with a democratic-led Congress, we can make inroads starting in 2009.

This issue (along with the war and economic principles) is the reason I am now registered as a democrat.

Lets make this happen.

[undeterred]

2. Join the 'Healthcare not Warfare' Campaign to promote HR 676

https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/309/personal2.asp?formid=healthpet

This has to be a primary election issue. For right now I have no health insurance either. I asked the pharmacy to refill my monthly prescriptions and they were over $700. I spent $50 on two and told them to put the rest back. Some of my prescriptions have no generic because the companies have played games with the patent- its supposed to last 17 years- they reformulate and get a 5 year extension. I could care less if the insurance companies and pharmaceutical execs eat peanut butter sandwiches- the greedy pigs.

[Yael]

4. Thanks

My best to you.

[warren pease]

5. Yeah, mine too...

Of all the outrages this country perpetrates against its citizens in the name of free market capitalism, this hideous, murderous scam of a for-profit health care disaster is at the top of my personal list of stupid American tricks. And the sick truth of the situation is that this system is incapable of functioning any other way. By which I mean...

First off, we're not really talking about medical insurance; it's protection money extorted by an organized crime syndicate to keep medical providers from stealing your house, cars, bank accounts and anything else that isn't fused to the earth's core in case something serious (i.e., expensive and maybe requiring hospitalization) happens to you.

The US is unique in the world in its child-like belief in corporate good citizenship and the intrinsic benevolence of a medical system based solely on profits. This is not only naive, it can't happen under US law and SEC regulations that demand a publicly owned, for-profit corporation base its entire business model on achieving one single objective: maximizing shareholder equity.

Anything that bumps the stock price is good, and anything that lowers it is bad. So paying claims is bad because it sucks money from the bottom line, while not paying claims is great because it saves money that contributes to corporate profitability, which ultimately helps raise the price of the stock, keeps the investors happy and keeps the SEC off the CFO's back for another quarter.

In short, it's literally impossible for a US for-profit publicly held medical insurer to live up to its opposing obligations to both its subscribers and shareholders at the same time. And, as is ever the case, if somebody has to get screwed, it's going to be the peasants.

Other than that, I'm just jumping for joy over this lethal hoax. If HR 676 or something like it ever makes it out of committee, I'll be so blown away I'll have to have my jaw reset -- for which the bastards will probably deny coverage.

After listening to the PR and scare tactics from the industry's shills, and then watching the American public dutifully regurgitate those same talking points and express their horror of "socialized medicine," -- which single-payer ain't at all, btw -- I really think they deserve every shitty thing the for-profit system can throw at them.

Too bad the non-brain-dead among us have to suffer the consequences of their blind stupidity right along with them.


wp

[Heathen57]

7. We were an Edwards family as well.

It took a while for us all to drift to Obama. But the Edwards plan was the best of the three.

[cynatnite]

3. Your story is absolute proof that this is a moral issue...

not a political one.

Any chance that you and your wife might qualify for social security?

[Heathen57]

6. We have both applied

and been turned down because we are under the age of 50 ( I actually turned 50 last November).

We both have lawyers now and it is in the appeals process. My wife's has been dragging out for so long now that they will owe her over $100K in back payments if we win it all. I kind of doubt that though.

Right now we are living on $460.00 a month. With help from the family and having my mom live with us, we make it. But the meds are out of the question.