Can we talk?

Health care ???

Is everybody as confused as I am about this health care proposal being forced on congress right now? It seems like this rose up out of nowhere and is whirling through like a tornado. Did the media just pick up on it? Or has the White House been telling us all along that change is eminent, not just discussion, and I missed it?

Not that I want to add more bureaucracy to health care. Getting payments set up, and insurance processed, determining which doctors the insurance will accept, what labs to do your blood work (my doctor's office is supposed to call the insurance lab to come pick it up rather than send it across the street to the hospital), what goes on which deductible is maddening. I swear my insurance company does everything possible to avoid paying for anything. The premiums will be less than my deductibles. And then there will be co-pays on top of that. Add government rules on top of insurance rules, and it could take years to get anything done. You could have a stroke or die waiting for some pencil pushers to get their act together.

I'm unemployed. There's a lot of people in my shoes. I'm fortunate to be covered under Cobra, but there's an end to that. And I'm blessed that a relative is paying my premiums, and buying my medicines, since I have no income and am basically raveling apart. The community I moved away from had a wonderful free clinic, but we don't have one here. I've also heard of some doctors in private practice who donate their time a few hours a week to treat indigent patients in their offices. But there's a waiting list usually, since these people have to work for pay in order to keep the practice open.

From what I'm hearing, universal health care is not going to be free. It won't treat everyone or everything. It sounds like people will be able to buy insurance at rates comparable to what's available in most group plans. But unemployed people, disabled people, people on fixed incomes, or zero incomes will not be able to pay for insurance. Cheap insurance is no better than expensive insurance if you can't pay. If the doctor that treats your ongoing problem won't treat you anymore because your co-pays have accumulated too much, then you still won't get medical care for yourself, your children, or your aging parents.

My point is that the people trying to solve the problem in health care for the lower classes and working middle class have no idea what these people go through. They can't imagine the sacrifices a family will have to make because a child has juvenile diabetes, or leukemia. They have no idea what low income people like myself have to give up because of heart trouble. They are out of touch with the people they think they're helping. It's easy to say that not everyone will be helped, that some people will slip through the cracks, as long as you're not one of them.

We don't need the government to be big brother and mess with our private health records, or tell us who can or can't get help. They can't decide to take benefits away from us, or make sure certain groups or individuals will be served. Perhaps some standards should be set for insurance companies, which are already heavily regulated. Insurance companies have taken the driver's seat in health care, but it needs to go back to the doctors, hospitals involved with patients, not to the government.