10th of November 2009
WHY SO MANY ARE AGAINST US HEALTH CARE REFORM
I have received a number of comments, complaints and outright harsh responses to the multiple posts I've made encouraging Health Care Reform within the United States. It is amazing what rhetoric is being disseminated via political party lines. The Republican Party vehemently opposes providing medical coverage to all US citizens and vicariously sits back while millions of us suffer without the ability to see a doctor for our ailments.
The Republican Party does not want a government run health care option. So my question is who the hell do they think will provide medical coverage for those without benefits? They seem to believe that the Insurance companies will suddenly develop a conscience as they provide insurance for those who go without? I doubt even they believe that Insurance providers would suddenly offer to cover those who can't afford normal coverage. Not when those same insurance companies have policies in place that automatically deny a certain percentage of claims in an effort to retain more revenues. I know what I'm talking about because I worked for several insurance companies in the medical and automotive areas. They have teams of staffers who figure how much they can save by denying claims when they know only twenty-two percent of those claims will be appealed or challenged. They know exactly how much money they save, so how could we ever think that the companies who hire people just to find new ways to screw over their paying customers would actually find it within their hearts to provide coverage for the unemployed, the homeless or the under-employed.
My roommate is a Republican and is diametrically opposed to the socialist medical coverage (as he calls it). Even though he knows that I was very sick just a couple months ago with the H1N1 Flu and after almost a week of running a fever, I had to find a doctor that would see me given that I am not currently working. I completed all of the proper paper work as an unemployed person and was told how my office visit would be $25 dollars. I thought, wow, this may actually be okay. I was to come back eight days later for some test and due to my limited funds, I called to find out how much the test would cost. The tests were going to cost between $250 and 350 dollars and I would be responsible for 70% of that costs. So my unemployment medical coverage cost me $25 dollars for the office visit, $286.18 dollars for prescriptions and then four weeks later I found out just how little my doctor's visit was going to be when I received a bill for $280.00 dollars in the mail. The bill was everything I didn't pay when I paid the $25.00 dollar. It didn't matter that during that visit no test were run and nothing but a doctor consultation happened, but this is what a program that is supposed to be funded by the State of Georgia, the US Government and other donations by organizations like United Way are supposed to cost people with no funds like me.
I was only suffering from the H1N1 virus, but what about an elderly couple who is rushed to the hospital because one of them has a heart attack. The bills wiped out their retirement savings. Or a mother who has two children and she works two or three jobs just to provide a roof over their heads and food on the table, but cannot afford insurance or regular doctor visits. However, the Republican Party doesn't want the government to run health care for all. I ask again, who do they think will provide medical coverage for those of us who cannot afford such needs!
So would someone in the Republican Party please tell me who they think should run a program that provides insurance and/or medical coverage to those who cannot afford it? If the government cannot provide such coverage for those citizens, who will…and when will they begin? I only ask, because while I work out at the gym five times a week and am healthy most of the time, I need to know where I can go the next time I get sick. Not to mention I would like to spread the word to others that are in need. My roommate was telling me how lots of people are against a government run medical program and he couldn't answer when I asked why not. But you see, neither he nor any other Republicans have the balls to tell me directly or tell that mother and her two children or that elderly couple who we can we turn to for help.
Not one of these Republicans who opposes Health Care Reform has the courage to face these people directly and tell them their lives are not worth the money this country would spend on medical coverage for them. I'm not talking about Rush Limbaugh; he would tell anyone the worst news they could possibly hear just to see their face as he remains perched from his ivory tower. I mean it…stand in front of that woman with her two children and tell her how the sixty or seventy hours she works in the two or three jobs just isn't enough and you won't help her by providing medical coverage for her or her family.
When I hear an honest and sincere response that can show exactly why this bill is not worthy, then I will change my support of it. Until then, I will continue to see those who oppose basic human decency - like medical coverage for all, to be those who have never suffered without. And while I will be happy for you that you have not had to go without, maybe…just maybe your perfect world won't remain that way for ever. Think about how some day you may be the elderly couple, or that woman with her children or worst, maybe even unemployed or homeless…and maybe if you have the need you might just see how basic human dignity should be provided to all souls, not just those with means!
Your humble servant – Todd M Dobson
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