I'm really confused by anyone at this point who's ambivalent or resistant to a public healthcare plan.
The health insurance companies have proven that they're no longer worthy of the very responsibilty they're there to uphold. I wouldn't trust them to bill me fairly or accurately for an aspirin, so why would I trust them with something as important as my life?
But at this point, with no general public option, I have no choice.
I make too much to qualify for Medicaid, however like 50%-75% of those that file for bankruptcy (depending on whose figures you believe), even with health insurance, any serious medical condition would still leave me with a level of debt that would be hard to recover from.
Furthermore, my premium has gone up 50% this year -- and at existing premium levels in another 10 years I won't be able to afford to be insured at all. I'll be forced out of the private insurance system at an age when I'll start to need it most -- which of course is precisely the intention of the insurance companies. They want to force out those that are statistically likely to become sick -- hence their rates increase exponentially to the point of unaffordability as one gets older.
According to a World Healthcare Organization survey, America spent 15.2 GDP on health, yet our nation was ranked at #37 for health system performance. Conversely Great Britain, which has a national healthcare system, was ranked at #18 yet spent just 8.2 GDP on health.
Those GDP figures are dated however. America now spends around 17% GDP on health and that's projected to rise to 20% by 2017. Think about it, $2 out of every $10 earnt will go on healthcare. If that's not a tax on life I don't know what is? And what do the poor and middle class get from that monumental healthcare spend? Treatment that's considered worse than that in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic according to the WHO.
In times of record job losses, we also have record numbers of uninsured. This means the burden of emergency care is being placed on fewer and fewer companies and individuals that are able to pay for plans, which is compounding an already dire situation with massive premium increases and benefit cuts. And with big business failing under the weight of grandfathered in healthcare expenditure, the lack of a public option is even having ramifications for the rich.
It's not surprising therefore that according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal survey 76% of Americans now want a public option.
However, under a barrage of obscene spending by the health industry on lobbyists, Obama is folding, his plan for a public option is on the verge of being withdrawn.
Don't allow this to happen. Take action now. Call your representative in congress and demand a pledge to support the the public option. Click
HERE for a list of their numbers. Call them -- and share what they say in the comments section below.
Are they choosing the health of the health insurance industry over your dead body?