Why I am in favor of health care reform...

[flaming_mo]

This story is one of several personal anecdotes that I can relate in order to explain my longtime support for health care reform. As several of you are aware, I worked in the front lines of the health care industry for close to a decade, and saw a number of things that disturbed me about our system. This is one of the most upsetting incidents I

Comments

I Have To Agree

[holygrenade]

Health care reform is necessary. Since Spouse and I are both self-employed, we have not had insurance. Why? When I tried to have insurance, it cost me 1/4 of my income and there were so many exclusions that I couldn't afford to pay for the insurance and the necessary visits. And at that time, they wouldn't even insure Spouse - he had a pre-cancerous mole removed. So, we do without as adults. Fortunately, there is Florida Kidcare that covers Princess at affordable prices.

I am lucky that Spouse's chosen profession provides me with almost all the preventative care I need, but most folks are not that lucky. And health insurance is just too costly, if you can get it at all.

Let's not forget that many places will NOT treat you if you don't have insurance, even if you do have the cash. There is just something wrong here.

And let's not forget the insurance companies that cry high costs while denying legit claims submitted by doctors. And short paying them too. Most Dr.'s office employ at least 1 or 2 people whose entire job is to chase the money. Can you imagine if that time and effort was spent helping folks?

The insurance companies are at the heart of the problem. The lawyers that they employ have written policies that severly limit care and make the insurance companies lots of money for the top execs. And of course, they have the most influential lobbyists. Like you have said, we have to stand against them and work towards making the majority of lives better.

Re: I Have To Agree

[flaming_mo]

Don't get me start about the various problems regarding insurance, including the farce known as COBRA. However, it's not just insurance companies - it's a tangled web of attorneys, doctors, medical administration companies and unscrupulous employers that work in synergy to screw over American citizens.

One big anger-inducing irony? When I worked for GE, they hired folks to work for them in customer service in Canada and Northern Ireland. Why? Because of their excellent command of English with an unobtrusive accent AND their residing in nations that offered socialized medicine. Yep, a big corporation that tries to screw around with its employees and is likely to be opposed to American health care reform, but is happy to hire foreign labor in order to take advantage of the benefits offered by those countries and enlarge their profits. Creeps.