Thoughts about health care...
I was in Canada recently, waiting for the light to change at a busy intersection so I could cross the street. I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between a couple of people nearby. It went something like this:
"How'd your last visit to the doctor go?"
"Eh, ok. I started chemo last week, and I'm going to be on it for the next 7 weeks. It's not a lot of fun. But they have me staying in for observation overnight each time, so it's not too bad."
"Where are you going for treatment?"
"___________ hospital."
"Oh, yeah? That's where I was when I had that trouble with cancer last summer. I'm in full remission now, but I've still got a physical therapy once a week."
... and so on.
The interesting thing to me about this conversation was that both men were obviously homeless. They were sitting on the street corner, one in a wheelchair, cups in hand. With all of the things that they didn't have in life, they still had health care.
That's not the only thing I wanted to say, though. I'm far more impressed by numbers than I am by rhetoric. That said, these links are an interesting look at both.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/08/how_to_think_constructively_ab.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-brutal-truth-about-americarsquos-healthcare-1772580.html
http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hiddencosts/index.html
http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/denied_coverage/index.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2223680/
I want it noted that I have a vested interest in this. The reason (the SOLE reason) that I started working for the company that I work for now is because they provide health care to part-time employees. I was working 39 hours a week at another company, and because I wasn't working 40 (and they wouldn't let me), they didn't have to give me health care coverage. I haven't worked enough part time hours with the company I currently work for in the past 9 months to qualify for their plan.
I am one of the working poor. I work my butt off every week. I don't have health coverage. I do have a chronic condition. I need to be medicated every day for the rest of my life. I can't currently afford the sonogram that I am supposed to have every two years to make sure that I'm not developing cancer. I also can't afford the blood tests that I think I probably need (and that the doctors just love to give me, since they mean that I get stabbed in the arm by some incompetent phlebotomist [ok, they're not necessarily incompetent, but why can't anyone but Phyllis, the nurse at my former doctor's office, EVER find my veins on the first five tries?]) to make sure that I'm on the right dosage. I can afford my medication, but that's because I'm fortunate: the formulation was discovered back in the 40's, so even without insurance, it's cheap. I need health care that will travel with me, from job to job, from state to state, and make it so that I am covered, no matter what.
There needs to be a better way.
"How'd your last visit to the doctor go?"
"Eh, ok. I started chemo last week, and I'm going to be on it for the next 7 weeks. It's not a lot of fun. But they have me staying in for observation overnight each time, so it's not too bad."
"Where are you going for treatment?"
"___________ hospital."
"Oh, yeah? That's where I was when I had that trouble with cancer last summer. I'm in full remission now, but I've still got a physical therapy once a week."
... and so on.
The interesting thing to me about this conversation was that both men were obviously homeless. They were sitting on the street corner, one in a wheelchair, cups in hand. With all of the things that they didn't have in life, they still had health care.
That's not the only thing I wanted to say, though. I'm far more impressed by numbers than I am by rhetoric. That said, these links are an interesting look at both.
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/08/how_to_think_constructively_ab.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-brutal-truth-about-americarsquos-healthcare-1772580.html
http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hiddencosts/index.html
http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/denied_coverage/index.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2223680/
I want it noted that I have a vested interest in this. The reason (the SOLE reason) that I started working for the company that I work for now is because they provide health care to part-time employees. I was working 39 hours a week at another company, and because I wasn't working 40 (and they wouldn't let me), they didn't have to give me health care coverage. I haven't worked enough part time hours with the company I currently work for in the past 9 months to qualify for their plan.
I am one of the working poor. I work my butt off every week. I don't have health coverage. I do have a chronic condition. I need to be medicated every day for the rest of my life. I can't currently afford the sonogram that I am supposed to have every two years to make sure that I'm not developing cancer. I also can't afford the blood tests that I think I probably need (and that the doctors just love to give me, since they mean that I get stabbed in the arm by some incompetent phlebotomist [ok, they're not necessarily incompetent, but why can't anyone but Phyllis, the nurse at my former doctor's office, EVER find my veins on the first five tries?]) to make sure that I'm on the right dosage. I can afford my medication, but that's because I'm fortunate: the formulation was discovered back in the 40's, so even without insurance, it's cheap. I need health care that will travel with me, from job to job, from state to state, and make it so that I am covered, no matter what.
There needs to be a better way.