Comments | flaming_mo: Why I am in favor of health care reform...

flaming_mo

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

Aug 10, 2009 09:22

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 ( Read more... )

Comments 14

harmonyfb August 10 2009, 16:10:01 UTC

Your story sounds familiar. Our friend Tom, who had no health insurance, started feeling short of breath one summer. Because he couldn't afford any tests, the doctor gave him an asthma inhaler and sent him on his way.

His symptoms continued to worsen, and in October he was hospitalized with the blood clot that killed him. He died Samhain week, 1992. He was 32 years old, and he'd been married less then three years. :(

flaming_mo August 10 2009, 20:00:25 UTC

I am so sorry to hear that a similar fate befell a good friend of yours. When I read or hear the critics going on about how many people will slip between the bureaucratic cracks and die if the government takes over the administration of health care, I just want to shout, "Yeah, as if it isn't happening already, you morons? At least more people will possibly have a fighting chance because they won't put off treatment because they don't have the money!" Hell, how many patients develop complications because they have to wait for an appointment to be approved or given to see a specialist? Sure there's a chance that there will be a slightly different set of troubles and that the system will be only marginally better, but still, it'll be some improvement.

ubiquitous_a August 10 2009, 18:09:30 UTC

I completely agree, and this is why we MUST have a public health care option in the health care reform legislation working its way through Congress ( ... )

flaming_mo August 10 2009, 20:17:02 UTC

I had a situation similar to your mother's and it ruined my credit and nearly destroyed me financially. BTW, it's not just part-timers who can get screwed concerning benefits, I've worked several full-time jobs that either did not provide any benefits, or the management played rules-lawyering games with assigning hours (such as 35 instead of 40) to avoid having to give them. And goodness knows there are a lot of folks out, particualrly in service industries who get such short-shrift from their employers.

Prior to my moving to Tampa Bay and working in the for-profit hospital environment, I worked in a non-profit facility. The difference in patient care and the attitude of the employees was like night and day, with the non-profit obviously being the superior surroundings.

telaryn August 10 2009, 18:12:31 UTC

The sore losers are only part of the problem. Senior citizens are once again being used as a political football to ratchet up hysteria about an issue.

You want to scare the crap out of an elderly person? Tell them they will be facing mandatory end of life counselling, where some nameless, faceless bureaucrats will be determining whether they live or die.

Tell them President Obama's two main advisors on health care reform are proponents of eugenics. Raise the spectre of Hitler that many of them are old enough to remember with first hand knowledge.

It speaks to the basic fear of the elderly in this country - that they are superfluous, a burden and generally unvalued. Once you've set fire to that, all the logical reasoned debate in the world can't counteract it.

flaming_mo August 10 2009, 20:09:01 UTC

What gets me are some of the exagerrations and lies being perpetrated by the opponents of reform which are being told to a group of people who are largely ignorant of how our current medical industry works. And how some of the lobbyists, pundits and politicians prey on our senior citizens is disgusting ( ... )

vistillia August 10 2009, 20:59:32 UTC

but there is a need for end of life counseling. Not as a do you live or die, but to help them deal with the fact that they are older. Do they really want to treat that malignant cancer at 90 years old? If your side effects from your medicine, the fatigues and dizziness and multiples of other symptoms make a good portion of your waking hours not usable, do you really want to be on them? They need to start thinking about the concept of palliative care outside of a severe, dramatic illness. What do they really want? And if they truly want everything done, then by all means I will be more than happy to assist.

telaryn August 10 2009, 22:29:06 UTC

You're missing my point. Yes, there is a need for end of life counselling if the individual wants it, or if it's an appropriate discussion between themselves and their doctor.

I also think there is a desperate need for the decriminalization of assisted suicide.

This is not what senior citizens are being told, however. They are being told that under the new health care system, they will be *required* to undergo end of life counselling. They are being told that a bunch of bureaucrats will be looking not at whether they want to undergo the treatments connected with a severe dramatic, probably fatal in the long run illness, but at whether it would make more financial sense to keep them on over the counter arthritis medicine for the rest of their lives instead of doing a simple (but expensive) joint replacement operation.

I am all about health care reform chiere August 11 2009, 03:05:52 UTC

I am even for some type of socialized medicine!!(gasp ( ... )

Re: I am all about health care reform flaming_mo August 14 2009, 00:44:02 UTC

It seems to me that while there may be some factions whose motivation is racism, the bulk of it is poor sportsmanship, along with the inability to adapt to the many changes that are happening within our society that will also upset the long-standing balance of power.

I agree with that a large chunk of the problem is the poor parameters set by our government of which income levels necessitate assistance. While there are lamentable levels of outright poverty in the country, there are also plenty of working poor in this nation that are left out of consideration.

What really gets me are the folks who are opposed to higher taxes, but are willing to pay out large amounts of spare cash on lottery tickets and alcohol on a weekly basis, when probably one week's expediture on such items would cover a proposed tax.

I Have To Agree holygrenade August 11 2009, 03:09:30 UTC

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 ( ... )

Re: I Have To Agree flaming_mo August 14 2009, 00:57:59 UTC

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.