An Argument for Health Care, stolen from my brother-in-law
Current mood: 
busy
Category: News and Politics
So, I've blatantly copied the following from my brother-in-law's blog, but it's well written and pretty much the same opinion I hold so I was inspired to steal it and post it over here as well. Bear in mind while reading that he and his wife haven't yet had any children... you might want to add a tad more to his numbers to make them even with your own if you have procreated! I know our numbers are just the wee bit higher than his. Everyone take care. ~~Beki
The Universal Health Care Argument
Current mood: 
awake
Well.. It has to be paid for somehow doesn't it?
Don't you already pay good money for your insurance premiums?
We're not gonna get it for free, stupid.
Here is how I see it from my experience:
Currently, I pay approx $3700/yr for health insurance for myself and my wife.
Our insurance has been OK so far. We have had a few issues with payment, but thats another story. For year 2007 our total health costs were nearly $10,000 including premiums. This is with no serious medical emergencies or health issues. Just routine visits, prescription costs and 2 minor emergency room visits.
With our current healthcare system, there is no guarantee of coverage. At any moment our insurance provider could decide that they no longer want to cover "X" issue. They could claim you have a pre-existing condition or that the treatment is 'experimental', so they won't pay even though it might actually help you get better. But, they want you to keep sending that sweet, sweet premium check anyway.
This is alot of money spent for no guarantee of service. At any time something could happen to any one of us and we could be left bankrupted with no help from our insurer.
So how much will Univ Health cost us? $4000/yr in taxes.. Maybe more.. Maybe less.. I don't know.
The family of Nataline Sarkisyan thought they had good health coverage. But, that did not save her when she was denied a liver transplant that the family could not afford on their own.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22357873/
So, Univ healthcare will be paid with taxes.. I would rather pay these taxes and receive guaranteed health coverage than to give my money to an anonymous person who makes life and death decisions that your doctor should be making and helps some CEO in a three-piece suit take home a cool 8-figure salary (thats $10,000,000 or more).
Remember, HMO's are out to make a profit. The more claims they deny, the more $$$ they make.
During the state of the union address, Bush said that we should support healthcare where "decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's office -- not in the halls of Congress."
Well, in the Nataline Sarkisyan situation, her medical decision was made in the cubical of an office park by CIGNA. Not in a Dr's office. Remember, Nataline died.
Universal Healthcare will free doctors to perform the procedures necessary to help their patients. Congress won't have a thing to say about it. You and your family will be covered. Period.
The United States is the only modern, industrialized nation without universal health care.
I guarantee that more people die in the Unites States for being denied health coverage than people do in Canada or France because "they have to wait for years to be treated". These are myths that benefit our current system. The longer you believe this crap, the less it will change. Ask Nataline's family if it doesn't happen here.
Look at all the heart problems that Dick Cheney has had over the years. If it were any one of us, we would have already been denied coverage or dropped buy an insurer due to previous conditions or whatever excuse they could find.. Bottom line: Anybody else would be dead already. But Cheney benefits from a publicly funded health system that guarantees that he is treated any time he has a problem.. All Americans should have this privilege. When Cheney or any member of congress has a health problem, they are covered and we fit the bill.
www.cheneycare.org
Do you like the system as it stands? If so, then you are the type of gambler who loves the fact that the house always wins. That is how our health system works now.
With or without universal healthcare, we are going to be paying good money for our health costs. One way offers us a guarantee. The other guarantees that a select few will make millions from our hard-earned money and we may or may not be covered in the end.
I know where I want my money to go. I want it to work for me.
What do you think?
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