Universal Health CareAll, Re the post by Mixpixlix on the Health Care Anxiety board: Americans need to have affordable and appropriate health care access. No one deserves to be treated like yesterday's newspaper even when chronically ill or older. This can happen to anyone at any time. It is not OK to see all of these cases and know how preventable all of this was. None of this ever had to happen to anyone. We let it go on. Anyone currently living in denial of this reality for almost 50 million Americans now has a chance to hear the facts and what can happen to them in a heartbeat. WWW.CovertheUninsured.org has all the refs and resources to verify what has been happening to too many people for far too long. We can change this by acting for a few minutes a day. WWW.Congress.org makes this very easy. One minute, a few lines and a quick Send can make a difference to almost 50 million Americans at risk, some of whom you may join in the near future. Your family can be at risk overnight. Your friends, relatives, ones you hold dear, anyone can be destroyed by this situation. Even if you hold no concerns for yourselves, you may care about someone else. For one minute, isn't it worth it? The bill is H.R. 676 and has many reps as sponsors and co-sponsors. Contacting them via the site above is the easiest and quickest action you will take today. It is the only thing that makes a difference--individuals acting for change.
While it's too early to be sure, we may have reached Critical Mass on the issue of healthcare. Critical Mass means that there are enough people in the same place at the same time angry about the same issue. It's like a nuclear reaction. Yesterday on the PBS program NOW, a Wall Street Journal reporter talked about how 1/10 of 1% of the wealthiest people in the country make as much money as the bottom 50%. That's roughly 30,000 people "earn" more than the bottom 150,000,000. Unfortunately, "earn" is incorrect as their salaries are determined by cronies who keep each other in the economic stratosphere. He went on to explain why this has happen in the last 25 years and that as a frequent guest on radio talk shows he used to get a lot of hate callers/mail. Not anymore, he said it's as if America is waking up and realizing that the belief you earn based on your ability and willingness to work is a myth. The next guest, the author of The Betrayal of Work talk about how the American Dream is a broken promise. Millions and millions of people who did everything right are finding themselves on the wrong side of the economic line. Terrified of getting sick, fired or losing their pension and benefits. No wonder everyone seems angry these days. Healthcare is a crucial issue and one that now, according to an MSMBC poll, ranks second, right between the war in Iraq, as what worries American's most. Critical Mass can move mountains but it needs for all of us to join the fight to make healthcare affordable and accessible. Personally, I don't care if you call it Universal Healthcare, Single Payer Healthcare or Humanized Healthcare, but we,the citizens of the United States, deserve to be free of the fear that an illness or accident can destroy everything we've spend decades building. Go to www.healthcare-now.org and sign the petition supporting passage of H.R. 676, Medicare for All. As of an hour ago there were 7200+ names on the petition. MPL, Just for the heck of it, I read some of the newer posts on the healthcare-now.org site and it is a real motivator. If you are uninsurable, you are already familiar with what this whole thing is like but reading the individual stories will get to you. I don't know how anyone could ignore this. Dazedandconfused. I am from Massachusetts. We now have mandatory universal health insurance. If you live, work, or go to school in Massachusetts you must have health insurance. If you don't, you are fined by the state. This year the fine is not much, about $ 500.00. Next year it is significant (half the cost of obtaining health insurance). Any company with ten or more employees must provide health insurance or they are fined. The fine for a business is not much, about $ 400.00 a year per employee. The law went into effect two months ago. At this point, anyone who is poor or low income has health insurance provided by the state either for free or partially paid for by the commonwealth. The state offers many plans on its Health Connector web page that are quite affordable. This year perscription coverage is not required. Next year it is. Massachusetts spent so much providing free health care to those without insurance it was decided it would be cheaper to require residents to have health insurance and provide a subsidy. The state also discovered that the majority of residents who did not have health insurance were were younger males who thought they did not need it. They represented about 200,000 of the 450,000 residents who did not have health insurance. People of low income means had some access to health insurance through the state's MassHealth program. All children have had access to health insurance until the universal health insurance law went into effect up to the age of 18. If you went to a public school, you were required to show that you had health insurance. The beauty of the state's universal health insurance plan is that is that it does not make any changes to people who have health insurance through their employer; this was very important in getting support from the 6,250,000 residents who did have health insurance. The program has strong support by state residents. I know the rest of the country likes to knock Massachusetts for being overly liberal. Yes, it is a liberal and very progressive state with gay marrage and now universal health insurance. I think the rest of the country should watch Massachusetts' plan because it may work in other states. Bill After what happened to my father a few years ago, I wasn't at all surprised when I saw the movie "Sicko" about what is happening all around this country under our system. He had melanoma which is easily treatable in it's early stages, and even though his HMO (The Big K) was getting paid good money for his coverage, they dragged their feet in removing the growth on the back of his neck denying that it was more than a benign cyst at first. It grew and they finally operated on it and said they were pretty sure they got it all, and didn't provide followup care. About a year and a half later he had a physical which was okay except for the part that the melanoma had spread and mestisized in his liver and lungs. We were able to get copies of his medical records and found out that he actually had a third or fourth stage malignancy by the time they got around to operating on it, but we weren't told that at the time. To add insult to injury the insurance company didn't have any melanoma specialists in the area, and refused to pay for a local outside specialist to help him fight the cancer. My parents dropped their "K" coverage and he was treated by that specialist, but it was too late and we lost him several months later the week before Easter in 2003 just after we invaded Iraq. Half of all the bankruptcies in the United States are caused by unforeseen medical expenses, and 75% of those people were insured. It's just that the insurers here put profits over medical care, and those who are unfortunate to need attention pay either a king's ranson, their lives or both to keep the HMO's (Huge Money Organizations) going.. I say we should break up the HMO leaches once and for all, and have a single payer plan like civilized countries of the world have. There's one plan proposed SB 840 that would provide single-payer universal coverage in California that would also save billions. Governor Schwarzenegger has a different plan which supposed to provide universal coverage as well but it would keep the HMO's intact (they kicked in $4 Million for his last election), so it's really just a different way of distributing the money to the business. Health care shouldn't be a commodity to be rationed, denied, or compromised to profit from, it's an essential right like police or fire protection in all civilized societies. This is an informative video, if you watch all of it you'll learn a lot about how our health system has failed us, and what we could have instead. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAWZrfYXs-c
A fundamental truth is that change comes from the bottom up! It seems that healthcare is following that same path. What I find most telling is that (contrary to the propaganda) people will gladly pay a reasonable sum for healthcare services. Very few expect anything to be free. What Massachusetts and California are doing is wonderful, even if the programs have some glitches it's a start. And, it's sending a message to Congress that healthcare in this country is in crisis and we aren't going to take it anymore. My brother was one of those healthy young men who though he didn't need health insurance. He was self-employed and had a minimum policy to keep rates low. With no warning he had a major heart attack at which time he learned he had Type 1 diabetes. He blew through is policy in less time than he spent in the hospital and wound up on MediCal. He lost his business, his home, and custody of his child. To make a long story short he died less than 5 years after his heart attack. I have been an advocate of Universal healthcare for more than 30 years. I listened to all the nonsense about long waiting times, overcrowded offices, lack of specialists, etc. Well, we have the MOST EXPENSIVE HEALTHCARE in the world and all those things apply. It's time for a change and change is up to us.
Need everyone to join the discussion on Diversity at Work forum, Healthcare and HR676. hoku27 is against any kind of universal healthcare, believes healthcare is a product not a right and is a Veteran with Federally Paid Health Benefit.(shows no compassion to the uninsured or insured that has had problems with mortgage payments). Could you please put in your appropriate response. I have done about all I can do. I am having to go for knee replacement surgery this Wednesday. Although I have COBRA insurance, I understand why HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT. Mine is a long story, but been fighting this healthcare and economic crisis with both Bushes. I just have not gone under yet, but been a victim too many times. Enough is enough, this time were not taking it any longer. Thank you for your support ahead of time. Please give him a taste of your right., for me. Disability Buster HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT!!! You are right that health care is a right. It has been in Massachusetts for years. No hospital could turn away a patient because of a lack of health insurance. Massachusetts may be somewhat unique in its ability to enact universal health care. It is in effect now. What allowed this to happen here may not be possible in other states. The state has a lot of large companies that provide health insurance and this was important. The state is the second wealthiest in the country. The state already spent a considerable amount of money providing health care to the poor. So redirecting this money was easier. The state also has a history of activist governments. People here do not fear "big government" as they do in the west and south. Also, the number of uninsured was small compared to the rest of the country. Prior to enacting universal health care here, the uninsured rate was about 8.5 per cent. A state like Texas with a 25 per cent uninsured rate will require a lot of new money devoted to healthcare. The general population strongly supports this law. A big factor is that it did not impact their coverage with their company. Nothing changed for the bad. Also, the law requiring health insurance is compulsory. If you do not have it, you are fined. The fine this year is small, about $ 500.00 (approximately). The fine next year is significant, about one half the cost of obtaining health insurance. Also next year you must also have prescription coverage which is not required this year. For my policy, that will raise the cost about $ 50.00. Also, all companies with ten or more employees must provide health insurance or pay a (nominal) fine of about $ 400.00 per employee. Another important key, was that the state pools together uninsured into one big group. It is cheaper to buy health insurance for a big group than for an individual. There are approximately five companies, all not for profit, providing plans through the state, including Harvard/Tufts and Blue Cross. They have about 20 to 30 different plans. I must admit when I went to the state's web page and compare plans, it was a little daunting comparing what is offered. Also, it is likely taxes will go up to pay for this. But the alternative is not acceptable, which was 450,000 people in a state of seven million without coverage. So, if taxes go up to pay for this, so be it. The good news is that everyone who is poor is now covered. The state subsidies your health insurance based on income with a guarantee that it will not cost more that a fixed percentage of your gross income. I do not remember the amount (six per cent comes to mind—but I am not certain) Bill
Massachusetts was able to deal with the healthcare problem because the state has a history of an activist government. I do not want to kid you, what was done in my state Many states have laws prohibiting hospitals from refusing treatment for lack of insurance. However, the hospitals bill for the services and are increasingly aggressive about getting paid. While what happened in Mass. may be a by-product of its government and citizens, it still serves as an example of change for the better. States are beginning to wake up the fact that Federal polices on health care, immigrations, etc., are actually harmful to communities and what harms communities harms states, what harms states harms nations. Governor's in many states are looking to CA and MA for a path to sanity on the issue of providing affordable, accessible healthcare services. Let' s hope the road leads right to the White House door.
Thank you very much Bill for the reply, that was the kind of backing I was hoping for! I hope you don't mind that I reposted your reply on Diversity at Work forum. hoku27 needed to be put in his place, you sure helped! | |
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