I am one of the many people who have "pre-existing conditions." I have severe osteoarthritis, and have had multiple orthopedic procedures. I'm also a breast cancer survivor (5 years. Yay!). I first tried applying for supplemental medical or long term care insurance 10 years ago, right after my first knee replacement. I was denied. I tried applying at intervals to several different Insurance companies, and was turned down each time. Even AARP rejected my application, which I thought was kind of funny, but sad at the same time. I am for Obama's bill, because hopefully I can no longer be turned away for health insurance due to a pre-existing illness. I still work part-time 24 hours/week. That way I maintain my current health insurance. (Plus I love my job.) Being on Disability for my surgeries and having to pay COBRA health insurance cost close to $600/month. Believe me, I did not ask to be disabled so early in life. but I feel that I may go bankrupt in the future, if I lose my medical insurance and cannot get another policy to cover me.
If you think you can give every person in this country free health care and its not going to cost anything...well you should file papers to move to the same la la land obama is in.
I've been doing quiet well in this country for more years than I care to admit, and have never earnd $150,000 per year! If Obama cared for human rights and needs, he would not have passed a bill that allows for late term abortions, or are these fetus's not human? Then why, pray tell, do doctors to inutero surgery on fetus's? Yes they are
I agree that something should be done so that people like yourself can not be refused coverage or be made to pay more for coverage because of pre-existing conditions...however a bill could have been passed to make that happen without passing this bill.
"Hurried through"???? Gimme a break ... it was under consideration and posted online for a YEAR ... if you or your congresspeople didn't read it, it's your own fault.
And who said anything about free health care??? Of course there's that other crowd that has chosen to go without insurance who are kvetching about being forced to buy insurance ... maybe you can show them where to get this "free health care" you think is being offered.
I am for Obama's bill, because hopefully I can no longer be turned away for health insurance due to a pre-existing illness. I still work part-time 24 hours/week. That way I maintain my current health insurance. (Plus I love my job.) Being on Disability for my surgeries and having to pay COBRA health insurance cost close to $600/month. Believe me, I did not ask to be disabled so early in life. but I feel that I may go bankrupt in the future, if I lose my medical insurance and cannot get another policy to cover me.
What I found, by sorry experience, is that publicly funded programs need to be accessed early, to avoid bankruptcy. Pride and denial kept me from applying for aid in paying for my medications, food stamps and medi-cal (in CA), medicaid in VA, when I found myself in early enforced retirement, due to insurance companies adding $1,000/month to the premiums of employees over 55 years of age. Up until now, they could charge whatever they wanted, just as pharmaceutical companies and banks,credit cards, etc. do.
Another problem we need to hurdle is the states' administration of Federal programs. I've been told that VA is responsible for summarily removing $400. from my social security check in March this year, to backpay for Medicare B, which had been paid while I lived in VA, before I left for 6 months to visit my son in CA. So I appealed that. I was told that only VA could reverse that...... I guess Federal funding doesn't cross state lines..... so whenever, for however long I'm away on a visit from the state where I have extra help financially, being poor, I'm not allowed to travel. Sort of like Russia and "Red" China were renowned and for which we dissed them, in this "free" country. I believe that those problems are best handled by this administration as they arise, unchecked from the last one.
Bitterness, disappointment with a system long touted for being "the best"; and lack of concern for others in less fortunate circumstances abounds in this country, with the "haves" and "have nots" being discontent with the way things are going - along with the threat (with accusations from our young), that weare spending "their" money, for which they will be penalized in their old age. Did we promise them a rose garden?
Each generation strives to improve conditions left them by the last one, even post war legacies of greatly disadvantaged veterans. Hopefully the resistance of the military to combining medical facilities and staff, in an effort to stop that wasteful double tiered system, will yield savings. Yet everyone tells me that's impossible. Why? is my question. Nothing is impossible when costs need to be contained, and waste occurs. We've integrated the military, schools and hospitals, etc. which was formerly thought to be impossible, due to long upheld tolerance and the prevalation of aberrant, unreasonable racial prejudice.
"Hurried through"???? Gimme a break ... it was under consideration and posted online for a YEAR ... if you or your congresspeople didn't read it, it's your own fault.
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Now thats funny right there. The original draft may have been. But the finished one...the one that was rushed through before november when things are going to change....that one wasnt. So please be specific. Blanket statements are always far from the truth.
And you cant blame every person for their congressman not reading it. For instance, people that live in astronomically liberal areas have no say. I can call my congressman every day of the week, four or five times a day and he will just laugh at me. I wont get him reelected. The bobble head dolls that voted him in will. he works for them, not me. And the more bobble heads procreate, the more bobble heads we have out there that will just sit and take instead of standing up and getting.
Now thats funny right there. The original draft may have been. But the finished one...the one that was rushed through before november when things are going to change....that one wasnt. So please be specific. Blanket statements are always far from the truth.
And you cant blame every person for their congressman not reading it. For instance, people that live in astronomically liberal areas have no say. I can call my congressman every day of the week, four or five times a day and he will just laugh at me. I wont get him reelected. The bobble head dolls that voted him in will. he works for them, not me. And the more bobble heads procreate, the more bobble heads we have out there that will just sit and take instead of standing up and getting.
I live in a very liberal state myself and I did write to not only MY congressman/woman but to every one. I got lovely form letters back telling me I was wrong but thanks for writing.
I voted an adament, obmoxious "no!". Firstly because to refer to this legislation as 'Healthcare Reform' is a misnomer. Healthcare is not the issue, Paying for it is. There are so many areas that coul and should have been addressed, but weren't. Being able to shop around for coverage across State lines was a wonderful idea. However, My biggest concern is that people without insurance are so grossly over charged for medical care. If I could pay $200.00 three times a week for my office visits and $475.00 weekly for labs I would be able to afford private health insurance and pay the contracted rate of $35.00 or less for ov and $10.00 for lab. If any of you have investigated these new 'We cover anything' plans that are available to uninsured persons you will notice that most of them have high out of pocket costs and very limited benefits payable. Basically, they just cut you out of any assistance you would have qulified for and still empty your savings. Just a personal note: I have worked at least 1 job and many times 2 jobs since I was 15 years old. I have never rec'd public assistance. I am 54 years old and was recently taken out of work by my doctor beacause of my health. I require supplemental oxygen with all activity and during sleep. If I am approved for early Medicare I must go six months without pay. Iam not elicible for Unemployment. I cannot pay for COBRA because I have no money coming in and my insurance payment went from $120.00 per month to $474.00 dollars per month. I will not have Medicare until I have been disabled per Social Security guidelines for 2 years and 6 months. Try getting private insurance under these circumstances. Just using a personal situation to illustrate the problem. Medicaid has denied my eligibility.
Many have said that we can't afford this....we can't afford what we have now which is folks getting substandard care for a heck of a lot of money. Instead of folks having insurance and going to a doctor for every upper respiratory infection.....they're currently going to the ED! Who exactly do you think is paying for that?
Not only are we paying an exorbitant amount for that patient to get an antibiotic for their bronchitis....but the patient is not getting proper care. They're not being seen by a primary care practitioner that knows them, their history and will will follow up with them; they are being seen in a vacuum and the practitioner seeing them knows only what the patient remembers and tells them. We need to do better.
Is this bill even close to perfect? Of course not. But it is a tiny little baby step toward the change we need.
I live in a very liberal state myself and I did write to not only MY congressman/woman but to every one. I got lovely form letters back telling me I was wrong but thanks for writing.
So, I feel your pain. :smackingf
steph
Well yeah, but that goes both ways. I spent close to ten years living in a painfully conservative community. Needless to say, my voice was not heard at the polls. That's just the way the cookie crumbles some times... :anbd:
twinkletoes53
202 Posts
I am one of the many people who have "pre-existing conditions." I have severe osteoarthritis, and have had multiple orthopedic procedures. I'm also a breast cancer survivor (5 years. Yay!). I first tried applying for supplemental medical or long term care insurance 10 years ago, right after my first knee replacement. I was denied. I tried applying at intervals to several different Insurance companies, and was turned down each time. Even AARP rejected my application, which I thought was kind of funny, but sad at the same time. I am for Obama's bill, because hopefully I can no longer be turned away for health insurance due to a pre-existing illness. I still work part-time 24 hours/week. That way I maintain my current health insurance. (Plus I love my job.) Being on Disability for my surgeries and having to pay COBRA health insurance cost close to $600/month. Believe me, I did not ask to be disabled so early in life. but I feel that I may go bankrupt in the future, if I lose my medical insurance and cannot get another policy to cover me.