A few background facts about me:
- I have VERY good health insurance right now that I love and wish I could keep the rest of my life.
- One day I would like to be stay at home mom
- My husband is self-employed, therefore we would need to get self-insured in order for me to quit my job.
- I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma 2 years ago
- I am cancer free today because of health insurance and the medical industry with it's great benefits and research.
- As the health care system stands today, I am no longer free to quit my job if that opportunity would present itself because no one will insure me.
- I would be crazy to try and live without health insurance.
- I am not a political person by nature, in fact I usually steer clear of political debates.
- I am a registered republican and most of my views are conservative in nature.
- 2 1/2 years ago I wouldn't have given health care a second thought. I never had the need to. I was healthy, hardly ever went to the doctor, and would have felt fine going without health insurance for a period of time.
- Now...I feel very different.
Do I think it's a human right to have health insurance? No.
Do I want the government in every aspect of my life? No.
What I do believe is this:
Everyone should have the opportunity to have health insurance. I'm willing to pay more then the average person for mine. I get that...that because of my 'lucky' situation of having had cancer that my insurance should cost more than the average healthy person. I'm ok with that. But it needs to be within reason so that I don't have to go bankrupt to get it, which I can't even get at all right now. I would get flat out denied.
Many think this bill will deny freedom for them to live the way they want. I agree. However, I am not currently free to live the way I would like to either. Something needs to change.
Do I think this current bill has all the answers? No. I think the democrats are probably hiding some things in this bill that is not in everyone's best interest. I think the republicans are exaggerating and blowing things way out of proportion. The republicans all seem happy to be naysayers but I never hear them coming up with a solution, a bill. They spend all their time shooting it down and yet when Bush was in office he never seemed to push the issue for 8 years. They had 8 years to do something and it never became a big enough priority for them, so they let it go. So I for one am happy Obama is at least getting something done. At least there is action and it's a starting point to me. I don't agree with all of it but for me...I'm all for it.
Do any of you know someone in your family that if they had to go get health insurance on their own today, they wouldn't be able to? I would bet that most if not everyone knows someone that because of a minor or major medical issue, wouldn't be able to get their own insurance today. Most are just lucky they get it through their employers that can't deny for pre-existing conditions.
I certainly don't have all the answers but I really felt the need to vent a little. And hey it's my blog so I can do whatever I want. You are entitled to your opinion...in fact if you want to post a comment on your opinion, I'll read and listen to it. Just let me have my opinion as well.
7 comments:
Way to go! This is put perfectly. I agree, we are so lucky we have Brett's job that gives us great insurance. We would never be able to have him be self employed because we would never be given health insurance either. I don't have the answers, but something needs to change. I just REALLY hope the government doesn't take over health care. Because if they do then we can kiss a cure for cancer away. I like your points. I want to post it on facebook :) jk.
I appreciate your point of view and your guts to share it. You're right: Bush had plenty of time to do something. My wish as a conservative is that we would fix pieces of health care and not just overhaul the whole thing. It worries me just a tad that going to the doctor's will be like going to the post office or the DMV, you know? Let's just take one or two aspects of health care and reform it with everyone's input and get the green light from both sides of the aisle instead of just jamming something through just to say "We did something!" I've really hated this healthcare debate because Jason has been in a total coma about his future as a physician and what it will mean to him and his future practice. On Sunday when the bill passed, I had to tell Jason, "God will save His righteous people!" Ha ha! He was totally slumped over. It's amazing to see such passion on both sides of the argument. Thanks for sharing yours. I agree with Christy, it should be on facebook. Your perspective (and Christy's!) is a lot different from mine and others who have not gone through what you-all have. Gratefully we're all healthy ... for now.
I have more opinions, of course, but I will save them. Elections have consequences! The Dems are in charge now and then the Repubs will be next ... back and forth, back and forth.
I just wish we could get back to basics.
Okay, I'm stepping down now. Love you, Sheri.
All I know is political figures scare me lately...some for their actions and others for their lack of actions. It's a crazy world! Crazy-crazy!!!
So, tonight I am going to my party's caucus meeting. I want to more fully start having a say and being aware of who and what is representing me and my views.
Is this really part of being an adult? Why did I want to grow up so fast? Sheri...want to just meet up later and play barbies or ride our bikes to the gas station for some treats?
Good! For! You! You're right on the money. I think about you every time this debate fires up. We have to make progress somewhere.
And, for the record, I was rejected by insurance when I was out of work due to asthma. Asthma! Seriously!?
Health care bill? Never heard of it.
Somethings I’m not too terribly excited about with the bill:
1. Aspects of the ‘railroading’ of the bill, some concessions made with states (although not atypical with how most legislation is produced) and how quickly the vote took place.
2. Not sure how much of a tax burden this will be to not only me, but perhaps my children, and their children. Each side says something different.
3. This bill will probably have some kind of effect on my friends in the medical field, like those in pharmaceutical sales. Will some of their jobs be obsolete in 5 years? I hate to see people’s careers effected.
That being said, I have a good number of friends who freelance as artists, designers, and writers. It has become increasingly sobering not only how expensive healthcare is (and every increasing) to the self-employed -- but, like you Sheri, those with pre-existing conditions who are rejected for coverage. Their hands are tied. There are tens of millions of people without insurance in the U.S. who don’t have the kind of access to good insurance like some of us have. Something had to be done.
It’s not the ideal, but I think some type of reform was desperately needed. I’m not freaking out like pretty much everyone else in Utah.
And by the way -- one thing I can’t stand, that I’ve seen too much of around my parts, is the “religious-ization” of this (and almost every other political issue). I’ve seen/heard numerous comments like “I guess the Second Coming isn’t too far off” and “The Constitution hanging by a thread now! I want to head to the White House with the scriptures in hand and give the President a piece of my mind!” Not every issue is good v. evil, rather it’s trying to figure out the best solution to an extremely difficult issue and sometimes compromising to find one that’s not the ideal for everyone, but is functional. When we think in terms of “my idea is blessed by God and your idea is from the devil,” we not only lose the desire to compromise, but more importantly may not have a realistic view of the issue.
That’s my opinion, and I’m stickin’ to it.
I think it's important to pinpoint what, exactly, it is that has a majority of this country up in arms regarding the bill which was passed on Sunday.
In my humble opinion, and from what I've gathered from being emersed in politics on a daily basis, very few people are upset about those who truly need health insurance suddenly having the ability to obtain it. What has people upset, myself included, is the fact that it's being mandated, from a federal level.
This is the very definition of un-Constitutional. Uncle Sam cannot require anyone to purchase anything that they do not want to purchase, for better or for worse. At the state level, if you don't buy car insurance and get in a wreck, it's your own stupidity that's at risk. Uncle Sam won't send you a bill for $2,500 because of your lapse of judgement -- you'll simply be out MORE money to fix the other parties vehicle. But to have the government threaten you with fines in the thousands of dollars for not purchasing something that a whole lot of people do not want is a serious breach of our freedoms.
That being said, I understand that many with pre-existing conditions beyond their own control are put in a terrible situation in which they desire something that the market has priced so high that it's very difficult to obtain. But that's life. To suddenly pass that burdon upon the millions of Americans who, for better or worse, do not have such misfortunes is not the answer.
The ability to insure your health is not a right granted under the Constitution, it's a privelige granted by a free-market society.
Sheri, I understand your situation: there's no doubt that the costs to insure your health with your condition are very high: but having Uncle Sam force others to pitch in to help out is unfortunately not the right way to remedy the situation.
In my life-long conservative viewpoint, the tactics used by the current party in power to force this change upon the inhabitants of the nation are shady at best, and done with a seriously questionable undertone. Those in power don't give a rats rear-end about our health; if they did, they wouldn't pass legislation that puts those in the medical field out of business. What they crave is power. Suddenly convincing more than 40 million Americans that they are magically covered by the government when it comes to their health (despite the fact that it will only increase costs exponentially - see Canada and Britain for example) is simply a ploy to get 40 million more life-long Democratic voters. Just as the Great Society did in the 1960's (costing this nation hundreds of billions of dollars and creating an entire class dependent on the government to survive), this will only create more Democrats waiting for their benefits to arrive in the mail (or in this case, at the hospital).
President Obama is playing the role of Robin Hood, and I for one am ticked-off about it.
"But that's life."
There's got to be a better solution than that. Just think if that was the mantra used for all difficult political problems over the last two hundred years (My 8-year-old girl, for example, might actually be earning a few bucks in a 12-hour-a-day sweatshop! Sweet!).
There's millions of people in Sheri's situation -- they're not all freeloaders, rather they are hard working individuals who have their hands tied because of unattainable healthcare costs or no options whatsoever due to a pre-existing condition. I could see how these people might actually think some kind of reform would be good (and not evil).
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