I just read the John Edwards’ Universal Health Care Plan in its entirety. I am providing this LINK to the overview. It is well worth the time it takes to read it.
Perhaps, more than many Americans I am interested in the Health Care issue, especially Edwards’ plan. We all seem to gravitate towards that issues that most affect us.
I would like to speak to the present health care issue in America. I speak from family experience. There are many reasons people don’t have health care. Some can’t afford it. Some are denied because of physical conditions. Some people pay premiums, thinking that some things will be covered and knowing that others won’t, only to discover that most insurance carriers can trace just about anything, including a sneeze, back to a pre-existing condition.
Recently, I became aware of a situation where the patient went to the hospital without insurance. Once upon a time he had paid insurance premiums, but his claims had been denied for some rather mundane issues because of a pre-existing condition. So, rather than feed the insurance companies, he dropped the policy and like all too many Americans he played Russian roulette with his health care. It took almost forty years for him to lose at the game.
Refusing to go to the hospital because he knew he couldn’t pay, the condition worsened. Finally, when it was life or death he was admitted. Three months later…. with a bill of well over $500,000…. he went home, only to have his house in foreclosure because he could no longer make the payments.
This specific example isn’t one of a person who was negligent or irresponsible. It is the story of a person who didn’t fit into one category or another, so it became the story of a human falling through the cracks in the system. You see, this individual didn’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid because he worked when he could. Imagine that! In America, if you have a disability and you try to do the right thing, to earn the American dream, you are penalized.
There has to be a balance. America can help those who try to help themselves. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. As it is today, if you have a disability, you are forced to live well below the poverty level if you are to be covered by insurance. We are better than that as a nation. We can provide health care for those in circumstances that warrant it without taking away the incentive to work, the incentive to live the American dream.
Insurance companies are now able to pick and choose their clients and pick and choose the claims they pay. Whether it is health care or property insurance (Katrina victims), insurance companies are more than willing to bleed their policyholders dry to make a profit and then cry “wolf” when a claim is made. I’m not going to say, “it isn’t fair”. I’m old enough to know that life isn’t fair. But, I am also old enough to realize that every American citizen should have health care without penalty.
It’s easy to ignore the issue unless you are the one in need. I implore Americans to stop taking the approach that if it isn’t impacting my life today, it doesn’t matter. It does. You may have today, but you don’t know what tomorrow may bring. We are a better nation than one that says let every man fend for himself. We are …. one nation…. under God… so they say. But, only John Edwards’ universal health care plan appears to bring every human in America into that “one nation” equally.
