HEALTH CARE REFORM: CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?

As you know, I try to stay away from politics and religion (see my posting, Religion and Politics, 3/20/08). You really can't win discussing these things with people who have opposing views. Health care reform should not be political (nor religious). It seems like so many people know that things need to change, but fight strongly against the efforts being made. I listened to our President speak on it the other night, and I do believe that everybody needs to at least agree that some changes need to be made. For example: too many people can't afford health insurance (good health care should be a right, not a privilege), therefore many many people don't have it; people who don't have it end up in the emergency room more often, so we as taxpayers end up paying for it (and generally, it's a lot more expensive); and the "pre-existing condition" loophole that insurance companies use to deny coverage, often after you've already been paying for years, is TOTALLY RIDICULOUS. There's more, but I expect (and hope) that we pretty much agree so far.


I want to address this issue from 2 perspectives. I am a consumer, and a health care provider. As a consumer, at 55 I have most likely had some health issue that is going to prevent me from changing my health insurance because of a (here we go...) preexisting condition. So my current insurance company can continue to raise my premium, which my last one did every year, and I can't change to a new one. Did I mention that my policy is already quite expensive? With a large deductible. And my policy doesn't cover non-traditional medical care. I'm not happy with traditional care because of its focus on drugs and surgery (though I know they are both necessary in many situations). The last time I saw my doctor he told me that vitamins and nutrition supplements are useless (as he wrote my prescription)! I got a new doctor.


As a health care provider, I'm again aware of how many people who need help can't get it because they don't have insurance, and can't afford to pay (even with our sliding scale fee). Children, and families who REALLY need help, can't get the quality help that they need. Actually, some of these families do have health insurance, but their insurance company only allows their subscribers to go to a limited number of counselors. And there are very few (especially males) in our community who work with children.

This is definitely not all about insurance companies. There are actually a lot of great health insurance plans out there from my perspective as a consumer, and a provider. My point is that everybody should have access to those types of plans, and the best in health care coverage. This country needs universal health care (whatever name you give it). Can we all agree on that, and put our collective efforts towards making that a reality in this country? So many other countries are doing it so much better than we are, and America is paying a lot more for health care than they are. That is sad. Let's get it done.

One last thing. The most important part of changing health care, is improving how we care for our own health. We have to be responsible for taking care of ourselves and our children. That means (yes, I'll lay it out there, though this ain't nothing new) exercise, less fast foods, moderating our bad habits, less sugar (and high fructose corn syrup), etc., etc,. As I said earlier, let's get it done.

We send our positive thoughts and prayers to the families of those who were lost on 9/11/01.

(See my blog posting of 9/1/08)