(no subject)

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Link here to an article in today's Guardian about the US healthcare debate, and what kind of care those 46 million Americans without health insurance can get under the current system.

Comments

[mutelorelei.livejournal.com]

That article doesn't even come close to the horrors of many people who don't have insurance. It's not even necessarily better for those who have crappy insurance, or Medicaid. My mom's been off and on Medicaid for a few years, as the Social Security puts her on for a few months, then yanks her off (her SS benefits also bounce all over the place and keep almost being cut off entirely). Even when she has it, it only covers 3 prescriptions a month and she's pretty much treated like shit most of the time by the doctors with or without it because they know she is poor. She has a lot of chronic severe health conditions and is barely alive. She is in and out of the hospital and when she has to stay overnight or for a few days, they put her in the special 'poor people' part of the hospital (only they don't call it that of course) where she is usually seperate from other patients by several rooms distance, if not a whole wing, and is mostly ignored. I can understand why she is so reluctant to go, even when she's doing very badly and should go. She needs a heart transplant, but she's never going to get it and probably won't make it another year or two, though she's surprised us all, especially her doctors.

I myself haven't had insurance since I was a young child and my father was still alive and working good jobs. I also have some chronic conditions that have been going untreated for quite some time. There is no way I could afford the pills that I already know I should be taking without insurance. I work part time because it's all I can handle without medicine. Even so, I often feel like I can't handle it and wish I could take more vacation time, between my increasingly unstable blood sugar and my ever-present depression especially.

I'm sure something will get passed, but I'm very worried it will be so watered down as to be useless, or even making things worse somehow. Why are there so many ignorant people out there? Most of the people I know who worship Fox 'News' and freaking out over this reform are not rich people. A lot of them bitch about their medical bills all the time. They should be supporting this.

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I'm so sorry to read your mother's appalling situation, and of your own. I hope for everyone's sake, even the Fox News 'worshippers', of whom the woman in the YouTube clip is probably one, as apparently her husband has no insurance, that some sort of useful reform will be implemented.

It seems astonishing that the health of a nation can be held to ransome in this way by a few disgustingly wealthy insurance companies.

[mutelorelei.livejournal.com]

I think it probably took a lot of years for the insurance companies to build up such absolute power, but it's not infallible forever - just look at telecommunications companies, like AT&T, and Microsoft, things like that, they used to be more powerful than they are now (their power is still dangerous and formidable, certainly, but they don't always get their way and I would say that their influence is slowly continuing to decline). It's partially that people are so irrational about this very important issue, and I think people everywhere value doctors so much that it clouds their judgement sometimes. The entire health industry is very much one of the big funding sources for the Republican party (and to a lesser extent, the Democrats). So of course they don't want to compromise their bribe money source. The Democrats are afraid of pissing off/scaring off too many people with big changes.

Even if somehow, miraculously, we do end up passing the full public option, it's just a start. A very important start. But things need to be reformed on the doctor end too. And it's all going to take time to lower prices.

If you haven't read this, it's another good explanation -
http://digitalroam.typepad.com/digital_roam/2009/08/american-health-care-on-4-napkins-now-all-together.html

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Thanks for that link. It was very informative.