Healthcare reform is not a hot topic amongst my friends and I. We don’t sip our martinis and discuss the latest developments nor do we know how the vote will pan out over the next few days. I’d venture to guess most Gen-X or Gen-Yers just aren’t paying too much attention, resigning ourselves again that something as big as overturning insurance giants is too far out of reach.
But we should care. Below are four reasons you should care about this important reform and what you can do to help.
1. 47,000,000 Americans. That’s the estimate of how many of our citizens do not have health care. Conservatives estimate it’s “only 10,000,000.” Either way, it’s millions too many.
2. Read the info from the people happy with the status quo. As I looked for sites and organizations happy about the current state of health affairs, I stumbled upon http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba649. The site heralds the top ten good things about our current system, reminding us that “Americans are responsible for the vast majority of health care innovations.” What does this have to do with whether our current system works for its citizens though? For 47 million, it’s clearly not.
3. 28% of us can’t fill our prescriptions. Whether it’s asthma inhalers, birth control, or meds for more serious conditions, over a quarter of us who can go to the doctor, can’t afford to fulfill the doctor’s orders.
4. You could be denied. I have a heart condition — mitral valve prolapse. Recent statistics show 3% of the population has this condition. I have no symptoms, do not take prescription medication for the condition, and can jog comfortably for five miles. When I applied for health insurance through Anthem Blue Cross, I was denied due to this condition that has not yet impacted my life in any major way. This is just one of the reasons you or someone in your family could be denied coverage.
As our elected officials move to vote on Obama’s health care plan, educate yourself. Visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/ to learn more about the plan. Call your representative and urge your friends to do the same. I do not propose that Obama’s plan will cure all the ills of the U.S. health care system, but it is a step in the right direction.
Photo via LibertyRise
My parents had healthcare through Blue Cross (my dad has diabetes and my mother had the Lap Band surgery) and they were paying $1800 a month (they’re self employed). The insurance kept lying to them about how much weight my mother had to lose to cut the costs and because of current conditions, the only insurance they could get is terrible and barely covers anything. As the state of affairs get worse, I’m still not sure Obama’s got the right idea. Force everyone to have healthcare but not have a public option? Make it so no one can be turned away, but will he cap the amount health insurance companies can charge a person for service? I think we should scrap our current healthcare companies and start over.
Oh yes, the private sector is way too inefficient. Let’s put the government in charge…
The only way to fix healthcare is by tort reform.
Ty, we both know that is not going to happen. I know it is settling, and I love that people like you and D-Wrex won’t settle, but I’m going to go settle for something that is better than what’s happening now. I’d like a slice of insurance, please.
Sure, everyone wants a slice of insurance. But it’s not going to be free. $1.5 trillion is a lot of money. It’s deficit spending, debt against the value of the currency itself. Would you take out a credit card to pay for your own health insurance? No, because if you can’t pay for it straight up, going into debt is only going to make you bankrupt. This is the same thing as paying for the nation’s health reform as a deficit expenditure. Our economy isn’t in such great shape now, you know; this certainly isn’t going to help it… As for tort reform being a pipe dream: It’s the same government that is pushing to take over health care that is in charge of judicial liability. If you think about that enough, it’s practically a form of blackmail…