Posts Tagged Healthcare

Warning: The following post contains some adult language.

I’ve been in a bit of an ill-tempered mood this week, so I decided to put this post on the back burner overnight and come back to it to make sure it wasn’t too ranty. But no, after reading it this morning, I think it entails the proper amount of rant for the situation. I’m pissed off. Thoroughly, and with full justification.

Here’s the situation. I have health insurance. I only went without for a couple of years while I was unemployed.  I started out with really good health insurance, actually, but the company (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia) raised my monthly premiums by an average of $50 on an annual basis. I tolerated it for the first few years, but over the last few the increases have been beyond what my budget can handle, and I’ve had to downgrade to a higher deductible, lower benefit plan. Even so, I stayed under the same carrier and even the same member group.

This year they increased my premiums by $60 in March. Today I got a notice that they will be increasing my monthly premium again by $60 in July.

That’s a healthcare premium increase of $120.00/month over the course of less than six months, bringing my premium up to what amounts to a week and a half’s pay.

Now . . . keep in mind that I am in what is probably the best health of my life, where I am neither starving myself as I did in high school or eating mounds and mounds of junk food as I did in college.  I eat healthy. I do an hour of high intensity exercise every day.  I haven’t been to the doctor in years except for my annual physical, which I get at a sliding fee clinic and pay for out of pocket, because over the last couple of years I’ve been forced to raise my deductible to the point where that is the only way I can afford to go.

The only thing that I have ever used my health insurance to pay for since I have had it was an eye exam and a pair of glasses.

I just did the calculations , and this means that I have paid approximately (and this is on the low end) $12,000.00 in premiums for . . . a pair of glasses.

But BCBS feels justified in raising my premium by almost $120/month over the course of less than six months.

Yeeeeah. I’m tempted to drop my insurance entirely and wait out the five years until the new healthcare regulations go into effect, but at the same time I’m terrified that in the backlash will result in a Republican Congress that will repeal and destroy the one hope I’ve had in years for decent healthcare. The free market system for healthcare doesn’t work.  I have health insurance, yes . . . but I still can’t afford to go to the doctor. True, I need it little now, but if I did need it, or goddess forbid, I had an accident of some sort and had to go to the hospital, I would be bankrupt.

Right now I’m looking into the healthcare savings plans offered through my bank, as that may be the best option for me right now.  I’ve tried free market health insurance, and all it ever did was screw me up the ass.  It’s little more than protection money.  I pay through the nose for no benefit whatsoever. It’s time to look into other options.  And I think I’ll be writing to the state insurance commissioner. A $120 increase in monthly premiums in such a short time has to raise some red flags somewhere.

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I am an over-weight, fairly low-income person, and I am in favor of the fat tax being debated for empty-calorie, high-sugar and high-fat items such as sodas and junk food.

Before the modern era of quick and cheep fast food and junk food, obesity was a problem of the rich and wealthy, who never wanted for food and could eat to excess, whereas the poor were generally the underfed and malnourished.

That has changed, in America, at least.  The cheapest calories today are the least nutritious and most fattening and dangerous. Healthy food, particularly fresh produce, has a tendency to be both hard to obtain in some areas, and ridiculously expensive when it is available.  (For instance, I have switched to using extra lean ground turkey instead of beef in some recipes, but the turkey tends to run almost $2-3/pound more than the higher-fat ground beef.)

With everyone, including the poor, moving away from high-activity manual labor jobs, people are exercising less, or not at all. While things like walking and running remain free, access to weight-loss support systems and guided and supported exercise programs are increasingly expensive.  Good health is for the wealthy.

While any type of luxury tax (such as the taxes on alcohol and tobacco now) has a tendency to prey heavily on the poor, it would at least act as a discouraging factor by raising the prices on these items.  The money raised can then be put into nutrition education and establishing those support programs that, right now, the poor have little to no access to.

With support and assistance, and a little hand-holding, lack of motivation can be conquered. Making it more attractive and less expensive to buy healthy food items rather than junk food can only help.  The fat tax itself would only be one thing out of the many that would need to be implemented for it to succeed, but together they would lower the number of people with those diseases that are brought on due to unhealthy behaviors.

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I didn’t post yesterday because Senator Baucus released his proposal for healthcare reform, and I wanted to have a good chance to look it over before posting any remarks, since I’d prefer my opinions to be formed based on the actual document rather than what people tell me it contains.

The Chairman’s Mark  (a vernacular version of the bill) is available for download as a PDF file here: Baucus Proposal PDF

It’s a 223 page document comparing the provisions of the law as it stands now with the reforms proposed by Senator Baucus. It’s intended to be a starting point, a first draft, of sorts, for the new healthcare legislation.

It does not include a public option.  After reading through it I decided the best way to form a good opinion on the matter was to classify what it said in terms of pros and cons, the things I liked vs. the things I didn’t, so I made some lists.

Here’s a quick summary of the main points after the more tag. (This is going to be long!):

(more…)

Writing my post on the inflammatory lies being spread in attempts to kill healthcare reform and reading an interesting article at Slate on the best way to kill those lies got me to thinking about the nature of truth.

Truth tends to be relative. I’m not talking about cold, hard, indisputable fact, but truth.  That is, what people believe to be the truth, which quite often, these days, has only the broadest and most unsubstantial link to actual fact.

People will believe the truth is what they want the truth to be. Period. Whether that truth has a basis in fact has little to no effect on if it will be believed.  This is why we can end up with people who believe, absolutely, in things like the death panels.  People believe that it is true because people they trust said it is true, and everywhere that they choose to go (on the internet, on the news channels they choose to watch on television) also say that it is true.  Therefore, it becomes a truth, though a truth not at all centered in factual information.

They do not bother to look to a source that might dispute the validity of such a statement, and if anyone does dispute the validity of such statements, well, the disputer’s facts must be faulty in some manner, because we all know that the truth is the truth, right?

Like seeks like, so we as human beings tend to seek out those who share our opinions.  And by seeking out only those sources and communities that share our opinions, the only truths we come across are those which we most want to be true, and so when confronted with facts that run in opposition to that which we’ve heard within those communities and sources is true, those facts must be either wrong or outright lies.

This is why some otherwise intelligent people can believe, in no uncertain terms, that all Muslims are terrorists, Obama wasn’t born an American, and the Democrats are conspiring to kill our grandmas.  Every news source they choose to use to find out these things is telling them this, every community they partake in agrees with them on this, and so opinions and lies somehow gain an aura of truth, because dissenting opinions are never sought.

It’s an interesting paradox.  Today, thanks to the internet, we have access to as many points of view as there are people, and yet, we only seek out those points of view which agree with our own.  Shouldn’t we be using this resource as a way to broaden our minds?  Shouldn’t we learn how to filter through the spin and the politics to find the actual facts regardless of how different those facts might be from what we believe?

The tactics and outright lies regarding the healthcare debate these days just have to make me boggle, first at the thought that the people spreading such outright lies think they can get away with it and that other people are believing it and eating it up like pie.

There’s a good site that I recommend to anyone trying to filter the spin out of politics, the Pulitzer award site “PolitiFact“, which is entirely non-partisan and takes the statements of our politicians and puts them to the fact-checking test.

Here are some of the more ridiculous lies going about these days, in attempts to scare people away from health reform:

They’re going to force gramma to submit to euthanasia when she gets too old and expensive to take care of!

Um. No. Honestly, how can anyone believe something like that and call themselves a rational and intelligent human being?  The plan does require that elderly meet with counselors to help plan what they want for end-of-life care while they are still able to make those decisions, to encourage people to actually be responsible and lay out what they choose for how they want to be cared for while their still able, so that their caregivers and doctors don’t have to guess about it once their ability to make those decisions is gone.

A living will is a good thing to have, I have one, and I’m young and healthy. I like knowing that if something happens to me, if I were in a car accident or something, that my family will know what I want done, what sort of care I do or do not desire, but the options I chose in that living will are my choice alone, as they will be for any of the seniors who may fill one out with their counselors under this provision.  If, however, they wait until something does happen, and they’re unable to fill out those forms or make those decisions, well, then it is left in the hands of their children and next-of-kin to decide what is to be done, with no guidance whatsoever as to what the ill person might actually wish.

Taxpayer money will go to fund abortions!

Again, no.  Abortions will not be funded under any government healthcare plan, nor will independent  insurance companies be required to fund them.  You don’t have to worry about anyone spending your tax money on Evil Baby Murder via abortion…no, that tax money is going to kill other people in other countries, because we all know that sort of murder is right as rain. (/sarcasm).

So, poor teenage girls unable to support their accidental pregnancy will still either have to pay out of pocket for their abortion, or will go on welfare once the baby is born, which means you’ll be spending exponentially more of your taxpayer dollars to feed and clothe that baby, because no taxpayer dollars will go to pay for abortions. Do you feel better now?

Taxpayer money will go to pay for sex-change operations for all those weird gay people and we can’t have that!

Um…no, this one ranks right up there with the Obama-wants-to-kill-gramma one.  I just don’t know what sort of answer to give.  This is still, essentially, a cosmetic and voluntary surgery regardless of the psychological benefit it may provide to the people who undergo it, so don’t worry, you don’t have to worry about your taxpayer money being spent to support an “immoral” lifestyle…unless you count all those philandering politicians you’re paying the paychecks for.

I don’t make any secret as to where my sympathies or politics lie, but if you want to have a look at the non-partisan analysis of the political commentary on healthcare, take a look at the chart at PolitiFact – it is rather interesting to see who is telling the truth, who is outright lying, and who is telling the truth, but telling it slant.  It might make you think.

Hold the people in politics accountable, regardless of what side of the fence they sit on, and make them tell the truth, for once. We’re the only ones that can.

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First of all, I am one of those people who work a full time job that does not offer insurance, and who cannot afford to pay for a decent insurance plan – the insurance I have, therefore, is of a catastrophic nature.  You know the sort, only good for a very expensive emergency, with a high deductible that would put me in debt if I ever actually had to pay it. So I don’t go to the doctor.  Even when I spent three months coughing my lungs up with chronic bronchitis…I didn’t go to the doctor.

So yes, I have a personal stake in this, as does every single other American.  I feel strongly about this issue.  I am biased. I’ll admit that, and with good reason.

I want affordable healthcare that won’t put me in the poorhouse.  Is that really too much to ask?

Because you see, healthcare for the poor isn’t what’s at issue here. We already have that, the free tax-payer funded healthcare for people who are below the poverty line either through bad luck, disability, or just decide that they don’t want to work out of laziness and are  content to live off of welfare.

And the wealthy, and people who have good healthcare benefits through their employer don’t have to worry either.  It’s the people who are in the middle who are SOL.  There’s people like me, who work for small private firms that can’t afford to give health insurance benefits to their employees (we only have two full-time employees here other than the owner).  There are the people who are self-employed and have to pay ridiculously high premiums because they don’t qualify for group health insurance.

People who work hard, pay their taxes, support their families – and who can lose everything the moment they or someone dependent on them gets sick, because they don’t have insurance or have insufficient insurance.

I don’t ask for free healthcare, all I want is good insurance with a premium that I can afford to pay.  I think that if you asked most people in the same situation, they would say the same.  If the only way to guarantee that insurance companies will actually control costs instead of milking us for every penny they can get is to include a public option, then bring it on!

As the significant-other of a pharmacist, and neice of the woman in charge of health services for a neighboring county, I also hear a great deal about how inefficient the healthcare system in general is, how much money is spent that doesn’t have to be spent because of poor practices, inefficient communication between healthcare professionals, and just general incompetence.

I hear how drug companies now spend more on direct-to-consumer advertising than on proper research and development, repatenting and repackaging the same drugs over and over again once a generic is available so that they can keep charging ridiculous prices for them. I hear how due to that advertising, instead of doctors prescribing the best medications to treat their patients, they’re getting patients coming in requesting medications that they may not even need – and getting prescriptions for them.

So what I see with the “Healthcare Reform” is a twofold solution, something that we’ve needed for a long time.  The prospect of affordable healthcare is only a small part of it.  The whole system needs to be made more efficient.  There needs to be better communication between healthcare professionals, better sharing of patient records so that the same proceedures don’t have to be repeated when you move from a primary care physician to a specialist.

Primary care, in general, with prevention and maintenance programs included with it, needs to be more readily available and covered, so that people don’t avoid going to the doctor until an illness gets so bad that only the most drastic (and expensive) measures can treat it.

The abuses of the system need to be cut out – the drug-seekers who go to multiple doctors to get the same prescriptions to support their addiction (or worse, to sell).  The doctors who order unnecessary proceedures to fill their purses, and the insurance companies that force doctors to stay their hands rather than providing a necessary treatment.

Everyone’s afraid that we can’t afford to do this, but can we really afford not to?

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A news report and several articles over the last little while got me thinking about this new fad, the “Fat Acceptance Movement“.

First, like most girls growing up these days, I never really accepted the way my body looked, even when I was younger and thin.  I dieted obsessively and often unhealthily throughout high school (the “one plate of spinach with olive oil and vinegar per day” diet….) and got down to a very unhealthy weight.  Then, once I graduated started college (and quit taking dance class three times a week and started eating lots of fast food) I went too far in the other direction, getting up to nearly 250 pounds.

I think it was when my mom bought me that pair of size 24W pants that I said enough was enough and started watching what I ate.

However, a few months ago I woke up one morning and had what can only be described as an epiphany. I looked in my mirror and I liked what I saw.  I was happy with myself.

So reading about and seeing the news reports on this movement made me think of that moment, and how satisfying it was that, for the first time in my life, I was able to accept myself as I was.

That’s not to say I gave up on eating healthy and exercising, but I’m not “dieting” anymore. Honestly, I like healthy food, always have.  I’m a huge fruit addict. Most of the unhealthy junk food I would eat would be on some sort of emotional binge-eating cycle where I’d get the worst possible thing I could get and eat the whole box/bag/etc. in one sitting.

I’m still exercising, too…because I’ve got arthritis and being able to actually move around without pain feels good….and the exercise helps that and because I’ve found it’s actually fun.  I’m not exercising anymore because I want to be thin.

The not dieting is a good thing, I think…the constant dieting cycle is horrible for you anyway.  Unfortunately, I think a lot of people will look at these articles and stories and go “Oh, it’s okay to be unhealthy now! Fat Powah!”

… No, I don’t think that’s what this is about, exactly.  It’s good and healthy to accept yourself as you are, but you also need to take your health into consideration.  Not the way you look, but the way you feel.  That’s why I’m still exercising though I’ve embraced the way I look….because the exercise makes me feel better.

So I’m a bit of two minds of what I think about this “Fat Acceptance” thing.  It’ll be too easy for people to use it as a license to kill themselves.

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I’ve written on this before, but one of Neil Gaiman‘s latest blog posts brought the issue to mind again, and I very nearly missed the deadline to add my own thoughts to the open forum discussion on this topic.

You see, my grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease. She is at a very late, advanced stage. She is no longer easily able to form entire words, much less sentences, she does not recognize her daughters, grandchildren, or husband. She has to be fed, or she forgets to eat any food placed in front of her, and she has to wear diapers, for she has forgotten how to use a toilet or clean herself.  And yet, her body, such as it is, remains fairly healthy. She exists lost in a mind that has become so twisted and tangled that she cannot find her way out.

There is no hope that she will ever regain her memory, that she will ever be able to function normally again, that she will ever regain the dignity she has lost.

But Alzheimers is a hereditary disease. She was not the first in our family to have it, all of her sisters had it.  It’s probable that my aunt, my mother, my cousins, or myself will one day face this same thing.

Stem-cell research is the only research avenue offering hope for a real result, perhaps not a cure, perhaps only a stay-of-execution….but of a far better and more successful result than any of the current medicines can offer.

If you have anything to say on this topic, whatsoever…please visit the links mentioned here: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd5vs2xt_0hkwp6xd8 and let your voice be heard.