{"id":2165,"date":"2009-08-18T19:06:57","date_gmt":"2009-08-18T23:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/?p=2165"},"modified":"2009-08-19T00:57:48","modified_gmt":"2009-08-19T04:57:48","slug":"why-the-us-needs-universal-health-care-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/?p=2165","title":{"rendered":"Why the US needs universal health care coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retitled: Why Universal Health Care Isn’t As Scary As You Think It Is<\/em><\/p>\n

I am frustrated with Obama. I am frustrated that he told us he would make changes (saying that the health reform bill must have a public option), and now he’s backpeddling. But what makes me even angrier is all of the misinformation and paranoia out there about universal health care and that scary “socialism.”<\/p>\n

* The wait times are not for life-threatening problems! If you need immediate help, you get immediate help. You walk in to an ER and get whatever you need. Yes, there is a wait to get assigned a “family doctor.” I didn’t have one for a couple of years. But you know what I did? I went to a walk-in clinic. I would walk in, sit down, and wait to be called. At bad times it could take a few hours, but usually it was about an hour wait. I personally never had anything major to deal with, but aunts had mammograms, family friends had cancer treatments. The people who had cancer treatments survived, by the way. They got the treatment they needed, they beat the cancer, and they never paid a dime. Not a single penny.<\/p>\n

* In Universal Health Care the government doesn’t decide what to approve or deny you. Your doctor does. Yes, there are a very few things excluded from universal coverage (unfortunately infertility is one of them, in Canada – which needs to be changed) – but there is no government committee that sits and reviews claims by doctors to accept or reject them like our insurance companies here do. If your doctor orders a test because he or she thinks it’s necessary, then you get the test. If you need to see a therapist, your doctor refers you and you get it. The control is back where it should be: the doctors.<\/p>\n

* We are all paying money into our health insurance companies through our exorbitant premiums. But where is a bulk of that money going? To the insurance companies, of course! They’re getting rich off of our money, while denying claims because we didn’t send in the right form, or we had a pre-existing condition. The decisions these companies are making for our health are NOT based on what is best for us, it’s based on what will save them money. I find it deplorable. Something this important should not be a money-maker. Our lives should not be in the hands of people who see dollars and cents.<\/p>\n

* Right now employers are shouldering a large burden. There are a lot of small companies out there that are having to not provide health insurance for their employees, or are losing money. It’s a HUGE expense and I think it’s entirely unfair, especially at a time when this when so many small businesses are struggling. And it’s not fair to their employees who have to go without health insurance while working a good job, bringing home money to their families. You shouldn’t have to choose your job based on what health insurance they offer. You should be able to accept a job that works for you, for whatever employer, and know that regardless of where you work that you WILL be taken care of.<\/p>\n

* There is a HUGE number of uninsured in America. These are people who go bankrupt because they broke a bone. These are often people who work hard, but have employers who can’t afford health insurance for their employees. Some of my very best friends cannot afford private health insurance – hell, I don’t think I could, if we didn’t have it sponsored through work. This is just not okay. It is not okay that people are sick and dying because they can’t afford the care they need. Think about what would happen if you or your husband lost your job – which is happening to many, many people right now. To people with children, people who don’t have a spouse to rely on. These people need some kind of coverage to get them through until they find a job.<\/p>\n

* US has the second worst infant mortality rate in the developed world<\/a>. That is atrocious. Beyond atrocious. The US lags way, way behind all of the countries with socialized care. There are other issues that play into that, but there is obviously something that we are doing very, very wrong here.<\/p>\n

* Universal Coverage is not an “experiment”. It is implemented – successfully – in all other industrialized countries… except the US. WE are the experiment – and it is failing. So many Americans have this huge kneejerk reaction to the very thought of it, because we are different and they insist that this system is working. It’s working for half… and utterly failing the other half. That is not an acceptable system, in my mind.<\/p>\n

What we should be aiming for is a Universal Coverage that is AS GOOD AS what the best people get now. You shouldn’t have to be rich to see a specialist for your condition. We should not be sitting on the phone arguing with insurance companies who want to keep our money and not pay our claims. We should be able to have our babies without worrying about how we’re going to pay for the hospital bills. I know people have fears, because nothing is perfect and there is going to be growing pains. But let’s fix what’s wrong. Let’s improve this. Let’s make sure ALL Americans are healthy.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer\/Notice: What the US government is currently mulling over is NOT universal healthcare – not even close. But I’m tired of hearing people freak out about the concept. Universal Healthcare works GREAT for a lot of countries. Maybe it wouldn’t in the US, maybe we’ll find something else that works well (what we have now? doesn’t). But people are not dying left right and center in Canada or any other country with a single-payer system. The fear mongering on TV and radio is just that – it’s twisted half-truths and misquotes. And as a Canadian living in the US I’m sick of it!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retitled: Why Universal Health Care Isn’t As Scary As You Think It Is I am frustrated with Obama. I am frustrated that he told us he would make changes (saying that the health reform bill must have a public option), and now he’s backpeddling. But what makes me even angrier is all of the misinformation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[276,277],"class_list":["post-2165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-healthcare","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2165"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2169,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2165\/revisions\/2169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lunardreams.net\/baby\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}