If I could tell the newly elected President one thing…
It would be, do your damndest to fix health care in this country. There are too many stories out there of people truly suffering, losing their houses, losing their livelihoods, due to medical bills. My mom, for example. Back in 2004-2005, she had an ongoing medical condition, and found herself hemorrhaging all the time. She had it treated, it lasted awhile, and then it would start up again. Months and months. Actually, on and off problems for perhaps two years. Try to imagine the stress losing that much blood puts on your body. She was very ill. Finally, the doctor decided that she needed to have a hysterectomy. Due to her size, they would not do the surgery in Juneau, so we decided that it would be best for her to come to California for the surgery. Actually, she could not have gone home to her two story apartment for awhile after the surgery anyway, so coming to California where she could stay with my Grandma was a good idea.  She called the insurance company, and talked to them about her coverage. The job she had was ending at the end of June, and as it turns out, that’s when her surgery was scheduled. The person at the insurance company (Thanks, HealthNet) told her that any charges related to her surgery would be covered, even if they went into the following month, when she would no longer have coverage.  Since she didn’t have another job lined up, she could have elected COBRA, but anyone who’s ever done so knows how expensive it can be. And not knowing how long it would take her to find a new job, she was hesitant to spend the $600 a month her coverage would have cost. So she didn’t. Because she had been told it would be covered. Big mistake, because although her surgery was performed in June, and was fully covered, her hospital stay bled over a few days into July, and much of it was not covered. Did you know that a few days in the hospital can cost you $20,000? Did you know that the interest the hospitals charge you on this debt is usurious?  Did you know that when you’re 63 years old and out of work, with almost no savings, the prospect of paying off a $20,000 debt can be overwhelming and perhaps a bit stressful?
So, she fought with HealthNet, and at one point they said that they would indeed pay for her hospital coverage. But then they changed their mind, and refused to pay for it. So there she was, out of work, and more deeply in debt than ever before in her life. My mom, who didn’t own a house, or a car, who paid off her credit cards every month and lived within her meager means. Trying to figure out what to do about the debt, she took out a horrible loan with a bank. A loan that perhaps was better than what she was paying the hospital, but I can’t imagine how. Because she had no collateral, the loan was totally front loaded (much like a mortgage, where the first few years you pay mainly interest), and though she paid $14,000 on the loan in the first 2 years (1 1/2 years of that time, unemployed…I don’t know how she came up with the payments), she still owed $19,200 at the time of her death. That’s right, $14,000 worth of payments, and not even $1,000 of that had reduced her debt. While trying to live off of Unemployment and paying over $600 a month to her loan, she ended up racking up another $10,000 in debt on a credit card. For crazy things like food. I saw the bills.
It makes me so angry to think of my mom, struggling to pay off her debt, worried about finances, stressing herself out, when if only we had nationalized health care in this country, none of it would have been an issue.  If she were in Canada, or England, or France, or one of so many other developed countries, she would not have had to give this a second thought. It would have been covered.
Talk of nationalized health care scares the crap out of people, and starts them yelling about Socialism. To me, if taking care of people at a basic level is Socialism, than go ahead, call me a Socialist. Sadly, though people call him one, Obama is no Socialist, and my idea of fixing health care has nothing in common with his. I think you’d have to go to Kucinich for a plan that would actually help people.
So, if I could tell our next President just one thing, it would be please, fix this mess. Truly fix it. Don’t sort of fix it. Make it so that anyone who needs surgery can go to the hospital and get it, and not have to worry about how the hell they’re going to pay for it. Thank you.
~ DoSoEvAyMo
1. Exercise first thing. Work. Buy some more diet coke. Maybe read my book. No exciting plans for today.
Inspired by Starshine’s NaBloPo Challenge.  Thanks, Starshine. I sat down thinking I didn’t have a thing to say today, and then I looked at your prompt and I suddenly found I had plenty to say.
17 Comments
Joan
Yes! Gaps in insurance coverage was terrifying. My husband and I (and I’m sure many others) feel trapped about staying in our jobs due to the fact paying for insurance ourselves would be outrageously expensive as well as fearing pre-existing conditions would be used against us. A few years ago I was very depressed. I wouldn’t talk to my doctor about it b/c I saw what happened to a friend who had that diagnosis and meds on her record. Thankful I got over it.
C
Great post, J!
I was just thinking about the differences between health insurance in Canada and in the U.S. I’m in the hospital for the long haul (until the baby is born, which can be days or even WEEKS)! If Canada had the health care that the States have, I wouldn’t be able to afford this hospital stay.
I’m covered for the room I’m in and the medical services. Most of my expenses are taken care of and for this I am eternally thankful.
The only thing is that since I operate my own business (my ESL program http://www.islandesl.com) and Hubby’s also self-employed (owns and operates a farm), we don’t have any additional health coverage (though we’ve just applied for some because of the baby coming), all the extras come out of our pockets. We pay for any prescription drugs, eye doctor’s visits and dental visits. We do get a portion of that back from income tax later on though.
Ted
It really is a mess. The emphasis on the bottom line and not care in the health industry is really sad. Your post reminds me of that SNL skit where the guy comes on the screen and basically says “FIX IT” over and over. Of course, he’s talking about the financial crisis, but I think it applies to health care as well.
KelliAmanda
Yes, yes, yes.
Autumn's Mom
Ted, I thought of that too. My mom went thru a similar experience when her husband died. They had insurance but it didn’t cover everything. His bills were ridiculous and the hospital where he was being treated came after my mom pretty hard. Somehow, though, she was able to come away from it without paying a dime. I don’t know how, maybe pulling the widow card. Can you imagine losing your husband and then having these asshats threaten you with these bills? What a life. How can they look themselves in the mirror?
Starshine
Your Mom’s story is heartbreaking, especially when I think about her $14,000 not even having made a $1000 dent in her loan. Ugh!
When I was in Spain last month, I got so sick, a doctor had to make a house call to our hotel. When it came time to pay the bill, there was no bill. The doctor said he was sent by the state of the Basque Country. I have no idea if the state of the Basque Country billed the international health insurance company we had coverage through for our trip or if I was the beneficiary of socialized medicine. Either way, I got good care.
I don’t know what the answer is to our healthcare crisis here. It seems so complex. But it is clear that there must be a better way. 🙂
amuirin
Yeah. Yes. It’s a big, big problem, and needs smart, dedicated people working on it. People who aren’t afraid.
This president has an opportunity, a very rare one. The country has pretty much given him a mandate to govern. Not many presidents and precious few democrats have ever been given this degree of lee-way by the American electorate to enact change. He got a sweeping electoral victory, a sizable popular victory, and a democratic Senate and House to support him.
I’m gonna go ahead believe that the democrats will manage not to fumble the opportunity and bring the positive change they’ve been hired to. It’s gonna be hard to live up to the expectations, but they’ve got the tools, and now the people who elected them will just hafta have the patience. Obama’s administration was handed a ravaged country.
He’s gonna need every ounce of the support he got last night.
Rain
Your mom’s story is repeated over and over again with people not taking medications they need because they can’t afford them. Health insurance reform has to be accompanied by cost controls which republicans have fought but without that,it will bankrupt the country. We can have the controls though and the people who don’t care about insurance either are healthy or have insurance that they think will cover them in any event. It will be a huge problem for Obama and the new Congress.
amuirin
Hey.
Some information you may find interesting about Obama’s newly chosen Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.
Political views:
During his original 2002 campaign, Emanuel “indicated his support of President Bush’s position on Iraq, but said he believed the president needed to better articulate his position to the American people.”[10]
Inspired by his pediatrician father, one of the major goals he spoke of during the race was “to help make health care affordable and available for all Americans.”[10]
Emanuel has maintained a 100% pro-choice voting record and is generally liberal on social issues. He has aligned himself with the Democratic Leadership Council and the party’s centrist wing, but is not among its more conservative members.
Rahm Emanuel endorses the United States Public Service Academy Act. Emanuel is one of the more prominent members endorsing the act.
Theresa B.
You are a rare person in our society, J. You are a thinker. Thanks for going to the tough places. I can’t tell you how often I think about your mother, whom I never met except through blogging and thanks to you. I hope we can make a difference so what happened to her won’t have to keep happening. This is our greatest task. To make life better for our fellow humans. For the first time in a long time, I have hope.
J
Theresa, et al, at least my mom didn’t have a house. I’ve heard that the untold victims of the housing meltdown are folks who refinanced into crappy loans because they were trying to get their medical bills under control. If you are in a house you can afford, but then you get sick, really sick, and rack up 20 or 30 thousand in medical bills, and you have to refinance and take the money out to pay the bills, that can be the difference between a good loan you could afford, and perhaps a crappy one, because with a 30 year fixed or whatever, you wouldn’t be able to make the new payments. I heard a segment about this issue on NPR once. It breaks my heart that people lose their entire livelihoods over something that is just considered part of society in other countries.
Lalunas
Two things I hope will change off the top of my head. Proper Health care in the US and Day light savings disappears. Oh now I feel guilty, peace globally, employment for all, clean up for mother earth.
R
The loan situation is worse than my sister is letting on. The bank she took the loan out with was the same bank that she’d had a credit card with for over ten years. A card she never missed a single payment, nor even had a late payment on. A faithful, loyal customer and they treat her like that. This same said bank offered us a year to pay off 75% of mom’s debt to which J told them that we were not legally responsible for her debt. I would not have been so polite. But then, I’ve had problems with this particular band of assholes since 1981 and refuse to do any business with them.
I would not be at all surprised if the stress from her financial mess was a major factor in her failing health before her heart attack, and may have been a contributor to that heart attack.
I need to go before the anger gets the better of me.
-R
(un)relaxeddad
It never ceases to amaze me that there are people in our country who actually want to demolish the health service. But whatever you do, Mr Obama, don’t computerize it.
Jenny (your cuz)
I am living under the same circumstances and now have to file bankrupcy because creditors are all over my ass. My credit is ruined because of out of control medical bills that snow balled into buying gas and food to make the payments on my medical bills so I can live without cards, and I cant pay any money on the cards now or I cant afford food or gas because food and gas prices are so crazy. Sigh. I am very stressed and so is much of the country. We need socialism in the worst way. Oh and my co-worker has no insurance but his gaul bladder burst. As soon as they found out his heart wasnt infected with poison they kicked him out even though he was coughing up blood. He didnt have insurance and there wasnt more they could do for him and so they gave him pills to cure the coughing up blood part and sent him home. Not even with a list of what he could eat now or he would get sick. So he has been nothing but sick because he doesnt have a list of what he cant eat anymore.
donna
So many families with a story like this… we have our own, of course. My mom’s final hospital stay was over 350K — that was just the part Medicare covered. Private insurance covered most of the rest of the month and a half in and out of intensive care several times, surgeries, etc…
Thank goodness she was covered, or there would have been nothing left for my disabled sister and nephew to inherit and live on.
The lack of concern those who fight universal health care coverage have for those who are uninsured or under insured simply astounds me. I constantly wonder how they can be so heartless. But then, they are only one illness away from finding out what the rest of us know only too well.
hellomelissa
i just got my $75 a month hike in premium. mind you, i pay EVERYTHING up to the deductible of $5400, and have a healthy family. health care in this country BLOWS. i’m just hoping we’ll be able to join a union here soon and take a little breather (but pay exhorbitant union dues, sigh).