Health Care Reform- Good luck!

I’ve been a strong proponent of health care reform. Personally, I would like to see us have universal single payer health care like Canada and most industrialized nations. Unfortunately, we’ve allowed the free enterprise system to turn health care into a “for profit” business over the last 30 years, and the power and influence of the industry is very hard, if not impossible, to compete with. Although there is a strong majority of people who favor health care reform, they don’t have the power or influence to make it happen. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to know that almost every Representative and Senator receives huge campaign contributions from the medical industry. I find it very discouraging that we’ve allowed our democracy to be high jacked by the medical industry.


Here are my key points for health reform:

1- Today people can be canceled because they have an expensive illness. No company is required to provide health care- so they end up bankrupt or untreated, both of which are unacceptable. The proposed health care reform will not allow this.

2- If you loose your job, you can get COBRA insurance (a program mandated by law) for 18 months. It’s expensive, and after 18 months it’s terminated. I know a person who has Leukemia and was laid off. The treatment for Leukemia could go on for 2-3 years. I also know two people who went bankrupt because of health costs treating a terminally ill spouse. This shouldn’t have to happen. We should have health insurance that’s independent of where you work and who you work for. How did we ever get trapped into that system? I heard that during WWII no one could get a raise, so the companies starting picking up health insurance as an alternative and we really got stuck from that point on.

3- Medicaid covers people at the every bottom of the income sector, but private health insurance costs $10,000- $14,000. If you’re self employed, that’s unaffordable for most people who earn less than $50,000 a year. That’s almost have of the working population! People in that income bracket have to buy food, pay for a car and housing, and raise and educate their children. There’s no money left over for health insurance.

4- I believe it’s immoral for businesses to profit off the misfortune people’s accidents or illnesses. Corporate health care profits are as high as 30%. They keep the profit high by insuring only low risk people. It should be against the law for a hospital to put a homeless person in a taxi and drop them off at a homeless shelter when they need treatment. This is documented as being done much more often than the medical industry would like you to know about. A single payer health system would be 20- 30 % less expensive because there would be no advertising costs, no profit to cover, and no multimillion dollar CEO salaries to pay.

5- I haven’t talked to any person from Canada who isn’t very satisfied with their health care. When you get sick, you can see any doctor you want. I can’t do that today. I have Harvard Pilgrim. I have to use doctors within their plan. My freedom of choice is very limited. It wouldn’t be if we had universal health care.

6- You can’t shop around for health care like you can for mortgages. By law, there are restrictions and health insurance is limited to a state or small region. My HP plan covers me as long as I’m in Maine, NH or Mass. But if I move to Vermont, my policy would be terminated. That isn’t right. They do it to keep competition out so they can maintain a small group industries you can choose from. Health care reform will open up more companies to choose from.

7- The bottom line is private health care business cares more about profit than people. It’s wrong and we should change it.

8- As far as limiting coverage and treatments in a government run system- the private companies do that today. They just don’t tell you until you need treatment, then you get the run around. They may even just drop you. The new health care reform will not allow them to drop you. They’re fighting it because it will hurt their profit margin if goes through.

9- Cost is an issue, but I would pay higher taxes if it meant that every single American could get health care when they needed it. 47 million people are uninsured today. We’re too good a country to let this continue without doing something about it.