Health Insurance
Two things happened last week; one was the sudden death of an old and dear friend, a rugby player and a prince of a fellow that had a thousand friends. He had just finished his PhD but he had a cholesterol problem. His insurance company got wind of the cholesterol medication and canceled his insurance, a common practice. He went off his medication in an attempt to get insurance with another company. His massive heart attack may or may not have resulted from stopping the prescription, but what a health care system we have that merely taking a medicine to reduce cholesterol results in the cancellation of one’s insurance policy. My homeowners insurance was just canceled after Katrina as AIG decided to mitigate the risk of insuring Alaska homes by pulling out of the state. Are not insurance companies suspect?
The other thing that got me, a young friends wife, shortly after leaving a job, suffered a miscarriage. They went to the emergency room without insurance. The cost was over seven thousand dollars. The hospital offered a 40% discount if the balance was put on a credit card. They now face extreme financial stress, moved back home, and that on top of college loans.
The cost of medical care now reaches untenable levels. The employer can’t afford it and neither can the employee. If I did not have Medicare, I would do with out. I have to buy what medicine is needed from Canada or at times wholesale, but even that is nearly out of reach. Another friend takes 5FU by mouth for cancer treatment at a thousand dollars a week, a drug that has been used since ’59. A Z-pack (Zithromycin, a form of erythromycin), 6 pills, now wholesales for $61.
Where is the common sense? Insurance is no solution to medical care or to prescriptions. It will only drive the price higher. Health is a community concern, like water, roads or police. One side would give entitlement for everything, for the votes. The other side would privatize everything and promote the monopoly for the sake of campaign contributions. Where is the middle ground? Where is the common sense? There are obvious infrastructures that require public money. The fundamental safety of living has to be met before we can be productive for our society. For all else competitive private business serves us well but not the monopoly or the multinational. Oh well.
Two things happened last week; one was the sudden death of an old and dear friend, a rugby player and a prince of a fellow that had a thousand friends. He had just finished his PhD but he had a cholesterol problem. His insurance company got wind of the cholesterol medication and canceled his insurance, a common practice. He went off his medication in an attempt to get insurance with another company. His massive heart attack may or may not have resulted from stopping the prescription, but what a health care system we have that merely taking a medicine to reduce cholesterol results in the cancellation of one’s insurance policy. My homeowners insurance was just canceled after Katrina as AIG decided to mitigate the risk of insuring Alaska homes by pulling out of the state. Are not insurance companies suspect?
The other thing that got me, a young friends wife, shortly after leaving a job, suffered a miscarriage. They went to the emergency room without insurance. The cost was over seven thousand dollars. The hospital offered a 40% discount if the balance was put on a credit card. They now face extreme financial stress, moved back home, and that on top of college loans.
The cost of medical care now reaches untenable levels. The employer can’t afford it and neither can the employee. If I did not have Medicare, I would do with out. I have to buy what medicine is needed from Canada or at times wholesale, but even that is nearly out of reach. Another friend takes 5FU by mouth for cancer treatment at a thousand dollars a week, a drug that has been used since ’59. A Z-pack (Zithromycin, a form of erythromycin), 6 pills, now wholesales for $61.
Where is the common sense? Insurance is no solution to medical care or to prescriptions. It will only drive the price higher. Health is a community concern, like water, roads or police. One side would give entitlement for everything, for the votes. The other side would privatize everything and promote the monopoly for the sake of campaign contributions. Where is the middle ground? Where is the common sense? There are obvious infrastructures that require public money. The fundamental safety of living has to be met before we can be productive for our society. For all else competitive private business serves us well but not the monopoly or the multinational. Oh well.
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