Ok so some of us are going to have to agree to disagree. I know of at least 2 readers who flat out don’t agree with me when it comes to this topic. So we’ll suck it up and get over it. That being said, here is how I feel.
My family is on government run health care anyways. Flat out, I make roughly 14k a year and my husband is on SSI. So as long as we’re broke, we have medicaid. As many issues as I’ve had with being on welfare, I’m not proud of it being one of them, I have no issues being on medicaid. I feel the government should help it’s people out on this issue.
But that is just whatever, why does it pertain to this blog. Does it? Yes it does.
My name is Karen Marrs and I have a pre-existing condition. I have borderline personality disorder. This means, without this bill, if I lose my medicaid I won’t qualify for health insurance. I can’t get it though work so I’d have to get it on my own. I won’t qualify. Now there is a government run insurance that will cover me, but that is an exorbitant amount of money.
This bill also means that my disabled husband is back to having health insurance. They had him on medicare with a monthly spend down of 400$. Which means every month he had to spend 400$ out of pocket before medicare would pick up the rest of the tab. He makes 600$ a month in SSI. I make 1000$ a month from work, on a good month. So 1/4 of our income was to go towards my disabled husband’s health costs before medicare would pick up the rest of the tab. Let’s be clear here. The member of our house hold who was declared the most in need of health insurance couldn’t afford to go to the doctor. At all. Ever. This bill will change that.
Finally there is the month of December. In December I work twice as many hours as I do most the rest of the year. January through November I make well under the poverty line and we qualify for medicaid no problem. In the month of December, not so much. So when they review our case every January, and only look at one month worth of pay stubs, well we lose insurance on all of us every January. We ride it out for another month or two and bring in January and February pay stubs to show that no, I really don’t make 2000$ a month and we always get it back. But there is always those 1-2 months of “Well crap, what now? Quick nobody get sick.” Now thankfully this last January they had put into effect a slight change. Now instead of yanking it effective immediately they give us a chance to get something else into place. Or in our case prove we really are poor. So the oh shit wasn’t nearly as bad as times past.
The good news is, this bill increases the amount of money we can make before we lose medicare. It’s extend to those of us who aren’t completely poverty stricken but who still can’t afford insurance on our own. So yay! The better news is that once we finally dig ourselves out of our little poverty stricken hole, the government will help us get the medical coverage we so desperately need, with or with out pre-existing conditions.
So bottom line, yes I support this bill. I support my president. How does change feel? Pretty damn good!
I agree with a lot of what you said here.
Do I think the health care industry needed reform? Absolutely. Pre-existing conditions should never keep anyone from getting coverage, and this law fixes that. However, I think we need to be cautious with sweeping changes. The preventative care emphasis needs to have with it some form of assurance that what doctors prescribe for such care is adhered to. In our cases, and others who suffer such drastic effects of something unseen but constant as BPD, we adhere to what the doctor says (for the most part) and benefit greatly when we can access the needed help that we were largely unable to access before. Moreso for people like me who are not even afforded the basic medicaid/medicare because men without dependents do not qualify, and thus we go unhelped, but responsible for our unmedicated/unaddressed psychological problems.
Personally, I would prefer the law only cap profits of the insurance companies, eliminate cancellations for bogus reasons, and eliminate even the consideration of pre-existing conditions. The other stuff, price-fixing, etc., I think should have been left to a market with the aforementioned changes in place. We'll see how it pans out though.
Do I think this bill is the end all hear all say all solution to everything health care? No. But it is a step in the right direction. Whether we overshot it, undershot it, or hit the nail on the head will be debated for years, across party lines, etc etc. But I do see this as a great starting point and for here we'll mold it and shape it and bend it to be what this country needs, or think it needs just to have a new generation reshape it. It's a start. And I'm excited to see how this pans out.
thanks for posting, from all of us who are in the same boat!
Never a problem. You are most welcome.
YAY for health care reform!!