Healthcare is a right- right?
So I'm not politically savvy enough to write a post about the healthcare bill from a political standpoint. I'm not academic enough to write it from a philosophical type standpoint; I'm not objective enough to write about to discuss it that way either. I am, however, human enough to see how this affects the people I love.
My Mom and Dad are amazing people! They raised 5 kids in a small house, small town, and small income. They've taken small adventures, lived simply and loved to the best of their abilities. Like the good Germans that we are they have also worked very hard!
When my father died 2004 my Mom had something like 1 year before she got kicked off of his insurance. (I had 6 months, that is until I started using it and then I got kicked in about 3-they didn't want to pay for grief counseling- and let's not even go into how expensive health care at the seminary was- because there were so few students buying it and how I had a 1500 bill for a physical and a pap smear that I am still paying of month by month!) Anyway, after Mom's year was up she, a self-employed person, was left to find some kind of health insurance on her own. She pays an outrageous sum, has a deplorably high deductable, and basically the health care is crap. If she were in a situation the way my Dad was, I am pretty sure we family would all be screwed when it came time to pay the bills.
She is not the uninsured. She is the under insured. The person who if something goes wrong will probably rack up considerable health care debt and who, like millions of Americans, will end up bankrupt because of health care costs.
The passing of this health care bill mandates a more competitive market for insurance companies so that people like my Mom have greater choices. The passing of this health care bill makes her less scared of burdening her children with debts and certainly less scared of losing her stability, house, and future because of health care.
So maybe this isn't an academic forum. Maybe this isn't articulated in the best manner. But this health care bill matters. I'll take bigger government, I'll even pay a little bit more in taxes- to know that someone who is working her ass off every day, someone who has raised 5 children, someone who is beyond contributing to her community- has access to affordable health care- and beyond that, if heaven forbid something goes wrong, that she has access to a future.
My Mom and Dad are amazing people! They raised 5 kids in a small house, small town, and small income. They've taken small adventures, lived simply and loved to the best of their abilities. Like the good Germans that we are they have also worked very hard!
When my father died 2004 my Mom had something like 1 year before she got kicked off of his insurance. (I had 6 months, that is until I started using it and then I got kicked in about 3-they didn't want to pay for grief counseling- and let's not even go into how expensive health care at the seminary was- because there were so few students buying it and how I had a 1500 bill for a physical and a pap smear that I am still paying of month by month!) Anyway, after Mom's year was up she, a self-employed person, was left to find some kind of health insurance on her own. She pays an outrageous sum, has a deplorably high deductable, and basically the health care is crap. If she were in a situation the way my Dad was, I am pretty sure we family would all be screwed when it came time to pay the bills.
She is not the uninsured. She is the under insured. The person who if something goes wrong will probably rack up considerable health care debt and who, like millions of Americans, will end up bankrupt because of health care costs.
The passing of this health care bill mandates a more competitive market for insurance companies so that people like my Mom have greater choices. The passing of this health care bill makes her less scared of burdening her children with debts and certainly less scared of losing her stability, house, and future because of health care.
So maybe this isn't an academic forum. Maybe this isn't articulated in the best manner. But this health care bill matters. I'll take bigger government, I'll even pay a little bit more in taxes- to know that someone who is working her ass off every day, someone who has raised 5 children, someone who is beyond contributing to her community- has access to affordable health care- and beyond that, if heaven forbid something goes wrong, that she has access to a future.
Amen, Rachel.
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