My health care thoughts

Some stats:

55% of Americans obtain health insurance from their employers

25% from government programs (poor, elderly, grad students)

15% don’t have any health insurance and

5% purchase it independently.

31 cents of every health care dollar in private insurance goes to overhead

3 cents of every government health care dollar goes to overhead.

Every other developed nation (and many developing ones) have universal health care, which means everyone in their nation has health care (and of course this is carried out in many different way).

You have probably heard that sad stats about American’s health but we are not as healthy as people as most of those nations.

Now to the reform:

President Obama wants to reform heath care in America starting with health insurance. He wants to mandate that everyone have it (like we do with auto insurance). Why? Because it makes sense. We as a nation need to start preventing more preventable diseases. We need to stop the fact that medical bills are the number one or two (need to do my research) reason for bankruptcy in our country.

Here is a story:

A family in Temple, Texas, the mom works at a church daycare raising our next generation, the father is also fully employed. They don’t have health insurance; their young daughter gets flu like sick, by the time they finally go to the emergency room, she has to have half of her lung removed. The church has a carnival to try and cover the costs and this makes the local paper (my mom read it, it wasn’t propaganda). This is sad on so many levels. Lots of questions: did they not have insurance because it wasn’t offered at their employment? If the mom didn’t work would they have then qualified for Medicaid? If they would have had insurance would they have gone to the doctor sooner and saved the girls lung? What will happen to the medical bills? Will they have to walk away from it (and raise all of our costs) or will they slowly pay it off all their lives? All of that information didn’t make the paper.

So here is where we think many are confused about health insurance reform. This reform isn’t going to give free health care to people who don’t want to work. Those people already have health care through Medicaid! This reform is to help those working people whose employment doesn’t offer health insurance, they don’t qualify for Medicaid and they don’t have the income or culture to purchase it independently! These people work in our cleaners, restaurants, build our homes, own small businesses and clean buildings that we walk in everyday.

Many years ago in America we decided that education was a right, not a privilege, meaning everyone no matter their socio-economic status should be able to go to school and the government would pay for it through our taxes. So now in America the masses are receiving a basic education. You might say, but it is not always the best. And yes that is true but if the choices today were only the rich got to go to expensive private schools and our current public system, what would you chose? So today in America many are saying that health care is a right, not a privilege, meaning everyone no matter their socio-economic status should be able to go to the doctor (and not just sit in the emergency room, which is what some argue is how we provide health care to all) and receive quality care. So hopefully in as many years we will look back and see how strange it is that we think that only those who can afford insurance should get health care (as our European and Canadian neighbors look at us now).

Now here is a thought to all my wonderful Evangelical friends, why is providing health care to all bad? Yes there are lots of details to work out but something must be done! When Clinton had a health care reform plan, the Republicans had one too (according to the TIME magazine, I didn’t pay attention to politics in HS, though neither got passed), but now they just say no and try to scare people with death panels. Obama’s plan isn’t perfect but again something must be done. One of the biggest holes is tort reform so doctors aren’t scared of getting sued, but just because the plan isn’t perfect doesn’t give us the right to do nothing. So here is where people say, yes but I don’t want the government involved. But unfortunately, some things in life just have to be legislated or nothing will happen, like ending slavery and civil rights. At one time our nation also decided that building roads, fighting wars, catching criminals and libraries were better done by the government than private companies, but I don’t think many of you scream, “Communist, get out of my life!” when you drive down the road past the courthouse to your library.
Yes the devil is in the details and there are lots of numbers to talk about but please stop and realize that health insurance reform is needed in our nation. The current system often rewards unwise choices (if we get pregnant on our current income we would qualify for CHIPs!). Some people don’t work the extra hours or even get a job because they would lose government benefits; but if these benefits were affordable to all then maybe some would stop making choices like that. If you have issue with the current proposal, be educated and fight for what is right not just what is convenient for you because your employer provides your health insurance.

Let me tell you our health insurance story (long one for anyone who is interested). We were covered by our parents in collage, got married and went with a company who covered everything at 100%, then off to graduate school, where Caleb was covered with his employment and I got it with them for only $150/month. Then we got pregnant with Lydia and with the grad school salary, we qualified for Medicaid. It took a few people to convince us that we pay our taxes and since we qualify, we should go for it. So we did the paperwork and everything our insurance didn’t cover for Lydia’s birth and first year of life was covered by them. Then at 28 and with one child we entered the real world. Caleb got a job as a public high school teacher. For almost one thousand a month, the family could be covered with his employer’s health insurance. We had planned on me being a stay at home mom until our children went to school. I had a few odd part time jobs but nothing of course that would provide benefits. I decided to look around for health insurance independently. This is before we had Gloria and to get maternity coverage for independent plans required paying pretty big premiums for a year before even getting pregnant. Here we were slightly depressed as I called doctors and hospitals to find out how much it would cost to pay for prenatal care and having a baby and the lowest offer I got was $11,000 if everything went smoothly; but it all turned out for good because we ended up having her self paid (only $3500) at a birthing center which was a beautiful experience overall. So back to insurance, we don’t complain about Caleb’s salary, we live in a house, have two cars, save, can give to charity and have pretty much everything we want; but $1000 per month doesn’t really fit into the budget so I kept researching (I had the time while Lydia napped and the education to understand it all) and found a plan for about $200 month to cover Lydia and me. It provides well baby visits 100% before deductible, which at the time were several a year and one well adult visit 100% before deductible. Everything else we have to pay their negotiated rate to the doctor until we reach our deductible of $3000, then they chip in 80% until we get to $10,000. Gloria came along and it went up to $263 per month. A new year came and the plan was going to go up to $343 a month so I looked at their other plans and chose one with a higher deductible $6000 at only a $199 per month. Now another year and it is going up to $242 per month (that’s over a 20% increase for the year). As the girls get bigger they don’t need as many well baby visits so our payment of around $3000 per year will pay for 3 doctor’s visits, a negotiated rate of $70 instead of $95 for sick baby visits (until the doctor’s rates go up), and a safety net in case something horrible happens (but don’t get Caleb started on that one because he doesn’t believe they would truly pay out if something did happen-yes we watched the movie Sicko). And of course, it pays for all the insurance’s 31 percent overhead and other people’s heath care too. So all this to say, it really isn’t a pretty picture. BUT at the same time we are okay, it fits into our budget, we have a savings in case we do need to pay the whole deductible and we have the education and culture to know insurance is always necessary and of course I could go back to work earlier than our original plan if needed.

But there are people in America, around 15% of them, who aren’t okay and don’t have health insurance. They are too busy working all day to research plans, don’t have the income to pay for them and only pay for things they really need or want, not for ‘what ifs’ like health insurance. While reform seems like it would help us; according to TIME magazine the 5% of Americans who purchase independently don’t really have anything to lose; it’s the working class families of America who need the help. Our taxes might go up some; we might have to pay a little more to get our shirts cleaned but we as a nation need to say that is okay and join the rest of the developed world in providing health care for all.

Okay if you are still reading, I have a couple more thoughts.

The people that I know who vehemently oppose the reform really are good people. They pay their taxes, most of them tithe and give to charity, many have a kid in some third world country they support. And maybe it is all this giving that prevents them from wanting to give more, especially to a huge distant government bureaucracy, and especially when they don’t know anyone without health insurance. But we all need to take Christ’s words and actions into consideration when we think about health care reform.

“Whatever you do to the least of these you do to me.”
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”

“If someone takes your cloak, give him your shirt as well.”

“Don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will wear.”

You all know that we are so incredibly blessed in this great nation and live like kings compared to the rest of the world. We use more resources than everyone else and suffer much less, even the poor of America. But we can always improve! And sometimes improving means doing without a few things so others can have a piece of the pie. For those of us who have been given much, much is required. It isn’t easy and I don’t have all the answers, but I know that something must be done. As I wrote on my prayer card for our church’s 24 hour prayer celebration:
Pray for God’s will to be done so that all in our incredibly blessed nation will have affordable access to health care.