That said, I have some serious concerns about the government taking on health care. Democrats are really pushing this "public option", which truly has me concerned. Why? There was once a time when I had to depend on the government run health care program known as Medicaid. This was while I was pregnant with my first child. I was only 18, was still in school, etc. I stayed on this program until my daughter was just over a year old. When I compare the birth of my daughter to the birth of my son, it is like night and day! How I was treated during the prenatal, birth, and post-birth with my daughter was a very unpleasant experience for me. The doctors were very hum-drum...the lab techs always caused severe bruising and pain whenever blood was ordered...at the hospital I felt like I was on an assembly line...and when my daughter was ill after birth, no one was willing to take the time to find out what was really wrong with her. We were at the doctor nearly every week with my daughter having respiratory issues, and each time I again felt the assembly line feeling as they were just quick to hand me another antibiotic and send me out the door! It wasn't until I was hired on to a job where I could get private insurance that anyone took the time to figure out my daughter suffered from asthma, and do something about her repeated ear infections as well (i.e., temporary tubes).
Though my pregnancy and birth of my son, I was treated like someone special...like this was the special time in my life it really was. Even the lab techs I dealt with were more gentle, and actually took time to draw the blood without much pain and bruising. My son had his own issues after birth, but they were quickly diagnosed and treated, rather than being a long, drawn out process. I felt more like the doctors cared!
So, this new public option concerns me. I work for a small company, and many small companies are saying that if a public option passes, then they are going to drop coverage for their employees, and advise them to sign up for the public option. The only saving grace I have is that my husband works for a school district, so I may be able to change my coverage to his plan and avoid having to go public option. However, I am afraid that so many others will be in a similar boat...their employers dropping private coverage forcing them to go on the public option, and then these people being treated like crap by the medical professionals as many others on goverment run plans have been treated in the past! Instead of caring for the patient, it will be an assembly line of getting them in and out, because they are not getting paid as much to see those folks as they do for folks with private insurance!
When we were in Cozomel, at any drug store you could get the basic meds....albuterol for asthma, amoxicillian, even viagra over the counter. The prices for these things were less than the co-pays we pay for them here in the US...no insurance contribution at all. I asked my husband why the US doesn't allow that, and he stated that 1) the US based pharmaceutical companies would never allow their products to be sold for such low prices; 2) the government would never keep their hands out of it enough for prices to be that low; and 3) Americans would kill themselves! Of course, at the last one, I joked that this would further lower the cost of health care! But he made two good points. Take albuterol, for example. In Mexico, I could get an inhaler for $7 US. This is the price I used to pay for my albuterol inhaler (insurance co-pay is $10 for generic, so my insurance never kicked in for this med) for my asthma before the environmentalists got involved with the whole complaint that the propellant contributed to global warming (which is a crock, if you ask me....but that is a whole other discussion). Now, thanks the the environmentalists, they use a different propellant (same med, mind you), and now I have to pay a $40 co-pay for this med, and my insurance is also still required to pay a good $60+! SAME MEDICINE....SAME NUMBER OF DOSES! And people wonder why the cost of health care is going up! I'm sure this type of thing is happening across the board!
So, our SOCIALIST government (yes, go look up the word and you WILL realize that this is what we are moving toward....government running industry), is trying to take over the health care industry (they have already taken over a good chunk of the banking and automotive industries), thinking that this is the fix. Truth is, government helped get health care costs where they are today! If we are to really get control of health care costs, more needs to be done to bring down the cost of meds and services...not the cost of insurance! Insurance has had to raise their rates to keep from losing their shirts to the rising costs of meds and services! My father-in-law has one med that costs the same every month as most folks' car payments! Why!?!?!?
Not to mention, Americans or more UNHEALTHY now than ever! It is sad to see more people pull into McDonald's every morning than pull into the gym! Diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, high blood preassure, etc. are all on the rise, and not only in adults! These unhealthy adults are raising unhealthy children! I would be more willing to pay a junk food tax to discourage unhealthy eating than pay for these people to continue to do what they want and pay for their health care! I'm not perfect....none of us are. I do acknowledge, however, that I was responsible for my being over-weight and developing hypertension and pre-diabetes! I am one who likes to eat...I really enjoy certain foods! However, my health was more important...even more so now that I have to be concerned about the medical treatment I may get in the future should this health care bill pass! I had to make sacrifices! I hate exercise, but I'm at the gym 5 mornings a week. I love my pizza and french fries, but I have to put them aside for fruit, veggies, and lean meat. I love my Diet Coke, but I have had to replace that with water! I have lost 50 lbs thus far. My resting heart rate has gone from 92 bpm to 70 bpm. I no longer show symptoms of pre-diabetes! How about the government make my gym fees tax deductible? Or my vitamins? When I was in California earlier this year, I noticed that restaurants were charging a health tax....why not make that nation-wide? I wouldn't have a problem paying extra to eat junk occasionally if it detoured some people from eating too much junk food because they no longer afford to do so! I mean, am I the only one who has noticed that it is cheaper to eat bad than it is to eat healthy? It should be the other way around! Why does fresh food cost more than canned, when canned takes so much more to process?
Think about it!!! If you really put all politics and feelings about people who oppose our current administration aside, you will find that I am making perfect sense here! Government and lack of personal responsibility got us into this mess, and now people are looking at government to fix things and allow them to continue to not take personal responsibility!
Okay...off of my soap box now. I've said what I want to say! I'll close with another one of my morphed vacation pictures. This one was taken at Richmond Hill in Montego Bay, Jamaica...morphed with BeFunky.com.
