Freebies and Health Care

Waking up this morning and looking at CNN, I found that something very, very interesting happened last night. Scott Brown, a Republican, trounced Martha Coakley (arguably a shoe-in) for the vacant Senate seat formerly occupied by the late Senator Ted Kennedy. As many of you know, this has drastic implications for the direction the country is taking, because Democrats can no longer rely on the filibuster-proof 60 vote majority to steamroll legislation through Congress. This basically all but puts an end to the very progressive- but very broken - health care bill. Which is both fortunate and unfortunate, I think.

At this point I want to take a wait-and-see attitude on Brown. Is he going to be like Lieberman and throw a huge spectacle in order to get the bill changed to something in his favor, or is he going to just kill it outright? Or, perhaps, the focus will shift to another Republican senator who may or may not want the fame associated with sending through a chopped up health care bill for the "sake of the American people"? I think just about anyone in Congress right now could begin stirring the pot and make a "power play" to shape whether this legislation is even passable and what form it will take. The next few weeks are going to be very, very interesting indeed.

To me, as a middle-class fully insured taxpayer, and member of the "young invincibles", here's what I want out of the health care bill:

Modification of contract terms regarding pre-existing conditions (see below )

Caps on what costs insurers can pass on to their customers - an accident or serious illness should not result in a hospital or medical provider to be able to bankrupt someone

Measures in place to cut costs of health care, rather than digging for new funds to pay for it. The reason why medical bankruptcy is such a huge problem is because of our inefficiencies in the health care system, and the ability of providers to charge whatever they like since in most cases, insurance picks up the tab.

Coverage rules in place for only qualified US Citizens.

Methods for increasing competition between insurance companies, and methods to reduce the "conflict of interest" that insurance companies have between their shareholders and policyholders. It is not in their best interest to pay claims - it cuts into their bottom line.

Although young, I had a few incidences where I had to use my insurance and fight tooth-and-nail to get the coverage I paid for. This is unacceptable. I had a $2000 hospital bill for a minor TMJ surgery, which sounds like a lot until you realize that this "simple" procedure (as I was told) cost $12000 total, and insurance picked up the other $10k. It makes me sick to my stomach to think what would have happened if my insurance company said "Ehh. We don't feel like paying for that."

That would have caused serious problems for me. And it happens to people every day. People with heart disease, or cancer. People who get into serious accidents - all things completely out of their control. And yet private insurers deny these types of claims on a daily basis - costing many people their lives.

This gets into a debate on whether health care - and what kind of health care - is a privilege or a right. And I'm not going to go there. What I will say, is that insurance companies should not have a right to accept customers into a policy, collect monthly premiums, and then turn around and cancel their policy when a claim is initiated, citing a "pre-existing condition".

Burden of proof should be on the insurance company at the time the policy is initiated to provide the customer with full disclosure regarding what will or will not be covered by their policy. They should do their "digging" in medical records for these conditions up front, when a person applies for a policy, and their premiums can, and should, affect that "digging" (just like with auto insurance, where lots of accidents equal higher premiums). But they should NOT have the right to sign up a customer, continually collect monthly premiums, and then cancel when it "suits them" - when an expensive claim is filed. In short, they don't look at your history extensively until you get sick, and then they try to find any and all reasons your claim may not be valid. That's not fair.

So this gets back to Brown, and what he may or may not bring to the table. My respect for the current government is pretty much at an all-time low right now. To me, it seems like Republicans represent the corporations and the rich and lobby/pass legislation for them, and the Democrats represent the people that can't support themselves, and pass legislation appropriately. Both parties speak extensively to "support" of the middle class, but it really seems like all hot air from here.

I don't want the government interfering with my daily life. But through unchecked support for the rich and their outsourcing initiatives, the Republicans have affected my job security. And through unchecked support for those too lazy to take care of themselves, or got here illegally, my taxes and health care bills are through the roof. People like me are getting squeezed on both sides.

All of these "Obama money" programs? Stimulus? Back To School Funding?
The only one most middle class citizens qualify for is Cash For Clunkers. And we all saw what happened there. Now when half of these people lose their jobs due to the corporate overlords outsourcing more work to India and China, who's going to pay those car bills? Where are those cars going to end up? Exactly where they started - killing our domestic auto industry. We don't need handouts. We need actual reform. We need a system of checks and balances. Throwing money at these problems won't solve them. Look at the banks, and their multimillion dollar bonuses aimed at retaining "talent". Honestly the only real reform I agree with in that damn stimulus was increasing unemployment benefits and reducing COBRA costs. That WAS an initiative aimed at the middle class, enabling them to support themselves while picking themselves up and trying to reenter the workforce.

Politics is a touchy subject for me, because EVERYONE IS WRONG. There is no one supporting us. They need our moneys to fund initiatives to the two groups of people who actually benefit from government. Those that have the sway to stay on top, and those at the bottom continue to sit on their butts and collect at our expense.

Washington is out for no one but themselves. And we're the ones paying.