Weekend Blues

For a weekend that began with such high hopes (TGIF), it’s certainly been a bust.

Ismael has been sick for weeks, alternating between feeling better then worse, and this weekend he fell into the “worse” end of it again.  He is one of the many uninsured, because my insurance at work is too costly for a family plan and offers nearly no benefit.  Any individual plan for him is even more expensive because of his diabetes issues.  So we get by as best we can.

I have such a hard time listening to people who are against health care reform.  A friend of mine is against it – even though the insurance her husband’s employer provides has a 20K out of pocket per year.  Twenty thousand dollars?  Not Pesos??  Her husband is a truck driver, not a CEO.    I work for the Church and while our plan isn’t as bad as hers, it does have a 10K out of pocket, if we were on the family plan.  I’m a private school teacher (who makes about 70 percent of a public school teacher’s salary in a comparable position), again, not a CEO.

People say they don’t want the government being involved in their health decisions.  Fair enough, but do they realize that their insurance companies are already very much in the business of profit for their shareholders, which is obtained by denying people with pre-conditions, denying care, refusing to pay for prescriptions and charging exorbitant rates for high deductible policies and calling it a “choice” for consumers?  There are procedures, operations, and medications that my current plan flatly will not cover.  Yeah, it’s a choice.  It’s just not a good one.  They make it sound like the power is being given to us.  The man who actually presented our high deductible plan to us said something to the effect that “if your child gets hurt, you will be more likely to wait and see if an x-ray is really necessary rather than running off to the ER.”  That seems like a good choice to any of you?  It didn’t to the parent who was sitting next to me.  I remember hearing her gasp at that particular statement.

I get irritated by the misinformation that swirls around and the fear mongering that goes on (death panels! wait for months to see a doctor! etc!!!).  I guess that if more people have access to the care they NEED then yes, I might have to wait longer to see the doctor.  Because I don’t want to wait, other people should be denied care?  That seems selfish to the max.

This morning as I was feeding Adam I was listening to the Today show interviewing a doctor who believes that vaccines might cause autism.  While I don’t believe that, entirely, I wonder at the wisdom of so many shots at one time at such young ages.  But I hold my breath, take Adam to the health department where a series of shots costs $2.50 compared to $200 at the doctor’s office and I get him innoculated.

Because most don’t develop autism.  In fact, most children don’t choke on coins.  Most make it through their toddlerhood, into childhood, and into adulthood just fine.  Most do.

And the scary part about “most?”

It implies that “some” don’t.  Some will develop autism.  Some will choke on coins.  Some will not make it through their toddlerhood, or their childhood, or their adulthood.  Some don’t.

I’m trying not to overly dwell on the issue of some and concentrate more on the comfort of most.

So I don’t know what the answer is for health care reform, but I do know that we are awash in medical bills, for the minimal care we have had to seek, and that I don’t believe this is the best it can be.