Friday, 29 August 2008
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Democrats vs. Republicans: Who Cares More About Healthcare for Our Families?
Bill Clinton addressing the Democratic National Convention..."American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage.
I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other serious conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their children for Medicaid, unless they quit work and starved, or got a divorce.
Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of?"
Before I get started... did you know that the divorce rate among parents of autistic children runs around 80%? That is a post for another time and I will get around to it.
I didn't want to like the man while he was in office and my husband was in the Navy. But I will give credit where credit is due. When my husband was deployed on a six month Mediterranean cruise (where most of it was spent sitting in the middle east), my son was being denied referrals to specialists by the military "health benefit" called Tricare. I wrote Hillary an e-mail asking her to help me since she was supposed to be the champion for children's health care at the time. It took several weeks, but I got a response.
One day, while I was in the middle of trying to fill out the MOUNTAINS of paperwork to get my son SSI, I received a phone call. The man on the other line was from the office of the Secretary of the Navy. He was calling to ask me how my son's medical care was going. I told him the truth -- that my son was being denied referrals to specialists and for tests that would confirm a diagnosis of Autism. I explained that when I did get the referrals approved, the claims were still being denied by Tricare, so the hospital where my son was seen wasn't getting paid. He assured me that someone would be calling me later that day with several approval numbers for more referrals and that the claims would get paid.
For the next few months, I would receive phone calls out of the blue with the person on the other end of the line asking me how my son was doing.
Of course, by the time my husband came home, those calls had diminished and referrals were again being denied. Back then, Tricare would cover the diagnostic process but not the disorder. I hear things have changed since my husband left the military, and I hope that is true.
When Bush took office, I began an e-mail campaign to him and his wife, asking for him to address the needs of disabled children and their families. I sent out e-mails every month, pointing out exactly what families needed such as respite care, SSI, insurance coverage, and effective educations. I've never received a single response. I guess he was too busy trying to become America's first dictator.
I have e-mailed J. McCain's campaign, Hillary C's, and B. Obama's. The only replies I have received came from Obama's campaign.
I have never voted for a Democrat in my life. I will be voting for several in November. I am not entirely convinced that they will do any better of a job than Republicans, but hey...they answer my e-mails and from time to time, they act on them in big ways.
**As far as that SSI application went, Junior was approved for SSI for four months, then he lost it along with Medicaid. His diagnosis qualifies him as permanently disabled, but our income (which is barely within the lower middle class standards) disqualifies him from benefits.Have you ever struggled to provide healthcare for your family? Is healthcare an important issue for you in this year's Presidential election?
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Comments (87)
I struggle daily. Even though I qualify for MediCal they keep turning me down....it was joked that if I change my name to Sanches I would be given MidiCal in a heartbeat...this was from a hispanic lady that works for MediCal.
My husbands job has always provided healthcare for our family so I have never really worried about it. I'm not really big into social programs as I think they are quite dangerous. If you give a person their food, shelter and daily living needs for to long they become dependant on them. Then the person who has control of those programs control's you. Many years ago people relied on their families for things, now they rely on the state. As a Christian, I believe in following God's way and have found that when I do, I live a better life than when I follow man's way.
Heathcare is horribly expensive, but we must be careful in assuming that government provided healthcare will solve all of our problems. It won't! Look at Canada for a prime example. Sure, everything is free, but you have to wait 3+ months for any kind of surgery...even if you have a deady tumor! How is that good healthcare?
I think we need to foster better competition between health insurance companies (and medical providers) so premiums will drop. My husband makes less than 30K a year and we pay $322 a month for a high-deductible ($2500/person) plan. It's outrageous! But do I want the government raising my taxes to pay for everyone's healthcare? No! It will make the system even worse. And that's why I will vote McCain/Palin in November.
I have never had to worry about health care/insurance.
But, unless you are working for the government, I don't think the federal government has any obligation to make sure you are covered by insurance. I have never seen anything in the constitution that outlines the responsibilities of the federal government, that says they are responsible for your healthcare. A long time ago families and the church stepped in to help each other. Wanting the federal government to take care of everything for you is a Socialist idea. We are NOT supposed to be a Socialist country. If you don't want a dictator, than you would not want the federal government running your life. On top of that, for those who want nationalized healthcare run by the federal government, have you thought about the mess they made of Social Security? Have you heard about the restaurants they were running in the Captiol that is now going to go private because they were MILLIONS of DOLLARS in debt!??????
Though I feel for your situation and admittedly never had to deal with anything remotely as serious as your sons condition, I wouldn't base my vote on who responded to an email but by who had the smartest plan. Health care is an extremely touchy issue, extremely complicated. A socialist view of health care isn't the answer either, it gives Doctors and insurance even more control of who to care for and who not to. At least in America even if we have to pay for the service, we can still get treated, in other countries they decide who will even get the treatment, it's not up to parents at all. I agree that Healthcare needs to be reformed and that there are many unfair situations happening within the Health care system, but Obama's socialized Healthcare reform isn't the answer either.
We have very expensive insurance also, it is however not the governments job to provide it just like it is not our job to pay more taxes so that other people get it for free. We do not make a lot of money and I am not interested government healthcare. I would rather be responsible for making my own decisions in all areas. I left home a long time ago do not want another Daddy.
I prefer to vote for people based on their proposed solutions. It's one thing to say the health care system is going to be changed and another thing to change it, so I listen to what their plan is. Unfortunately sometimes that plan just does not sound realistic or feasible to me. Granted I'm no economist or whatever expert it takes to figure these things out, but I figure since most citizens are probably more like me and less like the experts, if I can't figure out how the candidates solution is going to work, no one else can either, therefore it's probably not going to work. As it is, I can't even find a good health care/insurance plan for me and my family, there are faults and rooms for improvement in every one that I've encountered thus far. Some are better and some are worse, and we have pretty average situations (no special needs, etc). The fact is, because every situation is different, everyone's solution is going to be different so there's just not going to be a one size fits all solution. I can't fault a candidate for not providing the perfect solution to the problem just because there isn't one to give and s/he would rather not give false hope and promise things that just aren't realistic.
My husband works for the state. Our health insurance kind of makes up for the poor salary. I am very thankful for it. I don't believe in socialized medicine, at all. Quality will suffer and the government will be in the business of deciding what is important and what isn't. My biggest concerns this election are taxes, the economy, the war in Iraq and any other potential wars we could be finding ourselves in. I also agree about not being too quick to pat those on the back for responding to your e-mails. In college, I worked for a congressman in D.C. I was a lowly intern who responded to more letters and phone inquiries than I can count. I won't go so far as to say that politicians don't care, but honestly, at the end of the day it's about votes and power. Just be thankful that someone got back to you.
I think you've just made the point for NOT asking the government to take over health care! They SUCK at it! As several of the comenters pointed out, even when you qualify the care is less than desirable and sometimes non-existent. We definitely need health care reform in America but the Federal government is not the answer! You wanna talk about a mess?!
We need to get health care decisions back into the hands of the consumers. If we made regular maintenance health care at a low, out-of-pocket cost that every American could afford (and keep Medicaid and Medicare as it is) and then reserved insurance to kick in ONLY when those unforseen accidents happen or for terminal illnesses or medical conditions that come up. It would be more affordable that way and more effective! There are several ideas to this effect out there but saddling our government with the cost and headache of implementing it is just crazy!! None of us are prepared for the huge rise in taxes such a program would cost!!! Heaven help us all if Obama gets elected and tries to inflict such a mess on our masses!!!
And that is not even addressing the issues with quality should we move to a socialist health care system. No other country in the world makes as many medical break-throughs as the United States! And that's because here if one invests in helping people there is direct compensation for one's accomplishments (this is known as capitalism). When that cause and effect ceases (as it does when socialism rules) the effort decreases as well. This is the case with every human! If I can work all day and clean 2 houses and make $50 or clean 4 and make $100 I'll clean those extra houses. But if it's just $50 a day no matter how hard I work I may only clean one house and do a poor job at it! Health care is too important to gamble with the quality of my families care!
So what happens to a developmentally disabled adult whose parents have died and have no other family who CAN take them on?
It is lovely idea to say that family should care for their own until someone runs out of surviving family. My youngest siblings and cousins will also be too old to take on my son when I become too old to care for him at home.
If I am already spending EVERY extra penny I have on his medical care now...how I am supposed to set money aside for him later?
Do any of the commentors realize that assisted living facility costs can run into the 100s of thousands of dollars a year and many people with developmental disabilities have normal life spans?
Alot of the commentors for this post don't want their taxes raised a penny to cover the cost of an effective education for the developmentally disabled but they sure as hell expect their own children to get an education that prepares them for adulthood. They also don't want their premiums raised to insure that developmentally disabled children get coverage under their family's plan, the plan the child's parents are also paying for but can't get benefits paid. Then, when the child gets a piss poor education and no medical coverage for their disability...these tax payers don't want to pay the necessary cost of caring for the child once they grow and the parents can't physically do the job anymore because they are worn down, sick themselves, and/or too old.
Hell...maybe we should just bring in euthanasia so these kids can stop being such a burden on all you tax payers.
Unfortunately even though it is a MASSIVE issue for many of us, it takes more than a presidential term in office to change it. We have to first shut up all of congress and get them to listen and they only like listening to each other much like the British Parliament. [exasperated sigh] The other thing that always gets me is that everyone thinks that the current state of health care and the economy resides on the shoulders of whomever is in office at the time as president. Not so, it is the result of the last term. We have yet to experience and know what is to come as a result of the Bush term until he's out of office.
I understand what your saying about health care though, my sister has a special needs son and it's hard for her as well. And in our house, we grimace every month we dish out several hundred for insurance "just in case" even though we may not use it. I always think it's a lot of groceries or car repair or house maintenance instead.
As a Conservative, I am tired of being called selfish and self-centered because I am vehemently opposed to universal health care. And I am tired of being called a wealthy, upper class elitist just because I am opposed to the idea. I am not either. I am simply a responsible Patriot that believes in sacrifice and hard work to provide for my own.
I am having brain surgery on September 11. I have a tumor on my pituitary gland that is causing Cushing's Disease and my blood pressure to skyrocket to stroke levels, amongst other things. I am glad I'm having surgery now, because if Nobama is our next President and I am forced to go to a doctor or surgeon he picks for me (if I'm even lucky enough to see a specialist before the tumor kills me), I have no idea what the quality of service will be. You can't have both quantity and quality. Just take a look at survival and care rates for both Canada and the UK.
You know the other reason I am against universal healthcare? Because I don't think it's YOUR responsibility to pay for my medical issues. It's not YOUR job to make sure this tumor is removed and my medical bills are paid. It's mine. No where in the Constitution does it say I have a right to these things or that other citizens should have to foot my bill.
I have a job that offers health insurance. No, I do not love my job. I do not look forward to coming to this job every day. It's hard work and like most American's I feel underpaid. But it's a trade off. I come here with a good attitude every single day because it offers medical benefits that will offset the cost of my upcoming surgery, and it's with good, solid doctors.
I wasn't raised this way. I come from a very poor, liberal community, most of whom will jump at the chance for "free" health care for everyone so that they can work less for these benefits. I am lucky that my parents instilled in me the drive to provide for myself and mine, regardless of the sacrifices and hard work it takes.
If we are forced into universal healthcare, these values will surely be lost. Future generations will learn that you don't have to work for anything. The government will give it to you.
I do struggle, however, with families in true need because of disability. But I used to work for the Governor of the State of Georgia and I can tell you from firsthand experience that the majority of people who use these programs are not those families. They are the people who have already learned to take handouts instead of providing for their own.
That's my two cents.
There is no doubt that we need reform but universal healthcare is a bad idea.
--Looks at Britain and Canada... theyre going bankrupt because the gov't cannot afford it--so their taxes will increase.
--Also, I do not want medical services to run like the DMV and postal services.
--My colleagues & I have noticed that more and more Canadians are coming to the US to get healthcare because they cant afford to delay their cancers treatments and surgeries for months. Which is what will happen when the government dictates when and who your doctor will be.
--If the gov't runs healthcare then the governement will decide when you will have your surgery, who will do the surgery and where your you healthcare will be. That's too much power to the government. I want to go to the doctor that I like and trust.
--Universal HC will also cause a decline in the quality of medical care because if doctors become government workers they will be guaranteed a medical job with a steady number of patients. Thus they can never be fired or sued because is extremely difficult to fire or sue the government.
My college insurance ran out in December. I got pregnant in January and my work health insurance doesn't kick in until two weeks after my due date. Talk about amusing ironic timing...I looked for private health insurance but since I was already pregnant, the cheapest I could find cost over half my income per month and did not cover half of what I needed. It would have been cheaper to pay out-of-pocket.
I know some people do not agree with government health insurance, but sometimes it is the only choice. While waiting five months to get a medical card, I could only afford to go to two prenatal appointments especially when all the doctor's offices started requiring several thousand dollars paid in advanced for uninsured patients.
Either candidate that gets elected will have to have whatever health care plan they propose pass through Congress anyways. I am more worried about Congressional elections than Presidential ones.
@HSmomto4@xanga - What happens if you have no family left? What then? Who helps you then? Do you pass up a homeless veteran begging on the streets without acknowledging his presence, or do you smile warmly and ask if there is something you can do for him? Which is "God's way"? Is not this person your "brother-in-Christ"? Doesn't he deserve some human dignity? Who was it that said "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day; Teach a man to fish, feed him for life"?
It seems to me that "God's way" is to take care of your fellow man.
I pity the people that cannot see past their own perfect worlds to see the needs of humanity.
@MlleBaroque@xanga - There are SOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! many more countries in the world that have socialized medicine that work extremely well. Why doesn't anyone reference them when talking about govt health care? Yes, it will be tricky. Yes, it will be a pain to those of us that have been used to our currently overpriced system. But, it can be regulated and not cost a dime in tax payer money. Did you know that less than 9% of tax dollars go into medicaid? Why can't we take the billions of dollars that Bush just pledged to go to Africa to fight AIDS, and develop a SMART health care system in the US?
I want to thank all those that have shared their opinions and political views regarding the issue of health care in the USA. I don't expect everyone to always agree with me however I do usually hope that when people disagree, they keep it civil and if they can't..that they follow the guidelines of "If you can't something nice, don't say anything at all."
As one conservative pointed out that they are tired of being called selfish and self centered upper class elitists (something I definately did not say in my post)...I am a bit weary of being called unamerican, unpatriotic, selfish for wanting my own tax dollars to help my son with his education and indeed, help every child receieve a proper and effective education and my insurance premiums to cover his ASD, stupid, and wrong. I am also tired of being accused of not being a hard working tax payer trying to take care of her family. While no one on this forum has yet to accuse me of all of these wicken deeds, it happens often enough in other areas of my life to get on my nerves. Also, please allow me to apolgize for being human and having feelings that do get hurt from time to time.
Also, I want to point out that the original title on my own blog was "Reflections on my voting history". I wanted to discuss ONE of the many reasons that I am willing to give my vote to the other side for the first time in my life. If I were an English Comp or Journalism major then maybe I would have written a long and even more tedious post explaining every single one of my reasons. In addition, at no time was it my intention to inflame conservatives or tell them they should vote for democrats. Again, I was discussing my own voting history and inclinations...not those of others.
As my original title suggested, I only sought to share my opinion. While I do permit the Momaroo editors to pull from my Xanga blog and make "editorial" changes to my title, correct any errors they find in grammar and spelling, and add questions to the end of my posts....I have no say in what they pull or what they change. I should be amused that these fine editors make brilliant changes that invite passion, dissent, and controversy so as to boost their readership and participation. However, I can't help but feel used when changes are significant enough to invite criticisms that can be quite hurtful not in an effort to foster communication or compromise but rather in effort to incite the masses.
@sugartomyhoney@xanga - Have you ever taken a class that even remotely studied The Constitution? IF you had, you would know that The Constitution starts out by saying that "We the people, in order to....promote the general Welfare..." Doesn't this statement alone charge the federal government with assisting its citizens when necessary?
A long time ago, when the church stepped in, the doctors also worked in exchange for chickens. How much is a chicken worth to you?
Surprisingly, you are NOT correct about socialism either. No one has mentioned the government owning the health care system. Oh, and socialism only leads to dictatorships if the people let it. You may not fully recognize the fragility of our current system, but ask yourself this question....what stops the President (the Command in Chief of the Armed Forces) from ordering the military into the cities and declaring marshal law?
LOL!
well, i am an AMERICAN that lives in ENGLAND and enjoys and benefits greatly from the NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (the NHS).
you know what? the people on here spouting about how terrible the UK and canada's health service is.. guess what!
they have never lived there and have never experienced national health care for all.
i wouldn't be surprised if they were sitting pretty in a big house in a big gated community, watching fox news and terrified at the thought of a GASP! black man! or GASP! woman! in the white house.
it isn't selfish to expect your nation to provide everyone with health care.
it's civilized.
what cracks me up is that those who oppose a national health service most likely support capital punishment.
CI _VI_LI_ZED_
wake up america!
you are being taken for a ride.
at the very least your nation should be offering you free health check ups.
i use the Uk's NHS and i don't wait for months and i don't have my doctor appointed to me. this is propaganda that once again the american people buy into and perpetuate.
i will never come back to the states, not unless my children can see a doctor for free and the bush administration is dismantled totally.
@Tavia_n_Jones@xanga - Have you read Obama's plan for the health care system? Let me help you out...
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/ scroll down to the plan and read....no where is there any language that says the government will take over healthcare. What it does say is that the United States will become what federal law considers "Self-Insured". What does that mean? My employer is self insured. It means that the company pays the bills, as though it were an insurance company. Obama is just going to give every American the opportunity to buy into the Federal insurance plan (that, by the way, the members of Congress get for free).
Maybe the decision for whom is to lead our great nation for the next four years shouldn't solely be made on whether they answer emails or not ( I am sure that is not the ONLY thing that has persuaded her decision), but shouldn't your decision be fully informed?
@MommytoTorie@xanga - What is the difference where the money goes? Right now you are paying it to the insurance company. If the plan that Obama wants to put into place is passed, you would spend less on the insurance, even if you didn't choose the govt plan. SO they raise your taxes alittle to pay for it, chances are, the change in your take home pay would be in your favor. They are gonna raise taxes to pay off George's War anyway.
@mrspowpow - Thank you so much for speaking the truth. In fact, the republican party has been spreading fear in the hearts of the mindless masses. I just did somet of my own research and I discovered that for all of our finger pointing at England as an exampled of failed universal health care...only 2% are dissatified. Finland is another example of how universal health care works. They have a lower cost of health care and are rated as having a higher quality of care than most developed nations. Their approval ratings by citizens are at over 87%, again a pretty high number.
I have also had several Canadian chums tell me that while they feel their system needs some improvement, they don't want ours!
The nations with greatest citizen satisfaction in health care are nations where the people have the option of buying private plans or buying their insurance from the government. Multi-tiered universal health care works and it works well. But I suppose it is easier to follow a little man telling everyone to buy into fear than it is dare to look past him and try what is working so for other developed nations and maybe even make further improvements.
@trulytaken@xanga - Again, as I have suggested to tohers, go to the website and actually READ the plan...
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/
I can appreciate the concerns about govt run healthcare, but how do you propose to get the low out of pocket expense for maintenance health care? HMO's? That worked really well didn't it? Have you ever had federal medical care? I have and it was great. I didn't have to worry about whether my son was going to get the speech or occupational therapy he needed. Yes, I did have an out of pocket expense. But I used private doctors and private therapists exclusivley. He saw specialists out the wazoo!
If you don't think the insurance companies are controlling the price of healthcare, you are nuts!! This is just another form of socialism. The difference is the money, control and power lies with the corporation instead of the government.
I guess if you really think about it, we do not have a democratic republic in our nation...we have a corporate republic because the big corporations are really the ones running things.
CAPITALISM IS AWESOME!!
3 months after moving to the UK my daughter had whooping cough.
she was my first and it really freaked me out.
we took her to hospital and they saw us as soon as we were finished triage. 10 minutes from entering the building, I was talking to a doctor.
on our way out i stopped at reception to .. i don't know...fill out some forms or something... pay i thought!
they laughed at me!
they said, you're in the UK love,
your health care is free.
I have never received better health care than here.
i can birth my kids in my home with a midwife if i choose - FOR FREE!
I can spread out vaccinations if i choose to have them - FOR FREE
I can talk to a therapist - FOR FREE
I can get treatment from some of the best hospitals in the world - FOR FREE
don't you see? it is your RIGHT to have these things.
it isn't a BUSINESS!!