Anyone who knows me well probably knows my view on the healthcare bill by now - I don't support it at all. I don't want anything to do with it. Yesterday was one of the saddest days in the history of our country because we just said goodbye to on the last true freedoms we really have - the right to purchase something without the government telling us we have to. Sure, the government can't force us to buy health insurance. But it can tax us if we don't. In fact, if the government can tax us for not purchasing health insurance, what does that mean when we go to buy a new car? Go to college? Buy a house? Will the government tax us if we don't buy a gas efficient car now, or tax us for not buying healthy foods it approves, or tax us for TV channels it doesn't like?
We are being penalized for exercising our freedom as a member of the free market to both buy and delcine to buy what we choose.
I find that I have a particularly high stake in the outcome of this bill due to my own medical condition, Type 1 Diabetes. The bill - perhaps was intended to truly help Americans - but of course, I doubt if even Congress knows if that's the case.
First of all, Florida has (naturally) opted out of the Medicaid expansion - which means that, you guessed it, Congress figures that on my mother's $12,000 a year income we'll all be able to pay for health insurance. Currently, health insurance for me is useless. I would be denied if I tried to sign up myself. My mother could sign me up for her healthcare (assuming she had it) but it means absolutely nothing Diabetes-related would be covered. At most, from the research I've done, private health insurance at this point would grant me 50 test strips each month, some insulin bottles but no syringes (so no more pens, and absolutely no pumps) or other supplies. Not to mention, anything at all that is wrong for me can be deemed "Diabetes related" making it difficult to get insurance companies to cover anything. My vision problems? (Myopia - which I've had since I was in 5th grade) - could be deemed Diabetes related. Liver problems? Kidney problems? Diabetes related.
So, I'm curious. Obama says that under his new Health Care Bill, people like me, with pre-existing conditions (which, mind you, I did nothing but exist to bring about), will not be barred from getting health insurance, nor will insurance companies be allowed to charge a higher rate for me. This sounds awesome. Except, I have some serious doubts. How am I going to pay for health care each month plus college? Come October, when I lose Medicaid anyways because I'm not pregnant, I do not have a child, and I'm not disabled enough for the Medicaid system, I won't have insurance or access to life saving drugs anyways. I planned on getting these drugs from Canada (Canadadrugs.com) for a much cheaper cost than buying my drugs from a local pharmacy. Test strips would have to be bought each month (about $120), and buying a box of 5 insulin pens every other month (each box lasts about 2 months) (Novolog and Lantus) would run about $300. In addition to that, I would need to buy lancets ($20) and syringes ($30), but I can make a box of each of those last several months (perhaps a bad practice, but I don't use new lancets and syringes every time I test or give myself a shot). Doctor's appointments every 3 months would run me about $70-$100 plus any blood work I need to get done, which I could get at least slightly cheaper by going to a separate blood testing lab other than one at the doctor's. So, adding this all together, this is my total projected cost for health care on my own after October per month: $337.50, or about $4,500 a year. Is this a large cost for a relatively low-income family? Yes. But health insurance costs more, and does less, under the current system.
But this is why I'm worried: the bill, in some aspects, may sounds good on paper, but gives me serious doubts as to whether it will truly help people like me. If insurance companies can't bar me from coverage, will they only cover bottles of insulin, eliminating the chances of me getting a pump or using pens now? Will they charge higher monthly premiums for everyone? Will quality and innovation in our health system see drastic setbacks, lowering the chances of anyone getting good health care? Am I going to have to pay high costs for health insurance each month and pay for all of the things they don't cover? And what about the large amount of money added onto our taxes each year to pay for this bill? I see taxes taken out of my paycheck - where will it stop? How is a country already in deficit going to pay for a bill of this size? How is it that "experts" say the bill will reduce the deficit over the years, but can give neither the math they used to get these numbers or offer any proof that this will occur other than "it's too early to tell if this will really reduce the deficit or not".
So, those are my concerns. If the bill actually does help people like me, and does what Congress claims it does, I'd be amongst the first to admit that my doubts were wrong. But the feeling in my pancreas tells me that perhaps my doubts aren't wrong, and in which case, people like Type 1 Diabetics aren't really going to be better off at all.
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