I see my side, which is basically I pay $90 a month for medical insurance for my husband and I. This cost does not include co-pays for prescriptions or doctor's visit, as well as several other procedures, including pregnancy and child birth. We're not exactly "rollin' in the dough" just like many of the other families that are part of this nation. We make less than $15 an hour each and live in a 418 square-foot apartment. Not only do we pay our medical insurance, but just like everyone else, we are responsible for paying car insurance and other necessities. $90 is a lot to be spending considering Mike and I are both in fairly good health. We feel that this medical insurance is a priority and though it makes our budget a little tighter we pay for it because we feel it necessary to prepare in the event that we might need it one day.
The other side of this that I see is while serving people with disabilities. Some of the people I serve work, and some of them don't. I have found that though they may work AND receive money from the government to help pay for things like rent and food, they often times do not have a lot of excess cash to be throwing around to pay for medical insurance. It is in this situation that I feel like a government-run health care system could really benefit this nation.
We have to remember the people that are in low-income situations due to debilitating accidents or for other reasons which make it so that they are unable to work. We also need to remember the stories of people that get these crazy illnesses and for one reason or another, are unable to take care of their hospital bills. (IE: "What about little Johnny with leukemia?") Even the people with pre-existing conditions- THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WE SHOULD BE HELPING! Not the people that fail to prioritize their finances in order to have adequate healthcare coverage, because they know they can get it for free through the government.
In the past year, Medicaid has stopped funding for important services such as vision and dental. This has really impacted my clients because now, if they want to go to the dentist to have their teeth cleaned they have to pay for their own dental insurance-many of these people don't really have the extra $20 a month to be paying for that. In my opinion, the solution should be to fix the health plans that we have now: Medicaid and Medicare.
I've had the opportunity to work with Housing over the past few months and that has been a treat. In order to receive housing benefits, one needs to apply for the assistance. (In case you're wondering, housing's waiting list is about a mile long) After you have been pulled from the list, they give you this big packet that asks you a ton of questions about your income and your monthly expenditures. After that, they give you income and bank verification forms. You have to take these income forms to everyone that you receive money from, including your employer. Then, you get to take the forms to each bank that you have a savings/checking account with. From my experience, there are some banks that wont even do this now. It's ridiculous. After that, you get to arrange a meeting with the coordinator, they figure out what you can afford and then give you that info. The reason why I'm telling you this, is in hopes that you get the idea that it's a lengthy process and kind of a pain in the butt! If we made government-run healthcare as difficult to apply for and receive, maybe people that CAN afford it would stop taking advantage of it, because it's a lot easier to just pay for it.
I also think that for many people, this service should be temporary. For example, if you're laid off and COBRA is not an option, you can apply for temporary medical insurance. They should give you a 3 month window to find a job and insurance coverage, as well as offer financial counseling to empower people to become more self-sufficient.
I've contacted United Healthcare in Draper to find out what the costs would be to do a private health insurance plan. Obviously, it's going to be different for everyone because I don't have any major conditions such as diabetes, cancer or major depression. And it's probably going to be a tad-bit more expensive because it is private. I guess the point that I'm going to try to make with this is that I'm not rich, but even if for some reason I wasn't able to get employee healthcare coverage, I would still make it on my own. I recognize, yeah, I don't have kids and both my husband and I work. But I feel like this should all be relative to the situation you're in. If you have a single-income family with 4 kids, yes it's going to be hard but that's what tax breaks are for, right?
Something that is frustrating for me to see is that the "boundary" between what's needed and wanted has been blurred. If we continue to "pitch in" our tax dollars to people that don't really need the assistance, we might as well start paying for everyone's car insurance and back-taxes too. The plan that has been suggested is ineffective in helping the citizens of our country maintain self-sufficiency. It is also frustrating that under this new plan, people like me, that prioritize their needs are being PUNISHED (Yes, I just said punished. ) for being empowered and independent.
Anyway, that's my blurb.
I'm beyond jealous of your $90/month insurance- ours through BYU is $283/month :( I like your points, I wish people would realize health care reform doesn't have to be socialized healthcare- lets start small and fix what we already have, rather than creating more screwed up systems. If the government does such a crappy job with Medicare and Medicaid, why should we trust them to control even more?
ReplyDeleteI did research today about how much it would cost for private insurance for a 21 year old like myself and it would cost anywhere from $100-$150 a month. I see what all the fuss is about, where it's really expensive, but even if I were paying $200-$300 a month I would still make it a priority to make sure it's paid. =/ I'm sorry yours is so much, Christine. What are your co-pays on your doc visits and prescriptions? Mine are $20 and $35 for doc visits depending on if it's a general or specialist that I see. My prescriptions are $15, $30 and $45 depending on what tier it is. But that doesn't include vision or dental benefits.
ReplyDeleteAs long as we go to the Student Health Center copays are $15 and prescriptions are usually under $20, so it's nice when we are in Utah. But outside of Utah, we have no prescription insurance and $25 copays + 30% co-insurance, no dental or vision. But definitely, regardless of the cost, we pay it, it is a priority for us. I don't think the cost alone means we need socialized health-care. In fact, nothing could ever justify it in my mind, I would pay twice as much as I am to prevent that kind of system.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your views! Like you I am very torn on this subject but do believe a change needs to be implemented. Our insurance is $750.00 / month, my employer pays the majority but I still have over $100.00/ month in prescriptions AND our insurance doesn't cover mental health... Of course Autism is a mental health disorder and a very expensive one at that! I think they need to standardize the cost of health care and not base it on what your medical history is. It is unfair to those of us who have less fortunate family members that need medical care in order to live a productive life!
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