I recently got an e-mail from my 1st cousin...who is the mother of my 2nd cousin who is my age...so she is older and much wiser than I. She is a Master's level in the Health Care Industry and is working on her PhD in Informatics. She is in a position to know; she has a passion for health care reform and has a different point of view that I find interesting and refreshing...
I hope you read it all...if the Tea Parties have taught us anything, (no matter which side you are on) it is that we do have power. We should get educated, get involved and be part of the solution!
"I have to warn you that Health Policy is a passion of mine...I believe that we do need sweeping health reform...I have seen people lose their generational family farms because of a diagnosis of cancer or diabetes. Since they are usually under a private policy or small business policy, they jack their rates to the point they can't afford it and other companies refuse to cover them. Eventually they end up in so much debt they lose everything. Complications from a hysterectomy can cause hospitalization for a week, which can cost $75,000 and that didn't include all the extra bills from pathology, anesthesia, etc. The hysterectomy was not elective but due to fibroids that caused bleeding and anemia. Now imagine what would happen if they didn't have insurance.
A woman I met told me that she was diagnosed with breast cancer; she was a stay at home mom/housewife and on her husbands insurance until in the middle of chemotherapy he packed up and left her, filed for divorce and she found herself unemployed and no insurance. She couldn't find an insurance company that would take her. With the high cost of chemotherapy it didn't take but a couple of months to exhaust her lifetime savings and lose her house. So, when "everyone" celebrates that the Health Care Reform was stopped....think of the 47 million people in America who are uninsured.
Maybe it is because we have been so blessed in our lives. We started with everything we owned fitting in the trunk of a Chevy Nova (not much!). A baby on the way and no insurance. I often have that feeling of there but by the grace of God go I. One of the reasons I enrolled in college and nursing school was that I saw too many women dependent on their husbands...and destitute if the marriage failed. I vowed never to be in a position that I couldn't financially care for my children. But many woman think it can never happen to them. I don't want our country becoming one of have and have nots ...I am not such a bleeding heart liberal that I think people who can help them selves shouldn't- I get aggravated at all the illegal aliens who don't pay taxes and drug addicts etc crying I can't help it..bahumbug. But did you know that the majority of the homeless have a serious mental illness. Sure, many of them are drug or alcohol addicts and that doesn't help but increasingly there are families with children living in their cars.
As I said, everyone in this family is Republican, including my sons, but I think if anyone might understand my point of view it is you. You have always been sensitive to social issues and you have time. Find somewhere to volunteer, see what is going on in our country. Educate yourself on the problems with health care in our country. Be aware of the numbers of people who are out of options. And then try to sit back and say the system is fine like it is...sure for those of us who "have" it is great. But the number of "have nots" is growing.?
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