Donkey Tales, part 2

I don’t know where to start. Fine, I pick healthcare. Ok, let’s look at this: For the first time, a president has successfully pushed through legislation that makes a strong first effort to allow reasonable healthcare access to all Americans, fair and square.

Mitt says he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act on “day one.” And replace it with what Mitt? Mitt won’t say. Instead he says “I know what it takes to create jobs.” Because that’s what he usually says.

Maybe, if you’ve always had secure, fairly comprehensive, employment-based insurance, it will be hard to understand why I find the stance of Mitt and Paul to be quite upsetting. I could afford to buy better coverage if I wanted, but what I currently have is basically a catastrophic, high-deductible plan. It was cheaper, and I was accustomed to having, as a family, fairly crappy insurance, because that’s what was available through our business. I paid plenty out of pocket, so it didn’t seem a huge new burden to continue doing so. But here is why I have any insurance at all: Because the surgeon who excised my skin cancer more or less lied and put that it was benign. “Benign for insurance purposes,” he said. At that moment, the statement confused me. But I later realized that had he not done that, and should I change insurance, I would have a pre-existing condition and be either denied, or charged exorbitantly. I have friends who actually have or are at risk of being denied coverage for things as basic as blood pressure or ADD. IF Jeff had not qualified for Medicare, he almost certainly would have been uninsurable, and his hospitalization for med stabilization would have been absurd. (Did I mention that R&R like to make threatening noises about Medicare too?)

So, do I have a problem? Do I feel “entitled?” Should I just accept that the marketplace is a wondrous thing, Blue Cross/Blue Shield loves its clients (as long as they’re healthy,) and if one more strike gets recorded in my health book and Golden Rule drops me...well, that’s the price of life dearie?

Obamacare isn’t perfect. I would hope that tweaks could occur as necessary, as time goes on. But I don’t care what you think about “personal responsibility.” People getting shut out of the healthcare system because they have asthma is part of the “Believe in America” scenario? Really? Apparently so. I’m sorry, I do not find that acceptable.

(and if you think I'm exaggerating the problem, look some stuff up. You can start here.)