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August 01, 2009

Health Care


The health care issue affects so many of us in a personal way. I have not had health care insurance for most of my working life. That is a lot of years.

In a year and a half I will be eligible for medicare. Yep, now that I am getting old(er) I will have some kind of medical insurance. Now I hope I will be (sorta) healthy in my old age. Looks like we caught the diabetes early and I am doing so much better regarding high blood pressure. Other than those two things I am easy maintenance.

9 comments:

Cindy said...

Hi when i needed long term disability through my work, I was told there were only 25 diseases that they cover. I finally did get my money...but let me tell you, it is a very sad state of affairs that you are hassled the way I was. Very hard to get well when you deal with all that stress, I was video taped, they said driving, i have not driven for six years, it was my sister.....man could i tell you stories. An insurance company sent a letter to a gentleman to find out what he thought of the insurance coverage. he had died 2 weeks earlier. His coverage was denied. It is a terrible state of affairs....

Anonymous said...

It is amazing to me that in the western world these problems still exist. I am living in the Middle East, which most people think is nothing but sand and violence (not the case). However, health care is sooo cheap and not at all lacking in standards. When I go back to the UK I would need to wait at least three weeks just to see a doctor ...

Berni said...

I can't imagine not having medical insurance. While living in UK one just got an appointment and here in Canada we only pay $38 for the both of us to have free medical. I know people have been complaining about the system but we have always had quick top notch care. Going to Mexico I have been trying to find inexpensive medical travel insurance but when I was down there I was surprised how many Americans told me they didn't have medical insurance. I would have thought the people in US would be right behind the medical reform that Obama wants to bring it.

Brian Miller said...

i have not had health insurance in the last 5 years. luckily only a few ER visits for the boys along the way. one day we may look back and laugh, one day we may look back and wonder why we never figured it out...

Mike said...

It is so sad to me how much money the government wastes on saving banks and auto makers and trying to promote democracy world wide, but A sick person cannot get a cat scan without mortgaging their home!!!!

Ina in Alaska said...

Your story and the comments are so sad. Why can't we find a good workable medical plan to take care of our fellow citizens so no one has to go without medical treatment. Our company cannot afford to offer medical insurance to our employees. It makes me so sad == we have hard working and uninsured single mothers in our firm who worry about a medical catastrophe. That's not right.

bichonpawz said...

I wish they could work out this whole health care thing....it is very stressful! Wish we could have a plan like Canada!

Jeni said...

For the majority of the years between 1980 and 2002, I had no health insurance and lived in fear of needing major medical help! When I was diagnosed in 2002 with colo-rectal cancer, I had no insurance and was unemployed to boot but my surgeon sent me that day to the assistance office and through a case worker there, she found a way to get me on the state medicaid program which paid for almost every penny of my chemo, radiation, surgery, subsequent physical therapy after my back went south on me right after the surgery. That last until I was fortunate enough to be accepted for disability and then, after about a year or two I think it was, I was eligible for medicare via the disability thing. However, there is a big gap between how much medicare pays and how much doctors and hospital charge too so once you get the medicare, be sure to invest in some type of supplemental insurance plan then too! What amazes me is the people in this country who are so against reform of the health care plans, etc. And the lunacy that often exists with some who will say they never heard of anyone going bankrupt due to health care costs and such or losing a home or whatever! A friend of mine and his wife both had to have liver transplants and with the costs of the treatments, surgery and then the drugs needed after the fact, they ended up remortgaging their home not once, but three times. His wife passed away a year ago and he ended up having his home foreclosed. He now lives in an old mobile home that had been his late mother-in-law's place. And still owes millions to the hospital where their transplants were done, still has to try to cover the costs of his drugs which are horrendous -around $1,000 a month for the prescriptions alone! Don't even think about trying to tell me we don't need a major overhaul of our medical system in the good old U.S. of A!
Oh - and I would have lost my home too when I got sick if my daughter and son-in-law and their family had not moved in with me and they took over the mortgage payments! I wouldn't be able to afford my mortgage plus utility bills on my social security check and certainly wouldn't have been able to cover groceries and other incidentals on top of that too!

A Free Man said...

I wish y'all luck, but I can't cope with hearing any more about it. There's so much disinformation coming from the Right and no clear policy coming from the White House. It's a mess right now and I do dearly hope that the US gets it sorted. Because part of me thinks we may end up back there some day. But not if the health care system is like it is today. I'm terrifically happy with my 'socialist health care' and can't imagine going back to an employment based system.