I am a registered voter, and I do vote, but I consider myself pretty apolitical. With all the health care legislation in the media right now I find I have a lot of opinions yet I agree with no one. I am reminded why I don't follow politics; it's because I feel helpless and angry when I do. As self-employed small business owners (and I mean small, only a couple employees) we are obligated to buy "individual insurance". In this position I have a good understanding of what health insurance actually costs and how politics can change the climate and increase our costs exponentially. On the other hand, as a parent of a chronically ill child I want some help from the government in affordable healthcare for my child. I certainly don't have the answers but I see an abundance of discrepancies.
On a personal level, by fall we will be paying more monthly for health insurance for the four of us than the monthly payment on a 30 year, $250,000.00 mortgage. It just doesn't seem right, does it? This would be if Alex is accepted into the High Risk Pool where costs are "managed". We made a wise decision when the kids were small and bought them individual "child" policies with better coverage than Brian and I have. It has been a God send to have decent coverage for Alex. However, when she turns 19 in September she will "age out". The policy Brian and I carry does not have a government mandate that they add her because of it's grandfathered status. Not that it matters, because, guess what? While the government mandated that insurers must accept children with pre-existing conditions it did not mandate cost control. This means they can charge any price they want! What good is insurance if you can't afford the premiums? I guess its time to jump into that High Risk Pool.
One more thing? I checked into Medi-Cal. As long as Alex lives at home (no matter what her age) she must qualify (or more specifically, not qualify) based on our income. Maybe it would be cheaper to kick her out and let Medi-Cal pay for her health care. Really? I just don't get it.
Rene,
ReplyDeleteI totally get it! I am very politically opinionated, however, do not get involved in many political discussions because sooooo many people just don't get it. They are so foused on the one thing that would be good for them, and won't look at the bigger picture.
If EVERYONE was insured, the system would work well and keep costs down. The Risk Pool would allow those that need expensive care to get it and it would be available for the others as it is needed.
As it stands today, approxmately 28% of Californians under the age of 65 are not insured (almost 7 million people). A large portion of this population are illegal immigrants. If any of these people show up at a hospital, guess what, they get free treatment.
Until everone is required to take responsibility for their own health care costs, unfortunatley, the costs will continue to rise. The people that pay for health care need to also pay for the people who do not have health care :-(
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