Knowdafish, your location says So Cal and the Philippines, I sure as hell hope your residence is in and you are a citizen of the US and VOTE. This country and especially California need more votes from people with minds like you!
I am a U.S. citizen and I do vote. I also regularly email my elected representatives and let them know how I feel on things they are working on even when I am out of the country. Thank you for the kind words.
The vocal minority decides what goes on in this country and that is sad.
It is not enough to just vote anymore. A person has to be accurately informed and be involved. What happened to.... "for the people, by the people"???
All I know is that my family is struggling with our health care costs.
It costs $800 a month for our insurance that my husband's employer provides. Each family member has a $2500 deductible. My and DH's drugs cost us $180 a month (with out insurance it would be closer to $500.) We are uninsurable in the private market because of pre-existing conditions. I have Ulueritive Colitis and PCOS, he has genetic high blood pressure and heart problems.
Both of us need tests done every 6 months at least to manage our health. Each blood test is around $400 AFTER INSURANCE. Each colonoscopy is $1000 AFTER INSURANCE. He had some other tests done this winter, we owe $2000 on those tests. I'm one of the "lucky" 5% of UC sufferers that had the disease spread to my eyes, skin, liver, and bones. I owe $320 AFTER INSURANCE to my eye doctor from last month and still ended up half blind in my left eye. I need to see other doctors, but can't afford to right now.
My point is, I can't keep up with the payments anymore. Hospitals do NOT take $20 or $25 dollar payments a month. They want it broken into 4 payments or less. Great, that would be doable if I wasn't paying 3 or 4 different bills at once.
We also have dental expenses and my DD needs braces but we just don't have the $500 it costs for the consultation. Yeah, we have dental insurance too, and although cleanings are cheap everything else is not.
My sister is on Medicaid. She pays a $2 or $3 dollar co-pay and that's it. It just doesn't seem fair. Her kids go to the doctor for a cold, well I have literary bleed from my eyes and can't go in because I can't afford another bill.
I don't know what can be done to fix our healthcare system. All I know is that we will keep working to pay the bills our family has already and pray that nothing big comes up.
BTW, our credit is shot. There were some bills that we just could not pay (at least fast enough for the hospital). We have no debt but our mortgage and medical bills.
If you haven't noticed......a president does not carve legislation. He can make suggestions and has veto power, that's it. Civics 101........
I am accurately informed and (my point!) I do stay involved! Do you know who your Congressman/woman is? Do you know who your state representative is? Do you have their phone number and email address?
Have you ever contacted them? It is easy to complain, but few do something about it!
I read more about politics and what is going on than most people including you, I'm sure! I'll "cut and paste" all day long if the writer has the same viewpoint as me! Why not! Let's here some wisdom from you if you know so much! We're waiting! It's easy to rag on someone instead of debating them with facts. It doesn't take much brain power to do that! Fork over some facts!
I guess the prime time news conference that our President held... about health reform - or as he described it "health insurance reform"... was a suggestion to the legislative process.
I know who my Congressperson is (Donna Edwards) and my two Senators (Mikulski and Cardin) are...even met Mikulski and her HELP Committee staffer...
I've provided facts throughout this thread about the problems with US healthcare and how other countries' healthcare systems fare favorably in cost, access, and quality to ours.
Sadly, the OPs post is FAR from unique in this country. What are your solutions and the evidence to demonstrate that they will solve the problems of people like the OP's?
PS If you want examples of legislation that has been "crammed", check out the previous 8 years...starting with the Medicare Modernization act.
Knowdafish;3306250; said:
If you haven't noticed......a president does not carve legislation. He can make suggestions and has veto power, that's it. Civics 101........
I am accurately informed and (my point!) I do stay involved! Do you know who your Congressman/woman is? Do you know who your state representative is? Do you have their phone number and email address?
Have you ever contacted them? It is easy to complain, but few do something about it!
I read more about politics and what is going on than most people including you, I'm sure! I'll "cut and paste" all day long if the writer has the same viewpoint as me! Why not! Let's here some wisdom from you if you know so much! We're waiting! It's easy to rag on someone instead of debating them with facts. It doesn't take much brain power to do that! Fork over some facts!
