(do you support your own best interests? yes or no
hmmm ... tough question)
Lots and lots of them have taken the Facebook Health Care Poll:
"Do you support President Obama's plan to overhaul health care?"
And all of them proudly voted "No."
I supposed I shouldn't take it personally. After all, my friends are a pretty conservative bunch. They mostly work for schools or big companies. They take health insurance for granted, and they think everyone else does too.
Besides, polls are all about wording. Take the NBC/WSJ polls on health care reform, for example.
~ In June 2009, the poll asked if people should have a choice between a public and private plan. Seventy-six percent said that would be extremely or quite important.
~ In July and August the word "choice" was removed, and people were asked if they favored or opposed creating a public plan to compete with private insurers. Only 43% were in favor.
I would love to see how my friends would answer MY poll questions:
"Do you support the insurance industry's right to remain uncompetitive and overpriced?"
"Do you trust the insurance industry to provide you with affordable coverage if you should lose your job?"
"If your friend Lesley came down with cancer, would you support her right to obtain the health care she would need, without going bankrupt?"
And last but not least:
"Have you ever tried to buy health insurance on your own, with any type of pre-existing condition on your record?"
I didn't think so. Come talk to me if that ever happens. I think you'll have a whole new set of answers.
~~~
I support you. I support the health care plan. And I would be your friend on Facebook too. Anytime you need a friend there, let me know and I will send you the invite. There will be two of us that will vote YES!
ReplyDeleteWow, you're taking this health care issue pretty seriously! Good for you!
ReplyDeleteWhile I do agree that some type of reform is needed, I want to make sure that I'm only supporting a plan that will (1) control health care inflation costs and provide adequate coverage for more people and (2) reduce the federal deficit over the long haul. No sense in taking on a government health care plan that will have us borrowing money until the end of civilization. If I can be assured of those two things, I'll gladly support whatever plan Obama puts on the table. Do you know when the details will be out?
Rae: That would be fun to connect on Facebook! Send me an invite any time. :-)
ReplyDeleteSM: Yeah, I get a little carried away with the health care stuff. Maybe because it's the only issue I know anything about. lol
I think some concrete details will emerge in September. You're right, the costs are a huge concern of course. But there are huge costs involved if nothing gets done, too.
Rae & Lesley, you can connect on my profile. You're both on there.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my insurance has dwindled to much less than the fantastic plan I enjoyed for so long, even before that I realized how blessed I was with my coverage. A nation such as ours should not have people losing everything they worked their whole lives for because they get sick.
I know many people that are against a government plan, but won't send back their Medicare cards!
To your last question Les, Michael and I pay $22,000 a year for our health insurance, for just the two of us. That's not including co-pays, medicine, etc... And we fear all the time that if Michael has another heart attack or something, we'll get cancelled. How crazy is that?!!
ReplyDeleteLily: Rae and I connected, thanks! And thanks, also, for understanding that even though you are blessed with good insurance, many are not. It just amazes me that most insured people don't get that at all.
ReplyDeleteI am very conservative and with you in the push for health care reform. However, I disagree that I should have to pay for it in the form of taxes. A government run system is going to base the premiums on your income. The more you make, the higher your premium. Medicare taxes us at 1.45%. It should be the same for everyone based on types of coverage like car insurance. I should not be punished because I make more. Plus, I can switch private insurance companies when rates increase unlike the government. There are more effective ways to curb costs. For instance, I would get insurance out of preventative care and only have catastrophic policies for when you have to go to the hospital. These run around $300 to $400 a month. We would pay our regular doctor an out of pocket fee each time we went. We have to address torte reform. Malpractice lawyers are a large reason for driving up the costs. We need to invest in technology to make it cheaper to run our health care system. Lastly, we need to push for more general practice doctors through loan forgiveness. Too many doctors are going into specialized care. All Congress has proposed so far is a giant insurance plan and has done nothing to address health care. We need reform that addresses the root cause which is health care costs. Insurance is just pays the bill.
ReplyDeleteDavid: You mean you hate me, too? Just kidding. I agree with some of your points, disagree with others. Honestly, I think our entire insurance-based system is ridiculous. We have a middleman making billions of dollars while millions of Americans suffer/die/go bankrupt. We pay more than other countries and do not get better results. And here we are, catering to the insurance industry and the drug companies once again and everyone is afraid, right from the get-go, to even mention the idea of single-payer. I'm getting close to the point where I want to see the whole reform idea fail. Let it die. Let the country go bankrupt. Let the wealthy survive, and the rest of us will just go away. I think I'll go brush up on my French ...
ReplyDelete