A Personal Point of View on Health Insurance
Now, I understand that for many people living in Davis, CA, health insurance is provided by the University or government. Also in Davis there are a few of us that are self-employed. Health insurance is a huge issue for this group. Consider that Blue Cross will increase its’ premiums to this select group of over 800,000 (in California) by almost 40%.
Health Insurance in the Junk Pile
Let’s put that on a personal level. With this increase, I will be paying over $20,000 per year to insure myself and my wife. I’d love to shop around but because of a preexisting condition (heart murmur) no one else will take me. If I miss one payment the policy is cancelled without hope of finding a new one. On top of that, there is a 25% copay on most items.
Health insurance is a big deterrent when considering self employment. Health insurance is a huge reason why families have one spouse working just for heath insurance. Health insurance premiums and related health care costs contribute to nearly 70% of households filing for bankruptcy. Health insurance companies cherry pick who they insure, only raising the rates for anyone with a preexisting condition.
I voted for Obama, in part, because of his promise of health insurance. Kiss that one good bye. The problem is not really his fault. It’s the way Congress works. With millions of dollars (from the insurance industry) flowing into the politician’s coffers, it’s little wonder that real reform can ever be made. So, what happens? Our elected officials demonize all and any reform; keep the public talking and arguing about anything except real progress.
I encourage everyone to write your representatives and tell them how you feel.
Also, there is one organization in California I’m aware of that is dedicated to creating real reform – check them out at www.health-access.org.
There is absolutely no justification for a 40% price increase! It is pure arrogance and a bullying tactic to say “we can do it, you can’t stop us . . . so shut up and stick it!” And when you read the fine print on your new “contract” with them you will also most likely find that they are reducing coverage and increasing your co-pay. Obama and the “Democrats” are impotent . . . they have a “big stick” but are too busy talking softly, to get the job done!
Just think how much more of your “premium” money Wellpoint/Anthem/Blue Cross can pour into campaign financing now that the Supreme Court has eliminated spending limits. Maybe that is the justification . . . they want to dump enough money in 2010 to buy every Congressperson they can, so that they can totally stomp the crap out of any reform efforts and scare the hell out of anyone who dares thinking about bringing it up ever again!
We are totally screwed . . . Canada is looking better every day!
I have received a couple of emails on this subject – thought I would share.
From Rob:
You are absolutely right in that those who get health insurance from large employers or the govt rarely understand the plight of the millions of self employed or those employed by small business. Thanks for shedding some light on it
Another from Jeannie
I’m with Blue Cross and together with my paying for my son’s insurance, am out of pocket just over $12,000 a year. That’s with $2500 deductible for each of us. Granted I have had two artho knee surgeries now in the last 4 years that required 45 minutes each as out patient surgeries at Sutter Davis, however the proposed increases are enough to make me look into Kaiser for future coverage.
My best friend signed up on line with Kaiser over the weekend, was electronically emailed yesterday(yes on a holiday) that he is already approved. So he is switching. For those of us approaching retirement in a few years we just can’t afford the Blue Cross premiums any more.
Just read over your email blast. The University and government may provide benefit coverage to their employees and retirees that small private business and independent contractors like myself can not afford, I will continue to get just a little irritated at the size of government and elected officials inability to reduce spending at April 15th approaches.
Another one from Alvin
Being self-employed for 90%+ of my working life, I am intimately familiar with and empathize with your predicament. I believe Stanford professor Larry Lessig has identified the real culprit, one made even more ominous with the Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow corporations unfettered purse strings regarding political donations. I urge you to take a good hard look at what Lessig proposes, and if you find yourself in agreement with his analysis, help publicize the effort by mention in The Davis Voice. Only by speaking to the root problem will the issue of health insurance be adequately addressed
Follow up from Alvin:
Check out this essay from Lessig in The Nation on Feb. 3rd., and try this article in The Huffington Post, dated Feb. 4th. on for size, and then look at two websites: http://www.fixcongressfirst.org/ and http://www.callaconvention.org/ . Stanford’s Prof. Lessig is a expert on constitutional law and also on the subject of “fair use” (which is where I first became acquainted with him).
I just finished reading your Davis Voice piece. Well written, and the point you made should be an eye opener to a majority(?) in Davis since the town is so filled with UC@Davis employees who are all well served.
From my perspective I agree fully that improvement/change in the healthcare system is a necessity. The tactical error by Obama being that he turned it over to Pelosi and Reid to create the solution which eventually became the 2500 page, $T out of control fiasco. I believe if Obama had handed Congress a “to do” list containing a mandate for a manageable deliverable, a $ cost limit, and required inclusions, and stayed “hands on”, he’d be signing a completed bill about this time.
Oops, here are the links to Prof. Lessig’s essay in The Nation http://www.thenation.com/doc/20100222/lessig and two articles in The Huffington Post here http://tinyurl.com/8oeovb and here http://tinyurl.com/yah2gxr Pieter, meaningful health care reform will occur only when the governance system itself is fixed. Jeannie? Dirk? Does this make sense?
A picture is often worth a thousand words, that picture is worth 10,000 words
In America we pay twice as much as every other modern nation in the world for health care and our quality ranks 37th. Just below Slovenia and just above Costa Rica. We are the only modern nation without some form of single payer health insurance (social insurance or Medicare For All)
Currently, the insurance industry is spending $1.4 million a day on lobbying for health reform. Yes Pieter, that’s included in your $20,000 a year premium. Our Congressman, Mike Thompson does not support this idea or concept. Unless and until Americans demand this from its leaders a social model of insurance, people like Peiter and Jeannie will continue to have to purchase private health insurance.
What’s wrong with our Country?
Cindy Young
I am attaching a scanned article from this morning’s WSJ. It begins to address and offer a solution pointing out the error of the current path of Government programs and private insurers, and the politically driven solutions offered by Democrats and Republicans alike. For the first time I’ve read something with rational thought behind it.
“A successful approach would aim to reform misplaced incentives. Giving individuals the same health-care tax deductions businesses get would be a good start.”
“We favor finding ways to give patients more control over their health-care expenditures. This would both improve cost discipline and health outcomes. One way to do that would be to encourage the purchase of high-deductible insurance coupled with putting money aside in health savings accounts, including a shift to HSAs of some of the funds now paid to insurance premiums. This would give patients a powerful incentive to focus on the cost of their care.
“The greatest barrier to a new approach is continued misdiagnosis of the underlying problem. We need to reach a consensus that Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance are the main offenders and must be reformed. Asserting that we can maintain the status quo for the majority of Americans while extending insurance to everyone is irresponsible. Our broken health-care system is not a problem just for the uninsured; it is a crisis for us al.”
Pieter’s arguments are so obviously right, one is tempted to ask, “is the Pope Catholic?”
As some of your commentators suggest, we are the only advanced country which does not have universal, portable, single-payer health insurance that is not tied to one’s job. We are also less healthy and we live shorter than they do in several dozen other industrialized nations.
The only excellent health insurance in America is Medicare (I know how excellent it is because I am on it). Instead of whitling away at it, it should become available to everyone.
The argument about health care reform should have been closed long ago (as that about global warming, incidentally). But the demagogues are winning, and now Obama’s health reform is moribund. It is sad that Americans are easily hoodwinked into voting against their best interests (they are not unique, in this respect).
We have had many discussions of this issue on our blog at
http://european-americanblog.blogspot.com/
See for example
“If It’s Broken, Should We Fix It? (Oct.’09), and
“Hey Guys, Let’s Smother Grandma…” (Aug. ‘09)
Davis Media Access local host for ‘Wireside Chat’ featuring Lawrence Lessig
Davis Media Access (DMA) will host a “wireside chat”with Lawrence
Lessig on Thursday, Feb. 25 from 3-4:30 p.m. The event is being webcast
live from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts and made
available to host organizations in cities around the country.
Lessig has been described as the “foundational voice of the free culture
movement” and was recently featured on Bill Moyer’s /Journal/ on PBS.
His Feb. 25 talk will center on fair use, politics and online video.
“Lessig will address copyright issues in a digital age,” said Autumn
Labbe-Renault, executive director of DMA. “As a media center, we are
frequently faced with issues of ‘fair use’ — limited use of copyrighted
material without permission from those who hold the rights to such material.
“This digital age of mashups and remix begs for discussion and accurate
information for those who use readily available information for purposes
ranging from research and criticism to entertainment with video,” she
said. “DMA is committed to exploring these larger media and policy
issues with our community.”
Lessig’s lecture will last 45 minutes and be followed by a 30-minute
interactive Q & A session. Elizabeth Stark of the Open Video Alliance
moderates. Questions can be submitted using the hashtag #wireside. The
live webcast is free and available to all at
http://openvideoalliance.org/lessig. The Open Video Alliance is a
coalition of organizations and individuals devoted to creating and
promoting free and open technologies, policies, and practices in online
video.
DMA is our area’s community media center, providing access to media
technology and training across many platforms. DMA will host a
large-screen viewing area and offer refreshments and discussion
following the presentation. The center is located at 1623 Fifth Street,
adjacent to the Redwood Barn Nursery.
For more information, please visit http://davismedia.org
above post, though not about health care reform, is by Prof. Lessig who was mentioned in a comment by Alvin.
The Davis Voice generates some excitement. Pieter was interviewed by CBS 13.
http://cbs13.com/video/?id=68830@kovr.dayport.com