By Vern Ware
I have been paying very close attention to the debate on health care and the arguments used against health care reform. Everything from the “Manchurian Candidate” fantasy and “death squads” going after senior citizens, to big government rationing our health care and the “staggering cost” of reform.
Against such fear tactics, rational thinking doesn”t work. The big truth in all of this is that man believes what he wants to believe, “don”t confuse me with facts, my mind is already made up.”
I would, however, like to address the “staggering costs” argument. My wife and I are both unable to work because of health problems. Fortunately, she was working for a company that had excellent health care coverage that covered both of us. Unfortunately, she lost her job, for two reasons: because of her health concerns, she was no longer able to satisfactorily perform her duties and her health concerns drove up the premium her company had to pay the insurance providers, thus making her unprofitable to employ. The fact that she was a loyal employee for twenty-some years and named employee-of-the-month didn”t figure into the equation, just the bottom line, that mystical number that determines the company executive”s “performance bonuses,” so they rationed our health care.
In the meantime, I had to have surgery that unfortunately went bad and required numerous follow-up surgeries to correct and occurred during the time that my wife lost our health insurance. Fortunately, she got another job with health insurance. Unfortunately, it had a cap on benefits and dropped my coverage in the middle of all this, leaving us with $100,000-plus in medical bills. Fortunately, the hospital made me a “charity” case and paid $80,000.
We cashed in my retirement, which had shrunk considerably after the “dot-gone” bubble back at the beginning of the new century. Our nest egg was diminished by freewheeling traders with more interest in the bottom line and thus, the company officer”s bonuses, than our security in our golden years.
Eventually, my wife came to the conclusion that this new job was destroying her health. I had to agree with her when I saw how she blossomed after leaving that job. Ironically, the job was providing care to the elderly and infirm, but the caregivers are driven to take care of an amazing number of people without using overtime. In the hospital, the nurses were fighting to keep their patient load to three patients; at this new job she was charged with the care of 40 patients, all in order to keep the bottom line high, ensuring the performance bonuses of the company officers.
As we are living our golden years, I was able to get my wife health insurance with some discount company. It barely covers new band-aids. When I tried to get better insurance for her, I found out that none was available because of her pre-existing conditions. Her health problems didn”t cease just because we couldn”t get decent insurance and even though we cashed in her retirement to pay off new hospital bills, we now owe more to the hospital than we have in the bank. As for me, I have VA benefits; thank God for a government run health program.
Vern Ware
Lakeport
