Posted by ~ Sheldon Redditt on 12/10/2014
I dedicate this post to my mother-in-law, Corliss Finlay, and the countless other Americans that are feeling the same frustrations. Just like everything else, we will get through this.
President Barack Obama ~ "I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family's premium by up to $2,500 a year."
If there was ever a time to band together, it is NOW! Today, not tomorrow, is the time that we must all stand up and be heard that, We The People, will not stand for our families to be torn down, dollar by dollar, until there is nothing left for us to thrive. We must appeal, The Affordable Care Act, NOW.
Insurance Promising 1000 Minutes & Free Roaming for $75 A Month
Let me back up and start from the beginning. When President Obama first started championing for health care for all Americans, I was the first one on board. I mean, we ARE the richest and most powerful country in the world. So, why shouldn't all Americans have health care that they could afford? The President even got on TV and told us to LISTEN. He said, that if you have health care with your current employer nothing will change. You will continue to pay the same as usual. Your insurance won't go up. And to quote President Obama directly, "Knowing you can offer your family the security of health care -- that’s priceless. Now you can do it for the cost of your cable bill. Probably less than your cellphone bill. Think about that. Good health insurance for the price of your cellphone bill, or less." Can someone help me find these people that have this cell phone plan priced equivalent to this new Health Care Plan? And if you do find them, maybe we need to issue a consumer alert that there are cheaper cell phone plans out there? I don't know any three year olds' toting around cell phones that end up costing them an extra $2200 a year after already paying a premium for them. But, I'll get to that in a bit. So, with him making that speech, I thought, yes, this is the greatest thing EVER. If you have any pre-existing medical problems, you can't be denied coverage! Do you know how significant that is for so many people? Gone are the days that insurance companies could just charge whatever they wanted because all of them would be competing to get your business, thus driving the cost down. So this would be a win win for the American People, RIGHT? WRONG!! Boy, we were SO WRONG! Instead of it being a win win, it has been a big LOSE LOSE!
Last year, my health insurance went up 25%. Now, yes, I was a little upset because I thought that it would not go up. But, I was not so naive as to not understand that premiums do go up a little from year to year. Still, 25% seemed to be a lot for an annual increase. I have discussed this with multiple friends and just like my family, they all saw a sufficient increase in their health insurance.
Medicaid: Free Insurance That Costs You A Fortune In Gas
I work with kids that are wards of the state and I started noticing that less and less, were doctor's taking their Medicaid insurance. In fact, the books that were sent out at the beginning of the year, that were filled with doctors willing to accept their specific form of Medicaid, should really be sent to my family and friends in Arkansas and Tennessee, to help them start their fireplaces this year. Burning them seems to be the only effective use because either no doctor in the book accepts their insurance anymore OR if you do win the lottery and find one willing, you better be prepared to fuel up because you'll be driving 30 minutes to an hour south to a neighboring city. Maybe someone should coin a way to turn paper into fuel. Hmmmmm, I may be on to something here! I had a conversation with a doctor that the children use on a regular basis and I asked him what is going on with their insurance. He stated to me that while most people thought that Obamacare would be a great thing, in reality, it was a terrible thing. His reasoning was that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies are going to make a huge profit regardless of how the laws are tweaked. When these mandates went into affect, such as not denying anyone with any pre-existing health condition, the insurance companies tweaked themselves as well, by doing things like doubling the costs of anything related to that particular medical condition. He said that likewise, the pharmaceutical companies made adjustments by inflating the costs of medicine used to treat those illnesses. It seems that if a medicine had cost $20, now it will cost you $100. Who is paying for this? We, the tax payers and consumers are. But, back to the kids with Medicaid, we are not only having an issue finding doctors that will see them, now we have issues with their prescriptions being approved and filled as well. Some of these kids are on psychotropic meds and have been for years and suddenly it is a problem for them to get them. You can't just STOP taking a psychotropic medicine cold turkey. So, we have to jump through a million hoops to make it happen for these kids. And on the frivolous end, who wants to spend 10 hours in a month trying to get an approval for a kids' acne face wash? Two months later that acne face wash still isn't approved, so what do you do? You pay out of pocket and hope that at some point in time, it will be approved and you can be reimbursed.
My Three Year Old Needs to Get A Job
And then, it gets personal. I found out a couple of days ago that my daughter's insurance was going up over $2200 a year starting in January, With No Warning! To say that my wife and I were beyond pissed, is putting it lightly. The next day, I found out that our insurance was going up another 40 %. YES, I said 40%! So, not only did it go up 25% last year, it went up another 40% this year. That is a 65% increase in two years. Now, you tell me how that is fair! Everyone I have talked to is saying the same thing. Everyone is seeing a huge increase in their insurance. One of my wife's friends' told her that her birth control pills that she has been getting for free for years, will now cost her $68 a month. Thats $816 a year. And while some may say that's an expendable prescription, no one knows from case to case if it's medically necessary or a choice. Birth control pills are known to help prevent certain types of cancer, among other things. To quote President Obama again, "And starting on January 1st, they won’t be able to charge women more for their insurance just because they're women. That's a good thing." I guess he wasn't talking about women's prescriptions. Ladies and gentleman, there is no other way to say this other than, we were lied to about this affordable health care crap! It hasn't been affordable to me or anyone I know.
Have The Golden Years Turned Into The Bronze Years?
I was on the phone with my mother-in law for over an hour last night and she was venting about how terrible Obama Care has been for both her and her Aunt. Her Aunt worked all her life, is now retired and has Medicare. She has an aggressive form of cancer and now on top of all that worry, she has been awarded many hoops to jump through to get approval for medicine. She will turn 80 years old, just before Christmas. How is it fair for our elderly citizens who have worked all their lives and should be enjoying retirement to have to worry about health insurance? Medicare should cover all the costs without making them spend hours on the phone or in person fighting to just get the care they deserve every month. They earned it. There will be over 700 billion in cuts to Medicare from 2013 to 2022. That is billion, not million! Now, do you really think you can cut over 700 billion from a program and it have a positive affect? I think not. From 2000 to 2010, doctors were reimbursed for Medicare at about 80% of private insurance rates—not great, but sustainable for most practices. In 2013 that number dropped to 55% and will continue to drop every year. It's no wonder doctors don't want to take Medicare patients. At that rate, it will end up costing them money to do so. I was researching the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan and do you know there is a cutoff point for prescription drugs? For example, if you have Medicare Prescription Plan D, once you reach the coverage limit of $2970, you are responsible for ALL costs of your prescription drugs at that point. So, what are our senior citizens supposed to do at that point? If they have cancer or any other serious medical condition; what are they supposed to do about their prescriptions? The cost of those drugs are very expensive. This has turned into the biggest disaster ever! My mother-in-law said, that the general sentiment of those she knows with impending retirement looming ahead is now, that when they hit age 66, just take them in a field and shoot them. They don't want to be a burden to their family and they see what is coming. While, she knows very well, that is a blanket sarcastic statement meant to drive a point home; unfortunately it is an all too real expression of the fear that many aging Americans are feeling. The American Dream is not to work hard just to reach your Golden Years and feel that you have become a burden on your loved ones. You want your children to thrive, not to be overcome with worry struggling to make ends meet because they now have not only their own family but also their parents to take care of and look after. But, this is the reality of what is coming if we don't take steps to change it. We are looking at a soon to be, disappearing middle class.
There Has To Be A Solution
Let me be clear, it would be great for everyone to have health care, but the taxpayers should not have to pay for it. And it is unfair for those that are barely scraping by to pay a penalty for not having health care. What does that solve? Now they are trying even harder to make ends meet. It's getting to the point where most people will not be able to afford, the so called affordable health insurance because it is definitely not the price of a cell phone plan, as it was so eloquently dangled in front of us. This Act simply has to be appealed. I think the government should stay out of this. I mean, who are they to tell us what is best for us, when their health care is totally free? And it's health care today, what will it be tomorrow? We, as Americans, must have a discussion on what WE can do to make this change. Let me hear your thoughts and suggestions. This is not meant to simply be a rant. I want to do whatever I can to help make an effective change for everyone. The untruth so eloquently spoken by President Obama, that if you have medical insurance with your employer, your insurance would not be affected, was just that, an untruth. My insurance went up 65% and my daughters' even more. This is my truth! What's yours?
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