This is not a blog about waiting on the phone, the crappy website, or the other inconvenient pains of the new "Universal Healthcare". This is about physical pain. This is about friends and family who are now NOT going to the doctor for fear that their perilous health care may go up, that something they are struggling will go on the permanent record, or worse yet, that their healthcare will be dropped completely. One friend was dropped and told they could not get care because of a heart condition. In the meantime, his wife's back went out and she has been in pain for literally two weeks waiting for the paperwork "to go through" before she goes to the doctor. After all, their premiums may go up. Not to mention, this particular family spent years becoming American citizens to get out of the universal healthcare of Canada among other things. So she sits with an ice bag, and waits in hope that they get word that they have been covered. This happened after receiving a notice last fall that their coverage was being cancelled and they needed to change-over to the new and improved Obamacare. Their monthly bottom line went up by $700. They are self-employed. They wait.
This story is not the only one. In California where my parents live in the winter, it is a well-known fact that if you want decent care, you employ a doctor (at your own expense) sometimes called boutique doctors. You pay an upfront cost per year and they will see you as needed. You see, our parents are no longer provided with much needed tests and many life-saving medicines are denied and simply too expensive for purchase. When you get old, you are no longer respected and cherished, you are "put out to pasture" and considered a lost cause. This is not only sad, but wrong. For us, it has meant a year and half of bills still being negotiated. I once asked a physical therapist who had come to my home after my neck surgery, "What do people do who cannot afford this?" She simply said, "They don't do it."
My brother in law has been a doctor for over 30 years. He has compassion like someone I have never seen. He spends time with his elderly patients and encourages them and takes care of them the best he possibly knows how. Sometimes this means $11 for him. Yep…that is what Medicare pays him. He is an angel to those people in CA. Something is BROKEN!!
Simply said, there has to be a better way. Our people should not have to live with pain to avoid rising deductibles and what-if scenarios. Let's get rid of this law…you know…the one our President keeps changing (which is in and of itself illegal).
This is one CHANGE we can do without!!
MERICA!
CoffeeTalkMom
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