Health Care Bill?

I've been reading all this hullabaloo on the inter-webs about the passage of the health care bill. I've been reading comments about how people have been denied coverage, and then right below that, an insurance broker telling them that they can get them a plan for $200 a month! WOW! I've had that $200 a month plan, and it doesn't cover ANYTHING. No doctor visits until you've paid a $3,000 DEDUCTIBLE, no prescriptions, no lab work, no x-rays, no MRI's, no CAT scans...NOTHING. What the hell is the point of a healthy person paying that much a month for health insurance that DOESN'T COVER ANYTHING? I agree that we need health care reform in this country, but I'm not 100% sure that this bill is it. I don't really know what's in it, but I do know that it may make it easier for people like me, the poor, and uninsured, to get access to health insurance.

I'm fat, and I smoke. I automatically pay 30% more for health insurance when I purchase it on my own. However, since I've also suffered from depression for most of my life, ANY plan I get, whether it be from an employer, my spouses employer, or independently, will NOT cover any treatment or medication for depression for the first 9 months of coverage. That is what the preexisting clauses in this bill will address. Why should I have to wait to get coverage for medication that I've been taking, and has been proven to help, with little to no side effects, for the last several years? Why should I have to wait? Is there a reason for this, is it just specifically depressed people? Are they hoping that I'll just kill myself, and they won't have to worry about me any more?

There's a guy in my welding class, we'll call him "Smith" for the sake of anonymity. He is so strongly opposed to this bill, that all he does is spout off about it to anyone who will listen. I've tried to talk to him reasonably about it, but he can't be reasoned with. I'm not really sure what he's against, other than the fact that "the messiah" (President Obama) wants it so badly. He's also against "Death Panels". I tried to explain to him that it was not a "death panel" but a meeting with you doctor, as often as once every 5 YEARS to discuss your plan if you are dying. You know, like hospice care, and living wills, DNR's and the like. But OH no...he's convinced that his primary care doctor is going to start planning his assisted suicide because of this plan. He also rants about illegal aliens, and welfare addicts, but I cut him SOME slack because he's pushing 60. I understand that taxes are going to go up, but not mine. I can't pay taxes, because I haven't really made any money this year. Also, when I do finally land a good paying job, I don't care that my taxes are going up. They go up all the time anyway, what difference does it make? They went up under Clinton for who knows what reason, then they went down under Bush, but also, I made less money under Bush's leadership, so it kind of evened out. (Less income= less taxes paid.) I just don't understand why people don't want this! Insurance companies make HAND OVER FIST. Doctors have been dropping patients with "government" insurance for years! My daughter's Gastroenterologist dropped the state funded long term health care she was on because they couldn't agree on a contract.

Maybe we should start regulating the health insurance industry a little more closely, and maybe our health care costs will come closer in line with what it ACTUALLY costs. (I have NO insurance right now, and pay $56 to see my doctor. It costs $85 to see the pediatrician.) Maybe, just maybe, if we got the "For Profit" out of the insurance industry, it would turn around, and start funding itself.

But, what the hell do I know? I'm just a poor, uneducated white 33 year old woman who has never been on welfare, and can't find a job. My opinions don't matter, right?