The uninsured: it's worse than you think
This weekend I had the occasion to meet a stunning example of the uninsured. There's a false perception among many Americans that the uninsured are just the poor unemployed. The stats, of course, disprove this, over 80% of the uninsured work themselves or belong to working families. And the woman I met this weekend is no different.
She is a public school teacher for a small rural school district in Missouri. She graduated with her education degree two years ago and teaches the entire third grade (there are only 7 students). The children are quite poor and many come from questionable home situations (she told me a story about one eight year old who confessed his grandfather smoked blunts and proceeded to define them exactly).
But despite this public service, the district has so little funding that it doesn't provide health insurance for its teachers.
This girl has taken on the task of educating our children in need, but it's not deemed worthy of health insurance. She also commutes 40 minutes to the school everyday; I shudder to think what would happen if she were to get in an accident.
It's these stories that remind us why we fight for universal health care; why we think about health policy in the first place. A nation should never let its public school teachers go uninsured because of the community's insufficient funds. It undermines the value of their service. And it’s flat out wrong.
'And it's flat wrong'.
That sums up the issue entirely. If the progressives/Democrats don't take this issue, make it theirs and then run with it they are the party of fools. There are no more excuses for allowing any of our citizens to go without healthcare coverage - none. A single-payer, universal system is critical if we want to maintain any kind of middle class in this country.
Beware of the fanatics, they never see gray.
March 27, 2006 8:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I can certainly relate. I've been without insurance now for almost two years, and I am not one of the "poor, unemployed" as is often characterized as uninsured in America.
I have my Business degree, I've worked in my field for 15 years, I make a moderate living. Yet, neither I nor my company can afford health insurance.
It's been 2 years since I've been to the dentist, 2 years since I've had my eyes examined (I worked heavily with computer graphs, figures, and documents), 2 years since I've been able to see a doctor for the flu or colds or strep throat. Luckily I have friends who are doctors and are able to prescribe some medicines to me, but I always fear what would happen if I was in an accident or had some serious illness.
I feel that I'm relatively healthy. However, I know it's been luck preventing me from wracking up medical debt. I think it's the fear and anxiety that gets me the most.
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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Come visit PROJECT: Lucidity.
March 27, 2006 9:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
March 27, 2006 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Rer:I have my Business degree, I've worked in my field for 15 years, I make a moderate living.
Assuming you are in your 30s (I calculate that from your "15 years") and you have a clean health history (no chronic illnesses) you sholudl beable to purchase reasonably decent health insurance for somewheer in the ballpark of $150/mo. I am 39 with some asthma problems and I have just purchased individual policy for a bit more than that
March 27, 2006 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, I am in my early 30's. Unfortunately, standard health insurance through Blue Cross/Blue Sheild in Oregon costs about $300/mo (and that's with a generally clean bill of health).
The only way for me to qualify for cheaper insurance is to have a 30% cut in pay, which would then bring the premium down to about $150/mo. But... um... that would mean a 30% cut in pay.
Even COBRA from my last position was over $270/mo, which I could not afford.
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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
Come visit PROJECT: Lucidity.
March 27, 2006 2:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
COBRA is almost always more than a young and healthy person would poay on hi/her own since with COBRA you are helping pay for the healthcare of the entire group. COBRA at my last job would have been 300/mo too. I am very surprised though that health insurance would be so much for a person of your age and health: have you shopped around online? I have purchased individual policies in both Florida and Ohio, which are both fairly high cost states for health care, and I can't credit you couldn't find something similarly priced to what I have found.
March 27, 2006 4:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
The drug companies, medical associations and the insurance industry own our Congress. These three powerful interest groups block efforts by "the people" to gain universal health care. Until we figure out how to nullify their power, the Missouri school teacher and millions more will suffer from living in the only industrialized nation in the world that lacks health care for all its citizens.
March 27, 2006 11:36 PM | Reply | Permalink