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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dr. Voodoo who wrote (494483)	11/17/2003 9:03:20 PM
From: laura_bush	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

I'm "highly misinformed" about what you are implying, Dr. Voodoo. Why don't you just go ahead and inform those of us who are confused about the legality of buying prescription drugs from (a) other countries, and (b) in generic forms. You must work for Eli Lilly, scanning your SI profile. Help us out here by explaining what you know that we don't. lb

To: Dr. Voodoo who wrote (494483)	11/17/2003 9:15:39 PM
From: laura_bush	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

For Middle Class, Health Insurance Becomes a Luxury By Stephanie Strom New York Times Sunday 16 November 2003 The last time Kevin Thornton had health insurance was three years ago, which was not much of a problem until he began having trouble swallowing. "I broke down earlier this year and went in and talked to a doctor about it," said Mr. Thornton, who lives in Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas. A barium X-ray cost him $130, and the radiologist another $70, expenses he charged to his credit cards. The doctor ordered other tests that Mr. Thornton simply could not afford. "I was supposed to go back after the X-ray results came, but I decided just to live with it for a while," he said. "I may just be a walking time bomb." Mr. Thornton, 41, left a stable job with good health coverage in 1998 for a higher salary at a dot-com company that went bust a few months later. Since then, he has worked on contract for various companies, including one that provided insurance until the project ended in 2000. "I failed to keep up the payments that would have been required to maintain my coverage," he said. "It was just too much money." Mr. Thornton is one of more than 43 million people in the United States who lack health insurance, and their numbers are rapidly increasing because of ever soaring cost and job losses. Many states, including Texas, are also cutting back on subsidies for health care, further increasing the number of people with no coverage. The majority of the uninsured are neither poor by official standards nor unemployed. They are accountants like Mr. Thornton, employees of small businesses, civil servants, single working mothers and those working part time or on contract. "Now it's hitting people who look like you and me, dress like you and me, drive nice cars and live in nice houses but can't afford $1,000 a month for health insurance for their families," said R. King Hillier, director of legislative relations for Harris County, which includes Houston. Paying for health insurance is becoming a middle-class problem, and not just here. "After paying for health insurance, you take home less than minimum wage," says a poster in New York City subways sponsored by Working Today, a nonprofit agency that offers health insurance to independent contractors in New York. "Welcome to middle-class poverty." In Southern California, 70,000 supermarket workers have been on strike for five weeks over plans to cut their health benefits. Continues........... nytimes.com