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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (51719)	3/5/2008 4:21:50 PM
From: Cogito	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 542169

>>In the United States there is no such thing as lack of access to health care for someone who is either acutely or chronically ill. There is Medicaid. But in order to have Medicaid you have be poor. If you aren't poor enough for Medicaid, then you have to make some difficult choices. Do you drink Starbucks lattes and watch HBO, or do you pay for your own health insurance? Decisions, decisions.<< Ilaine - You are simply incorrect in saying that there's no such thing as a lack of access in this country. Those who are too well off to qualify for Medicaid don't always have the choice of just skipping a few lattes in order to pay for insurance. Take me, for example. I was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. As it happened, I was still covered under the group insurance from my last employer, thanks to the COBRA program. When my COBRA benefits were running out, I contacted my insurance company and a couple of others to look into getting a personal policy. No dice. I was classified as uninsurable because the statistical probability of recurrence is very high with colon cancer. The problem is that the insurance companies are in business to make a profit. The costs of their profits are a part of the cost of healthcare in the US, as is the cost of their advertising, overhead, etc. Thus, they can't take the risk of insuring people who are more likely to need expensive chemo and radiation treatments and surgeries. Fortunately, because I live in California, I was able to continue my insurance under the CalCOBRA program, which adds another 18 months of eligibility after the federal COBRA eligibility expires. I was also lucky enough to be able to afford the premiums for the coverage while I was sick. Now, my sister, who has MS, should be taking a drug that slows down the progression of the disease. But she and her husband are not covered by any employer insurance, and they make just a bit too much money to qualify for Medicaid. So she just had to stop taking the medicine at one point. Sure, she has "access" to medical care. If she falls down and cuts her knee, she'll be able to go to an emergency room. - Allen