Universal Healthcare is a Moral Issue
By Linda Joy Stone, OMD, L.Ac.
I’m angry and disheartened as are millions of Americans who are under insured or cannot afford proper health care.
My husband and I are self-employed alternative health care practitioners and co-owners of a small acupuncture school. We have essentially lived outside “the system” (of retirement benefits and healthcare) working in a service-oriented profession for nearly 25 years. We have also paid into the system our whole adult lives, paying taxes and what we could afford towards major medical, which is really as good as no coverage. Our latest plan through Assurant Health is $5,000 deductible + 50% of $8,500. So, we’ve been paying $450 a month for a $9,250 deductible. We discovered the secondary deductible the hard way!
We take good care of ourselves, relying on more natural means and physical activities to stay healthy. We’re nearly 60 years old, have never been seriously ill, in the hospital nor have needed any medications. Unfortunately, the unforeseen happened and we were faced with a medical emergency. My husband needed to go to the ER due to severe stomach pain. He spent 12 hours in the ER and was admitted to the hospital for an additional 24 hours, since it was 5 o’clock and the doctors were going off duty. Thirty-six hours in the hospital landed us with nearly $10,000 in medical bills and with a dubious diagnosis of “gastritis”. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse. In essence, we got clobbered for 10 grand for gas pains!
I was so distraught by these exorbitant bills—to the hospital, multiple doctors, for multiple tests, et al—that I searched and discovered Medical Billing Advocates on line http://www.billadvocates.com/ and contacted Richard Ingram in Phoenix, to audit our case. He went through our bills and medical records, discovering many discrepancies and over treatment, and was able to negotiate the cost to Northwest Medical Center down to $4,000, half of what they charged us. Nonetheless, this debt, that we had to put on a credit card, is still hyper-inflated and a hardship to us. This shouldn’t be the case!
This is a moral issue. All Americans should have affordable healthcare coverage like nearly every western nation. Health care should be a right, not a privilege. We shouldn’t have to die due to lack of care or face medical bankruptcy. I’m for universal healthcare or expanded Medicare, since it’s already in place. Those who are already insured through their employers can keep their plans and those who have money to purchase expensive policies can do so. For those of us who live and work outside the system, either by choice or by fate, must have affordable medical coverage. Insurance and medical profiteering is wrong! I would gladly put my monthly premium towards taxes for universal healthcare.
Here’s a revolutionary thought: What if everyone just stopped paying their monthly insurance premiums and put that money in their savings accounts? How would this loss of billions in revenue affect the profits of the insurance carpetbaggers and their CEOs making multimillions of dollars off the suffering of so many?
I’m angry and disheartened as are millions of Americans who are under insured or cannot afford proper health care.
My husband and I are self-employed alternative health care practitioners and co-owners of a small acupuncture school. We have essentially lived outside “the system” (of retirement benefits and healthcare) working in a service-oriented profession for nearly 25 years. We have also paid into the system our whole adult lives, paying taxes and what we could afford towards major medical, which is really as good as no coverage. Our latest plan through Assurant Health is $5,000 deductible + 50% of $8,500. So, we’ve been paying $450 a month for a $9,250 deductible. We discovered the secondary deductible the hard way!
We take good care of ourselves, relying on more natural means and physical activities to stay healthy. We’re nearly 60 years old, have never been seriously ill, in the hospital nor have needed any medications. Unfortunately, the unforeseen happened and we were faced with a medical emergency. My husband needed to go to the ER due to severe stomach pain. He spent 12 hours in the ER and was admitted to the hospital for an additional 24 hours, since it was 5 o’clock and the doctors were going off duty. Thirty-six hours in the hospital landed us with nearly $10,000 in medical bills and with a dubious diagnosis of “gastritis”. Thankfully, it wasn’t worse. In essence, we got clobbered for 10 grand for gas pains!
I was so distraught by these exorbitant bills—to the hospital, multiple doctors, for multiple tests, et al—that I searched and discovered Medical Billing Advocates on line http://www.billadvocates.com/ and contacted Richard Ingram in Phoenix, to audit our case. He went through our bills and medical records, discovering many discrepancies and over treatment, and was able to negotiate the cost to Northwest Medical Center down to $4,000, half of what they charged us. Nonetheless, this debt, that we had to put on a credit card, is still hyper-inflated and a hardship to us. This shouldn’t be the case!
This is a moral issue. All Americans should have affordable healthcare coverage like nearly every western nation. Health care should be a right, not a privilege. We shouldn’t have to die due to lack of care or face medical bankruptcy. I’m for universal healthcare or expanded Medicare, since it’s already in place. Those who are already insured through their employers can keep their plans and those who have money to purchase expensive policies can do so. For those of us who live and work outside the system, either by choice or by fate, must have affordable medical coverage. Insurance and medical profiteering is wrong! I would gladly put my monthly premium towards taxes for universal healthcare.
Here’s a revolutionary thought: What if everyone just stopped paying their monthly insurance premiums and put that money in their savings accounts? How would this loss of billions in revenue affect the profits of the insurance carpetbaggers and their CEOs making multimillions of dollars off the suffering of so many?
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