I’ve always been interested in political science. If I had watched the West Wing sooner than a few years ago, I’m certain that I would have landed in the political arena. Perhaps a chief of staff to some Warren-esque senator. Maybe an appointee or staffer on the governor’s staff. I think I would have liked to help to shape policy and to understand electorates. It fascinates me. Government is as complex as it is focused. Complicated as it is fickle. It is, all at once, efficient and irreparably broken.
There is much to study these days. I was recently at a political science lecture and the speaker talked about how few moderates truly exist in the world. While there are more “independents” than ever, people vote as predictably within that block as they do when they have taken a side. (Millennials, it turns out, hate labels. I agree with this seeing as I hate the term “Millennial”)
We’ve all taken sides. And in some cases (maybe a lot?) I don’t think we’ve made those decisions for ourselves. I think someone else has made those choices for us.
All that’s to say that lately, despite my political leanings and diverse interest areas, I’ve become a single-issue voter.
The thing that keeps me up at night is healthcare. (I know, duh, right?)
But. If the republicans take away the pre-existing conditions clause, making it virtually impossible for my husband to continue to fight his cancer, it will be very, very hard to look anyone who voted for them in the eye.
Let me be clear. We have been the recipients of a lot of financial support from our very generous family. We’re doing OK. Because he can keep COBRA for 18 months (oh, BTW, it’s $700/month for that. It would have been $1,400 if I hadn’t been able to put Conor on mine. For reference – that is unsustainable without the generous help of others) Preston is insured for the forseeable future. And I’m sure if he lost his insurance, our family would help then, too.
But, for perspective.
He has already met what used to be considered a “lifetime maximum.”
One of his chemo drugs (ONE! He takes 6 every time!) costs $18,000 for each dose.
The CT scans he will have every six months for several years costs $7,500.
If he ever loses insurance coverage – if, as suggested by the republican legislature – they remove the requirement to cover “preexisting conditions,” – we would be bankrupt in about 3 months. Our immediate family would not be far behind us.
I get it. Insurance premiums are the pits. And they’re getting higher (albeit, not quite as fast as they were before the ACA was passed). It is kind of annoying to think that healthy people are getting the proverbial short end of the stick.
Men in seats of power have been saying things like, “Why should men cover maternity care?” (I don’t know, maybe because you had to get, like, born?)
I read an opinion piece on Fox News. I do that a lot – get lost in the thinking on the other side. It helps me to understand it. I know that all of these people aren’t just assholes – so what’s driving the decision making?
Well this guy, Andrew Napolitano, says this:
” … under the Constitution, health care is not a right; it is a good — like an education or a gym membership. You work hard, you decide what goods to purchase. If government gives you the good, that does not magically transform it into a right.”
I’m no constitutional scholar, so I’m inclined to agree with him here. I don’t think that they spell out in there that the Federal Government should mandate health insurance coverage.
Of course, health care looked a bit different. For example:
“When the idea of germs causing disease was first introduced in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, especially with the work of Pasteur and Koch, American doctors vigorously denied such a notion. Science did not apply to American medicine. Americans, they insisted, were an exceptional people.” – See more at: http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/149661#sthash.D1JTcANS.dpuf
So. That’s cute. Maybe the framers of the constitution had a slightly different idea about, you know, medicine.
Health insurance didn’t come around until the 1930s, and at first, was up to individuals. The federal government created tax policies to help avoid post-war inflation thus creating the tax deduction that led to employer-based healthcare.
By the time anybody figured out this was insane, the health insurance industry was already dug in. By the mid-1960s, this system was essentially universal.
It worked relatively well while costs remained low and employees stayed with the same company for their entire career.
But, what if, I don’t know, for example, you get fired from your job because you have cancer? How do you pay for insurance then? The system doesn’t think that way. When it came around, it wasn’t built for that eventuality.
Oh yeah, this too – life expectancy today is somewhere around 78 years. Between 1750 and 1800 it was half that. (Turns out when you start believing in science, you live longer.)
So here’s what I’m saying. Healthcare is a RIGHT. It is not, as Mr. Napolitano suggests, a GOOD. There are very, very few Americans that could withstand a catastrophic diagnosis like stage 4 colon cancer without insurance. Hell, even firmly in the middle class with insurance and a lot of help from our family and friends, it’s tough for us.
But look. I get it. Someone told you that “Obamacare” was to blame for all of the problems and higher bills so we need to repeal it!
Hold the individual responsible!
Ok, fine. So if Preston has a recurrence of cancer, we’d be able to pay for his treatment for about 3 months. (But we’re going to increase the Health Saving Account allowance!) Great. So we’ll get what amounts to a 30% discount on $1 million/year treatment. Thanks, Paul!
But I don’t like paying for someone else!
I don’t think that’s true. I believe that Americans – conservative or liberal – do care about helping others. We’re not arguing whether or not someone should receive life-saving medical care, but rather who should be responsible for it. Have I convinced you yet that the flaw in that concept is that almost no one would actually be able to do that?
I’ve rambled on enough. We’ve got some serious problems with healthcare in our country. Capitalism has fueled some of the great advances in the field. The drugs that are saving Preston’s life made someone millions and millions of dollars. But they made the drug, and they may not have done that if they weren’t going to make those millions.
All I’m saying is that before you applaud any changes in the healthcare law, before you give a big ‘ol high five to Mike Pence for trying to negotiate a deal, think for a minute about whether or not you believe in that deal because it will make all of our lives better, or because someone else told you it would.
It is what it is. 