Ok, this is my 2 cents worth, but with the Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of mandatory health insurance I feel the US is heading in the right direction. Finally! We are almost civilized!
From what I've studied, back when H. Truman was president at the end of WWII, and the US was assisting with war reparations and helping other countries set up universal health plans, the AMA (American Medical Association) lobbied against it and won in the US. That being said, being born in the late 50's, I never remember being without health coverage or my parents struggling over it, even though dad was a paper mill worker and mom was a seamstress. Companies generally got and kept good employees by providing good benefits.
Alas, fast forward to today where profits come before people. My husband, a professionally trained painter/decorator was kicked to the curb (made redundant) by newer, less skilled, lower paid workers. So we lost job, health insurance, everything. We managed to hang on to our small house. Barely. We were left holding a bill for a back surgery I had because we lost our insurance, so all of our retirement preparations were sunk into that. Thankfully our kids were old enough to be on their own, because if we had children to support we would have lost the house as well.
So that brings me to today. We have been running our own painting business. (He paints, I do bookwork). We are "high risk" insured so we buy our insurance through an overpriced state government plan at this point, but with the new laws set to take effect, we should be able to get a reduction and better coverage. So I don't understand why half of Americans are supposedly against this? I mean, people who work and are eligible to get insurance and don't pay in, and then default on their payments when they show up at the ER, which must take them, are going to have to pay in now. Personally, I consider that fair. I pay in and I can't even really "work". We literally run on one income. (Don't get me started on taxation).
So I guess that is my 2 cents worth and then some! And a sob story to boot! I'd be interested in knowing how other countries handle health care, but especially when private sector health care fails. Tell me your stories!
Peace, Jana
