Everyone’s talking healthcare!

I’m so proud that the healthcare bill has passed.  In our family (my mom, me and my 10-year old daughter) we pay almost $2,000/month for coverage and prescription medications.  That’s stunning.  My mother cannot shop for different providers because she has Type 2 diabetes and pays to be covered in a more expensive group plan.  My daughter and I are with Anthem Blue Cross.  I have a 40% co-pay and no deductible.  I’m at risk for $7500 if either of us ends up in the hospital.  I’m with Anthem because at 50, menopausal and with a label of “pre-diabetic” 3 years ago (which I’m not now), I was uninsurable with anyone else.    When I was on Cobra, I was paying $995/month to keep my daughter and myself covered.  Now I pay just under $500…but with pretty awful coverage.  At 50, I am supposed to get a colonoscopy.  I’d be out of pocket almost $1000.  So that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  I likely have sleep apnea…but to go to the sleep clinic, I’d be out of pocket about $1000.  So THAT isn’t going to happen anytime soon.

My message to anyone who doesn’t believe that all Americans should have affordable healthcare (and yes, I believe 100% in a single payer system, with supplemental insurance plans available to “up” your coverage), then you really need to talk to some of my readers, and some of my friends.   For some reason, those against supporting healthcare reform, truly believe that those who don’t have coverage just don’t work hard enough…and that if they DID work hard enough, they could then afford healthcare.  Talk to my colleagues who are, at VP levels, still looking for work after TWO jobless years.  Talk to the VP next door, who had to fire almost all the people at the company he was working for…and then terminate himself.  Two years ago and not a single prospect on the horizon.  Talk to me, and everyone like me — small business owners who represent a huge part of the fabric of entrepreneurs in this country…who can’t even contemplate bringing on employees and offer them healthcare.

It doesn’t matter if this particular healthcare reform bill touches on all the bases.  The reality is that it is a start toward fostering a healthy American population.  Healthy, educated Americans, make for a healthy, educated, and entrepreneurial middle class.  I’m all for it.