POWERFUL AND MOVING POST THAT EVERYONE SHOULD READ AS MR. TRUMP AND CONGRESS PLAYS GAMES WITH OUR HEALTH CARE!
Again, a rare occurance to get political on my blog. Because whether people agree with me or not, this is a matter of life & death. The AHCA/BCRA must not pass!
I do not joke about death. Yet, after asking nicely with no movement & amendments sure to get worse, I know no other way to get through.
The 13 authors don’t want to be called heartless or murderers then don’t pass this cruel bill.
Some may say it’s extreme, but I’m tired of playing nice & being ignored, & getting canned responses about how I must take more personal responsibility when I’ve taken plenty.
I’ll be sending this mock obituary through to my delegation tonight because I think they need to see the consequences of a “Yes” Vote:
Nicole “Nikki” S. died of chronic rejection in a Philadelphia hospital.
Nikki was born on May 25, 1977 in Watertown, SD…
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Very moving.
This battle for or against medical care is surreal for a European.
I’m not surprised by what’s happening today, after all they’re just doing what they said they’d do.
What shocks me the most is the dreadful battle Obama had to fight to pass his healthcare bill. How could people be so against it? It’s impossible for me to understand. As a French who willingly pays a lot of taxes for State benefits, I can’t understand this lack of solidarity between American people. Because let’s face it, a lot of Americans are not ready to pay for a State run healthcare and put means in common. Otherwise this issue would have been solved in the 1940s like in all other Western countries.
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We should have universal healthcare Emma, but many people here are convinced that it would lead to Socialism. As long as that ignorance continues, what we’re going through right now will continue.😒
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I think it goes deeper than that and I fully agree with what Pete said below.
Seen with my foreign eyes, the American psyche is based on a “keep walking or die” mantra. You’re responsible for yourself and if bad luck hits you (and that’s illness) then, it’s too bad but it’s not anyone’s problem but yours.
This is so weird for such a religious country because Christianism is all about solidarity and charity.
Here, no politician, not even the despicable extreme right ones, dares to cut or even think about cutting healtcare benefits. They know that it’s a political suicide and a sure way to block the country and have huge demonstrations everywhere.
Where are you all when your (very limited) public healthcare is at stake? Who’s fighting for it? Seen from here, it seems like a large silent minority agrees with what’s happening.
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You’re right in that the fear of socialism isn’t the only reason, Emma, but I do believe it’s the biggest, at least in the politicians minds. I do agree that there is also a distinct lack of compassion from the haves toward the have nots. The upper middle class and the wealthy also seem to view with disdain and suspicion anyone who’s had to make use of federal or state programs such as disability, Medicaid, and any program that falls under the welfare system.
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I read a lot of American blogs. The main thing that strikes me about the health care issue is how resentful some people are. Ordinary working-class Americans, happy to see their health system dismantled, and to pay much higher insurance, just so people they regard as ‘unworthy’, or ‘scroungers’ are no longer eligible to receive benefits.
Your country is more than just divided by opinion, it is collapsing under the weight of it, driven on by selfishness and old enmities. I suggested implementing a similar system to the one on the UK to one blogger, but he replied that would mean accepting ‘Communist’ ideas. I really don’t believe that 99.9% of Americans even understand what a ‘Communist’ is.
Sad.
Best wishes, Pete.
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I agree Pete. A great many people, including Congress, see universal healthcare as opening the door to Socialism, which is the most ridiculous idea. 😒
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You are right when you mention ‘compassion’. That seems to be a word missing from American dictionaries. (At least to so many) 😦
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I don’t think it’s completely gone Pete. I still believe there are far more good people here than bad.
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I’m sure you are right, Kim. It is sometimes hard to see, but it is there.
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Thank you for sharing this. The situation is appalling.
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It is indeed Meghan. 😞
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Yeah. I’m on my state’s medicaid. I don’t make enough to afford healthcare on my own and I don’t make enough to go through the ACA because once you sign up through the marketplace you deal with the company and not the federal program. The companies ruined what could have been a step toward universal health care for the US.
3 Days after I was kicked off my mom’s insurance, I got a nasty throat infection and couldn’t go the doctor. It would have been an $80 visit, plus whatever subscription I’d need to get. Eventually that throat infection moved the rest of my throat and into my lungs. At which point I couldn’t talk and could barely eat. My mom ended up paying my medical bills. It was terrible. And it’s what a lot of Americans have to look forward to because of this BS on the floor right now.
I keep hoping that they won’t kill us, but they’re certainly trying to do–pretty openly I might add. I hope another country steps in and finds the whole lot of them guilty of some international law about cruel and unusual treatment of its people. Does that even exist as a thing?
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I’m sorry about your troubles. I don’t qualify for ACA either, because my past employer offers health insurance. Unfortunately, now that I’m disabled I can’t afford the monthly premiums even though they pay 70%. I wish someone could come in and fix things, but I don’t think that’s an option. 😞
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About healthcare, the U.S. government has to step in to put its dollars were its mouth is. I tweeted the POTUS, but I think he would rather play policeman to the world than benefactor to his people.
One of the reasons I stay in France (I’m a dual national) is that it has an excellent, mostly free, and thorough healthcare system. And that system is largely funded by the government.
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Sadly, we are one of the few western countries that don’t have some sort of universal healthcare and the biggest argument seems to be is that it will turn us into a socialist country. *Massive eye roll*
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The French healthcare system is financed by the state for public servants (obviously)
For the private sector it is funded through mandatory social charges paid by companies and by employees themselves. (it’s retrieved from their pay by their employer and repaid to the healthcare agency)
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That’s not accurate as far as I know. There is the CMU, which is funded by the government and the “complementaire,” funded by the individual (about 50 euros a month). I’m a French national/citizen myself under this system. Now I have no idea how the “charges” (“social security” covers health and retirement) to employers are organized. I only ..know that they are equal to an employees wages. That is, the employer has to pay the state the equal of an employees wages yearly. But employed or not, the French citizen is covered by healthcare. And if he can’t afford the complementary insurance, it is paid by the state for him.
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Sure there’s this universal healthcare through the CMU and there’s a tax on almost every income (csg/crds) But employers and employees finance the social security through the social charges that they pay proportionally to wages. The social security is not financed by income tax or VAT but by social charges and CSG / CRDS.
I’m French too. Once I added up everything that is paid by my employer and by me for my healthcare (social security + mutuelle) and compared the annual amount to what an American friend paid for her private health insurance. She paid more than me, and I’m a corporate executive who’s not at the minimum wage. I probably pay more than a lot of people.
The USA spend more by person on healthcare than us and yet not everyone is covered. But in France (and probably in other European countries) tariffs are controlled. 25 USD for a classic visit to the doctor is a lot less than the 80 USD mentioned in a comment before.
Btw, check out your pay slip and you’ll see that your employer also pays for your complémentaire. You’ll also see how much your employer pays for your social security.
How much of the complémentaire remains at charge for the employee depends on how the unions negotiated this issue in your company.
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It absolutely blows my mind that there are people in the world who think that profit should be made off of healthcare. In what world does that lead to better care for anyone?
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Absolutely nowhere, which is why we seem to be one of the few western countries that don’t have some version of universal healthcare.😒
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The problem is that they know all of this, but they just don’t care, and they’ve rigged the system to keep themselves in power. I wish I had a solution, because it feels like all the fighting is in vain. It does seem like the vote is stalled on the bill, but I don’t know for his long 😕
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It would be nice if they came back from their July 4th recess, and work with the Democrats on fixing the problems with the ACA. I’m not holding out much hope for that though.
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Things like this make me realize how some things out here in Canada are taken for granted…
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Have I mentioned I want to move?
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Hahahaahh
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