10 September 2009

enough.

i have remained silent to almost everyone around me about the health care debate, but i have finally heard idiocy that trumps all other idiocy in my mind. this trumps "death panels" for me (in part because i put enough faith my my fellow Americans that they are smart enough to realize they are being lied to about "death panels") because of the blinders one must be wearing to make such an idiotic statement.

a heard on the radio a woman say she wanted congress to vote down the insurance reform provision that would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing condition. her argument (paraphrased)...

"this is like letting people go without car insurance and then be guaranteed coverage AFTER they have been in an accident."

no it isn't, you moron.
as much as i want no one to experience a health problem, i would find it amusing to see this person have to call on their current coverage for a serious illness and then switch jobs and try to switch insurance with that job. she would probably be denied new coverage (or only offered coverage with exorbitant premiums and/or deductibles) under the current system due to pre-existing condition.

my money is on this person quickly switching her tune if she were diagnosed with cancer or a chronic condition like MS and found herself unable to get new coverage in the event of job switch or being dropped by her current company. go talk to the woman who was dropped from her insurance the same week she was supposed to undergo a double mastectomy because she "failed to report" a pre-existing condition. what was that condition she failed to report? acne. she was being treated by a dermatologist for acne.

i can only assume that the naysayer has never been sick a day of her life and no one in her family or friend group has ever had cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a chronic condition like MS. i wish i had this person's life. (i'm almost 30 years old and still have acne. i hope i don't get breast cancer!)

health insurance is not the same as car insurance. take off the blinders.


okay! done with the anger.
back to the regularly scheduled yarn.

1 comment:

sadie said...

Just wanted to say that I had the same experience that you did but by reading a comments blog on Shakesville where someone was equating pre-existing conditions to tornado insurance.

I have lost most of my faith in the American public due to this debate. I CANNOT understand why anyone not directly employed by a health insurance company or drug company would NOT want reform. Where is the empathy for others in distress? Where is the basic humanity? How can we not want everyone to be healthy? And, please, tell me how you can think that healthcare is a privilege and what one does to get that privilege.

Sorry about the rant, but I am so very sick of the right calling themselves the Family Values party and then stomping all over the values they espouse.

P.S. love your knitting and crochet and garden... :)