Matthew Gates http://notetoservices.com 5m 1,333
The views of this article are the perspective of the author and may not be reflective of Confessions of the Professions.
…Or Lack of Health Insurance
In a perfect world, the world runs mostly on charity and kindness. It is a world where if anyone gets sick, there are doctors and hospitals willing to see anyone and everyone completely free of charge. Everyone who enters into the labor force is required to pay a small portion of their paycheck each week.
This way, when they get sick, they do not have to worry about paying the doctor or how much a hospital visit is going to cost them since it is already covered. Unfortunately, the reality of health insurance is much scarier than that and while there are some places in the world that attempt to do things like this, they are far from a perfect reality.
I remember when I was younger, my father held a job with a pension and a family health care plan. The family health care plan covered himself, his wife, and their three children. It was either the job that helped him cover a large portion of this, or he would have a certain amount deducted from his paycheck each week to cover his family plan. It did cost him a bit of money but he still made a good living to ensure that his family could live comfortably in a nice house, and eat well.
Healthcare was a far thought from my mind. If I needed to see a doctor, I would go see a doctor. A doctor visit was a simple surcharge of about $15 to $20 each visit and medications were around $20 to $30. This plan lasted up until I was about 20 years old. I enjoyed the benefits until my father told me that he could no longer afford to keep me on his health insurance plan, and so I was let off.
I no longer had health insurance and my dead end job did not offer any such plans. This really was not of much concern to me since I hardly ever went to the doctor anyway. Eventually, the reality of health insurance… or the reality of not having health insurance hit me when I had gotten sick and had to go to the doctor.
After Hurricane Sandy, I had developed a bad cough that I could not get rid of and just to breathe felt like my ribcage was going to collapse at any time. I ended up going to the doctor, waiting about an hour to just see the doctor, and paying what they charged. After I got into the doctor’s office, I waited another half hour just to see the doctor. The unscheduled walk-in was $100 cash. After speaking with the doctor for about 5 to 10 minutes, she sent me away with a prescription.
I dreaded to even know how much they would charge me for that prescription, but I needed the breathing medication for what turned out to be bronchitis. The prescription contained about three medications which was an antibiotic, a breathing apparatus, and a steroid. How much did this all cost me for not carrying any health insurance? $300. So my total spent that day was $400.
So, what’s the problem, you ask? You don’t feel bad for me because I don’t have health insurance? I can’t find a company to pay a large sum amount of money each month “in case” something happens? Well, I don’t expect you to feel bad for me. I don’t have children. My bills are student loans, rent, and car insurance. I don’t even have a cell phone bill because I don’t carry a cellphone around with me. I gave up that luxury, realizing that I really am not far from home and not many people call me anyway.
Still not feeling bad for me? No, I didn’t expect you to. But then you probably don’t feel bad for the single mother who wasn’t granted medicaid for her kids or the young family who have children and are unable to afford health care or even have the luxury I had when I was a kid.
Or the millions of people who go without health care everyday, who figure out how to get by with home remedies, and resort to any kind of doctor or health care as a last resort, possibly even facing death before even thinking of going to the doctor.
The harsh reality of health insurance is that the majority of people will never know what it is like to even have health care because they cannot afford it. They will never know what it’s like to go to the doctor and pay $15 to be looked at and told what is wrong with them. They will never be able to receive the proper diagnosis and the medicine that could easily take away the pain and possibly cure them of whatever they have.
Sure, most everyone has an immune system that has been facing disease and bacteria for thousands of years. Most everyone has an immune system that will fight for them and in many cases, win. There are still others —plenty others— who will die of curable illnesses and diseases. The sad number is in the millions who die of the flu and the common cold each year. Maybe this is humanity’s way of population control. But almost all those cases can be properly diagnosed and even prevented.
The perfect world we live in is not perfect. Those who can afford it will live longer than those who cannot. While it may or may not be the doctors and hospitals to blame, it would sure make sense for a government to step in and figure out things. If the government can take money out of everyone’s paychecks for medicare and medicaid each week, than why would they not be able to take money out for a universal health care plan?
I am not talking about Obamacare, which —at the time of this writing— forces every American to have health insurance or pay a fine. If that health care company does not meet the standards of Obamacare – but is the most affordable health care plan that can be found, that American still has to pay the fine enforced by Obamacare.
While this article is not intended to bash or put down Obamacare; it goes against the very ethics and morals that every American lives for, pays taxes for, and fights for: Freedom. Unfortunately, freedom has a steep price in blood and tax.
The universal health care plan could come from other sources instead of the paycheck, which many Americans are already unhappy about because so much money is taken out before any American even receives their paycheck. There is only so much the government can realistically take out before the paycheck might not even be worth it anymore. These other sources could come from an extra tax on gas, food, merchandise, clothing, or other wares.
Since every person living in the United States needs to buy these items, every American would be able to have health care because they are technically buying it through any items they purchase. It might be more complicated than this, but I can guarantee you that it is probably more legible and understandable than anything Obamacare ever produced.
The reality of health insurance could be in a much better situation if lawmakers and politicians were to get more serious about health care, writing better laws, and thinking about rich and the poor and a median fairness between the two. There are plenty of other countries who provide health care to everyone and do it without taxing only a percentage of the population, who are made to pay for the health care of everyone.
There are better ways for health care to exist for everyone. Until common sense kicks in and greed is removed, many people will suffer, continue to suffer, and even die because they cannot afford health insurance to see a doctor or buy the medication they need.
(
