Universal Health Scare

As I lurch from chair-to-chair, couch-to-couch, bed, then back to chair and so on during this on-going pinched nerve pain-dance to find a comfortable place to sit so that I may focus on writing and reading without feeling as if I’m Goldilocks jumping about to discover the “right” chair; the “right” soup temperature; the “right” fit for a bed, the issue of health care is directly on my furry brain. Thus, I’d like to address the anti-Universal Healthcare naysayers in the U.S. – those who deem the concept as “Socialism” – aka Bad For America.

Well, Bah-Humbug to you!

Considering how expensive and often restrictive private health insurance is (i.e; pre-existing conditions, age, etc.), I don’t believe it is un-American or anti-Democracy for our country to provide a basic insurance plan for those who choose to participate. The politicians who denounce “Obama Care” as “Socialism” are hypocrites. Witness Our Lady of the Shady, Michelle Bachmann who, in the past, had no concerns about asking for and accepting federal monies for her personal and professional well-being, or the much-referenced Medicaid monies her husband’s queefy health organization received to keep “Pray the Gay Away” alive.

What’s wrong with allowing the federal government to offer an affordable health insurance plan to those who sign up for it as well as enacting a very important provision for all health insurance companies to accept most of the population with pre-existing conditions? Where is the “Socialism” when U.S. citizens may retain their existing private health coverage and not the public offering if they can so choose.

In spirit, Health Care Reform is humane, well intentioned. To decry the overall idea of providing health insurance to Americans who have been unable to afford insurance as a Socialist agenda is simply not true. Our government helps many of its citizens maintain their businesses, such as the subsidies given to farmers every year so that they don’t fall short in the production of food products, or lose their farms altogether during fuzzy economic times or weather-related obstacles. The federal government props them up for good health in one form or another.

Government aid in those areas is simply a form of insurance /financial relief for those in need of plugging the holes of their livelihoods, which, of course, affects the country = federal government, with regard to supply and demand and basic economics. So then, what is the difference with aiding individuals and families in need of health insurance with an affordable government-run program to plug the holes in one’s health care to build a strong and healthy nation of people who will be treated with the respect and fundamental medical care they need.

A healthy populace is a richer, safer country. As you may have heard or read numerous times over the years in defense of the initial cost to get the program up and humming the debate has been, is the start up cost worth it? Can we afford to create a Universal Healthcare system while in a deep recession?

First, yep. It will cost a lot. $940 Billion over ten years. Too bad. The appalling way in which our government wastes money every minute on the most absurd mistakes is a focus more in the media need to take up as examples of the so-often mentioned "wasteful spending" that helps to cripple the economy. Rather than talking about it when known areas of waste are as blatant as the following link, wouldn't it be better to stop the insanity? Waste Not Want Not

One legitimate concern “Obama Care” critics have is justifiable. (See WTF for details of the reform.) The current package is flawed and should be reworked, but not thrown out entirely.

The first thing to go, in my humble opinion, is the “mandatory” element of the Health Care Reform package. I understand why it is important for all Americans to have insurance in order to cut down on the enormous costs the local and federal government must cover when indigent people end up in hospitals and/or long-term care. Regardless, the “mandatory” factor is not going to work out. Not right now.

If people choose not to have insurance and end up in serious medical binds, they have to be legally responsible for their and others' medical bills should their actions involve others. As with the fines/ramifications that go with mandatory car insurance in many states. An uninsured driver will receive a fine and possible loss of license for a period of time if discovered to be driving without insurance. Simple. Very clear.


The big deal about what the U.S. is going through concerning Universal Health Care is so basic it’s often missed in the diatribes: Health insurance is extremely important. When you need it no matter how healthy you have been, you will be glad you have the ability to receive the tests and treatment for whatever it may be that ails you.

I have insurance, thank God. Just not as broad-based as the plans I had been on over the years through on-staff jobs where usually fabulous health insurance coverage was available for a mere few dollars a month in the group plan. Dental and Eye Care included. How wonderful those little perks were. At the moment, I have basic out-patient coverage and a decent variety of free or low-cost preventative tests, then I pay a minor percentage of each bill as my co-pay and all else is handled.

When my current health saga is through, I guarantee my co-pay will be expensive. Imagine having no insurance at all in my situation. That is the purpose of Health Care Reform and "Obama Care." To ensure that everyone is insured.

While in the circus of the ER on Monday – a place of controlled chaos – I was aware of how many tests, medications, consultations and more were happening for my situation, and realize just that one episode will be billed in the thousands, along with all of the other doctors I have seen this week and the tests therein. It’s piling-up and I’ve only begun the new route this curious ailment is taking me. The blood clot has to be dissolved/shrunk with a series of blood thinners at the beginning…one is an injection. Monitoring the blood level is muy importante’ so that I don't bleed to death.

(It’s so comforting to know the medication I must take to stay alive at the moment is as dangerous as the reason for requiring the Rx’s – that dastardly clot. Knowing how risky the medication is has created an entirely independent business opportunity for some: Injection clinics where one is monitored by doctors and pharmacists for blood-thinning regimens.)

Monitoring is done by professionals several times a week in an office, which means back and forth trips to the doctor or clinic facility for a needle prick and that sort of thing. Next, the pinched nerve requires an MRI, so that is to be scheduled. Suddenly my wonderfully relaxed dance card is filling-up. Interesting how karma intervenes. I had been resisting taking regular walks in the neighborhood again and enjoyed staying in more often as I’ve been busy inside with home-office based projects and easily become caught up in them and forget to go outside beyond the outdoor balcony for a view of nature and an infusion of canyon air.

Now I’ll be out several times a week! Amazing. Plopped in the middle of my old working grounds in Beverly Hills with comfortable memories zooming through the days of yore. This time I won’t be walking around the streets as I once did, but I can bring a new memory into the physical locations now that I’ve become a master at Crutching once again!

Bring on the smell of Il Fornio's burned pizza crust in the mornings while vendor's hose down their little part of the sidewalk as the day begins.

And in one of the sparkling buildings you'll find doctors and nurses and other health care professionals beginning their day to use their expertise to save someone's life and soothe the pains of others. Such care is a right to all who live on this planet. We are, after all, in this together whether we like it or not.