A blog of one’s own
Uninsured in the United States
Blogging is a relatively new technology that has helped shape how people communicate. With the help of the internet, minority groups have been able to gain public support and attention from their blog posts. The internet has gained mass popularity in the previous 15 years growing at an exponential rate; it allows us to reach anyone anywhere at the speed of light. Blogging is essential because the average person can now project their message to millions of people online almost instantly. Blogs have become a key tool for minority groups to get their opinion across without spending a lot of money. They have empowered and given a swear to, people without adequate health insurance, and will be able to help more people in the future if the trend of blogging continues.
More than 44.8 Million people in the United States do not have health insurance (Wattenberg). This causes a great deal of concern for the average person living in the United States. The question is whether or not health insurance is worth the amount of money they will have to spend or if they even have the money to spend on it. They then will discover at the opportunity cost; this is what they will have to give up if they don’t hold health insurance. When struggling to do this decision they often look at themselves as healthy and won’t need or can’t afford health insurance. Health insurance costs on average of $10,880 dollars per family, however most companies cover a large portion of,this cost, thus making it cost on average $2,713 per year (Appleby). These numbers are staggering for the average family in America who make only $48,201 per year.
The uninsured in the USA are a seemingly invisible group to political elite and law makers. The problem with Universal healthcare is that it would, in theory, give everyone an equal opportunity at who gets what doctor. In other words there would be no “better” hospital to visit if you were wealthy or had some sort of influence. The documentary Sicko Michael Moore outlines what happens to people without health insurance in the USA, and it also largely covers what happens to people who have health insurance but their plan limits how much care they can receive. The documentary also includes what happens to people who live in countries who have universal healthcare. The documentary was an extreme bias towards Universal Healthcare, but it outlined many facts. The following quote comes from the Institute of Medicine, was featured in the movie Sicko, and indicates the severity of the US healthcare pickle.
According to the Institute of Medicine, “lack of health insurance causes roughly 18,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the United States. Although America leads the world in spending on health care, it is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage.” (“Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations”)
This is a scary number of people that die each year from the lack of financial means in the United States. With the institution of Universal Healthcare that number would be down to zero.
The scary facts about United States current healthcare system are that the United States Government is doing little in the way of making this number go down. Hillary Clinton, one of the biggest supporters of Universal Healthcare, was bought out by the drug companies and doctors in the form of campaign money. She is the second highest recipient of money from the current healthcare system; thus causing a conundrum (Christensen). How can the government fix the modern problem when the candidates themselves are in the pockets of the healthcare system and large drug manufacturers? Most plan it as a pickle, but do not know the extent of the problem; the healthcare companies are spending more and more money hiring people to fight congress over healthcare plans. In fact, there are 2,084 lobbyist and only 535 members of congress (Mayor).
The uninsured are a large marginalized group in the United States that are not being represented by the government with adequate representation. The drug companies have the most to lose if the United States government adopts universal healthcare. They will lose the most because fair now they are making their fortune off the current health insurance plan in the United States. They make their money off not treating everyone and from their high premiums. The current Bush administration has been urged by the drug companies to not agree to a universal healthcare system. They offer payouts to high political figures such as George W. Bush himself. This money is just a fraction of the amount of money that these drug companies receive every year from American families.
The uninsured American has no way to argue with the insurance or drug companies over how mighty their care will cost them. To put it simply, they can’t. The following is a quote from Kuro5hin.org which posted this argument about bargaining rights of the uninsured:
“An individual who needs medical care has no bargaining power whatsoever with a hospital. He can either agree to pay whatever he is charged, or he can die. There are no other choices. In some cases, the government will force him to accept medical care – if he is a minor child in a family that does not wish to get him any for religious or financial reasons, or if he is considered not to be in possession of reason – but he will still be billed. Refusing medical care for a dangerous or fatal condition is something most people won’t do – and may, in fact, be considered evidence of insanity which takes away the patient’s right to refuse treatment at all. He can’t walk out because the price seems unreasonable. In some cases negotiation is fruitful, but often it isn’t.”
This following scenario is a exact situation that far too many Americans face who are uninsured. They have no way to pay off their bill so they can only choose to refuse care instead, often doing this to benefit their families financially. Their bills often accumulate so high that if they chose to die, it would be better financially. So are we putting a price on human life?
Stunned by the chilly shoulder that the U.S. Senate shows the uninsured, I looked into real life accounts of uninsured persons in the United States and their chilling stories. The following record touched me because it is of a hard working miner named Lenny who worked all his life in unforgiving conditions. He survived a mine fire which killed 91 of his co-workers. This didn’t stop Lenny from returning to work, because after all he had three kids and with his job tremendous health care. Unfortunately for Lenny he had health care up until the mine he worked for laid everyone off. This left Lenny with serious health problems from working underground for twenty years. He would eventually need medical care; so he applied for a job that offered medical assistance, and the only catch was that it took 60 days to go into effect. The following comes from (Sered and Fernandopulle):
“The luck that had made Lenny one of the survivor’s of the 1972 mine fire had run out. Only 30 days after he began the job, he fell down onto the pavement in fleshy cardiac arrest. Paramedics flew him to Spokane, Wash., to a cardiac unit. His recovery was far better than anyone expected, but he was saddled with enormous medical bills. A year later, he was sent to the hospital for angioplasty and eventually open-heart surgery. The doctors saved his life, but Lenny is still suffering acute headaches as a result of falling to the pavement when he experienced the initial cardiac arrest. The cardiologist sent him to an otolaryngologist, who then sent him to other specialists for treatments; none has eliminated his headaches.
The bill for his various surgeries, consultations, medications, and treatments is more than $140,000—it might as well be $1 billion in terms of Lenny ever being able to pay it. His sole income at this time is the $400/month pension he receives from the mining company.
The second ending to Lenny’s story is a bit different. Speaking with feeling about the first time he had to ask for public assistance, tears near into his eyes, which seems incongruous for a man who went back down into the mine as soon as the smoke from the deadly fire had cleared out. “We have worked all of our lives, even went to work sick,” Lenny says. And now, instead of the dignity of automatic access to care, he depends on the golden heart of the county indigent assistance program.”
Lenny’s case is not an isolated one by any means; many people are uninsured and share similar stories about how the flaws of the unique healthcare system.
Recently the blogging phenomenon has allowed many people with internet access to be able to share their healthcare stories with the world. Many people who can’t afford insurance can’t afford the cost of high speed internet which is required in order to blog. However, many public libraries offer this service and this allows many to have a voice when they wouldn’t previously. Healthinsuranceblog.com offers many different facts about the benefits of healthcare and what could happen if you don’t have it. The blog does not give real life accounts of people who are uninsured, but they support raise awareness of what it means to not have insurance. The blog brings up a trustworthy point about why Universal Healthcare in the United States is unlikely, we don’t have the money to provide healthcare for everyone. The government currently does not have the allocated funds to cloak insurance for everyone. With a tax it might be able to afford healthcare, but currently there is not enough money. Over 55% of the uninsured don’t pay taxes (healthinsuranceblog) and there would have to be higher taxes for everyone while only some people benefit. Health Insurance Blog is a political blog that outlines what the upcoming presidential candidates support for health care.
Healthcare is often a matter of life and death for many. Without health insurance, the uninsured cannot afford routine doctors visits so if there is something wrong with them it is not detected until it’s too late. Most of the illness that people gather can be easily treated with proper care, but since most people fear the cost of a doctors or hospital visit they are left untreated.
Uninsured persons use political candidates to help get their message to the public about how critical their situations are. On the website healthinsuranceblog.com the democratic author talked about how politicians are getting the public aware of what it is like to be uninsured:
“In the Democratic Party primaries of 1988, for example, candidate Michael Dukakis talked about a young single mother who had two jobs and still could not afford medical insurance for herself and her children. In 1992, Bill Clinton did the same, changing the story only slightly. This time it was the case of a woman with diabetes who could not get health insurance because of her chronic condition. And now, in the 2008 primaries, Hillary Rodham Clinton (whom I worked with on the White House Health Care Reform Task Force in 1993) describes a similar case. This time it is a single woman, with two daughters, who cannot pay her medical bills because her congenital heart defect makes it impossible for her to get medical insurance coverage. And Barack Obama describes similar cases, with the eloquence that characterizes all of his speeches. He frequently refers to his own mother, who had cancer and had to worry not only about her illness but about paying her medical bills.”
Healthcare cannot wait much longer. Americans are dying every day because they can’t afford to go to get a routine doctors visit or they can’t afford their medication. I looked at the earning of the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline which is one of the larger providers of health insurance, Jean-Pierre Garnier the CEO made $9.4 million dollars last year. How is it fair that many people in the United States are uninsured and can’t afford to get the help they need, and the CEO’s of the companies that are denying them affordable healthcare are making a large salary. When people have to work two jobs just to be able to afford to pay for their medications, why should insurance and drug companies continue to be making such a vast profit?
Internet savvy users who happen to be uninsured illustrate their hardships over the internet. Oftentimes, people without healthcare who have problems have a hard time expressing their feelings about their situations because they either can’t afford to use the internet or are too frustrated. The internet, along with blogs, has become a tool for people to voice their opinion without the censor of mainstream media. Blogs are written by people who have a voice and without an agenda (for the most part anyway; there are also corporate blogs).
Health care blogs are written by numerous people including, doctors, people without health insurance, and supporters of healthcare for everyone also known as universal healthcare. The commonwealthfund.org is an internet site that describes stories of people without healthcare and their hardships. The site is made for people to gain awareness of how bad it is to not have healthcare, and even mosey down the stereotypes of people without health insurance. One stereotype I used to have is that people without health insurance are lazy, and or did not work hard enough to be able to afford it so it was be their fault for not having it. After looking at this site that gives minorities a lisp, I learned that even college-educated men and woman have a hard time getting health care.
One profile on commonwealthfund.org was of a college graduate named Ryan who had to decide whether or not to accept a job based on income or healthcare. He was a healthy young individual who did not think he would need healthcare so he decided to take a job teaching which did not offer good benefits. Ryan fell down on his apartment stairs and hurt his knee, he now has very high hospital bills to pay off. He later had to rob a job that paid less but offers health benefits. Ryan ended up getting care for his knee in Chili because they did not charge as much and offered equal or better service. The question I have to ask after reading Ryan’s story that he told was why should anyone have to choose between a career or a job that offers health benefits? What happened to what we were told as kids: “we can be anything we want to be? ” The truth is with our current plan many Americans are finding themselves working for adequate health service.
Blogs have become an excellent form of education for people who did not know about what is happening to the uninsured. With the recent popularity of blogs, many are using their voice to disprove common misconceptions about what is it like to not be fully covered by their insurance company when they need care. After reading all the Profiles of the uninsured on commonwealthfund.org I wanted to know more about how we could get their stories across to more people. The upcoming election for president has given the most power to the uninsured. The biggest problem that is being addressed besides the Iraq war is the topic of affordable healthcare for all. The fact is that healthcare is only affordable for the average American making under $50,000 for a family is one that is mostly covered by their employer. But with the economy falling without or little growth since 2001 has not made it accessible for itsy-bitsy companies to provide healthcare for their employees.
Small business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to afford the cost of healthcare for employees. Small businesses have to deal with high taxes by the government on their income (this number is usually around 35% but can very state by state), this is a high number so the amount of funds left after paying for overhead is very little. The goal of small business it to expand and grow, but how can they afford to do that with all the costs they have? If healthcare cost less for business owners the economy would follow suit. It would grow, and I dare say we would be out of the recession that we are currently in. There is little in form of growth in the United States compared to other developing nations.
Universal Healthcare to many Americans is not important to them because they are already covered; however I am concerned about it because the United States is doing so poorly economically. Blogs have been important in addressing the pronounce of how much money in being spent by individuals every year. In 2003 1.3 trillion dollars was spent on healthcare by the American people. This is an alarming amount of money that is going to something that is under regulated as far as price goes. The drug companies and insurance companies are taking a large portion of all Americans income each year. Healthcare blogs have played a big role in getting the public’s attention at this bid. They often make issues aware to us that we may not have known about; blogs unlike mainstream media are not censored and do not have a corporate sponsor. Americans who do not have health insurance come by their stories about their hardships on blogs or others write about them on their behalf.
I found a family member in my family who did not have health insurance. I learned last year she had a major operation on her aid, and I often wondered how she was going to pay for it. I conducted an interview with her and what I found out was disturbing. I have to say I am slightly bias towards this because she is a family member; however it does not make the facts any less chilling.
My Aunt Lisa Herbert is a working class woman who did not finish high school or relieve any formal schooling after she dropped out. She got pregnant at the young age of 15 and had her first child at the age of 16. Lisa had a tough life from her teenage years. She had a hard time raising a kid at her age; she went through multiple husbands and boyfriends who would promise to take care of her children but left her financially ruined. Lisa’s yarn regarding medical insurance starts two years ago in 2006. From all aspects she had a hard life but she wanted to still make something of herself, she got a job at a Dunkin Donuts as was promoted quickly to manager. She was enjoying for the first time in her life financial freedom even if it was small; she had the sense of independence. She went to work just as she has always done one day in the winter; she fell on the ice leading up to the Dunkin Donuts she worked at. She fractured one her vertebras, however not life threatening, neither were her injuries threatening enough to make her become a paraplegic. However she was still injured. Lisa could not walk or be mobile for over 6 months; now imagine this as she described to me, she was finally becoming financially independent and was proud to become a manager, then after one accident she landed in the hospital. She did not have good insurance; she had what Dunkin Donuts provided for her. She was “lucky” in the sense that because she did not have the financial means to sue them. Dunkin Donuts gave her the pay for the 6 months that she was not working. She took this as a gift, but from my point of view she could have got more out of them if she had money. Lisa then had to pay overwhelming medical bills (the actual amount was not disclosed) that mounted on her already oppressed situation.
Lisa’s story is not an isolated one or even a rarity in the United States. Many workers who are working either retail or chain restaurants are not making it financially. The rising cost of healthcare that is not provided from the companies that they are working for is overwhelming and often times unaffordable. The blogging community is just starting to pick up issues of social injustice that is being done to marginalized groups such as the medically uninsured in the United States and giving them a voice. These groups should not be silenced because they do not have enough money to pay for friendly care or routine visits.
I want to address one important issue that the readers of this paper may be having; I have talked a lot about universal healthcare and how the uninsured need care as well. Many Americans that I have spoken to said that they don’t want inferior quality care if we decided to do universal healthcare. I have a personal story I want to share to clear up any confusion with the quality of nonprofit hospitals or hospitals that offer free care. When I was the age of 15 I had a severe flat foot dilemma, with health insurance that covered nearly 99% of all medical bills my parents had to pay over $3,000 out of pocket for treatment in order to get custom made orthotics for my feet and other care. They did not work. I ended up going to a hospital in Springfield Massachusetts that offered free orthopedic care to anyone under the age of 18; we did this only because all the “specialists” we visited did not wait on my condition. My doctor I had was the top orthopedic surgeon at the hospital and could rival any at a paying hospital. He suggested a new treatment for my feet without surgery and gave me free orthotics that actually helped. My family had the money to earn nearly any doctor that would help me however this was the only doctor that knew what he was doing that we visited so far. He was still paid but by donations (he drove a 7 series BMW so he was getting paid a lot). I think that Americans that are opposing universal healthcare have a twisted view on what it means to not have insurance pay for their care. I want to address one more thing, I found out about this hospital from a healthcare blog (can’t remember which one) which had other patients writing about their care and how they were helped by this hospital.
Universal healthcare to many is something that we want and strive for in America; but the question we have to ask is can we afford it? A stare was done on the National Center for Political Analysis website outlining what would happen if we adopted universal healthcare today. According to the site if we were to look at another universal healthcare plan such as Sweden’s, America would suffer far beyond what it is suffering today. Due to lower funding to hospitals through taxes instead of the healthcare providers, we would experience the following, a lag in new staff for hospitals, reduction in staff at hospitals and clinics, reduction in beds at hospitals to house patients, undertrained people taking on higher responsibilities such as surgery (Larson,1). This makes it hard for us to consider universal healthcare in America when there are so many negatives. However should the voices of the uninsured that are dying simply because they can’t afford their premiums be silenced?
Many of the uninsured living in America now are between the ages of 20-30, these by all means are young healthy individuals who feel like they will never need insurance until past the age of 30. They consider, what are the odds of getting sick? They are classified by the insurance agencies as “young invincibles” these are the people who do not have the average $3,000 a year to spend on health insurance let alone if their employer even offers it. Jake Hollner is by all rights a young healthy individual who at the age of 24 is working for Home Depot and is an artist part time. He missed the insurance that Home Depot offers as it is only offered once a year in a two week time frame. He thought to himself that he did not have the money to afford insurance (he was only making $6 an hour) so why bother? The money he would save from the insurance could be put to his medical bill if he had a onetime accident. He suffered from stomach ulcers since his undergraduate years in college, these ulcers unprejudiced starting coming back so he decided to bite the bullet and go to the doctors for help. He paid $200 for the visit and $73 for the prescription. This was his entire paycheck for the week but he was aesthetic right? The ulcers did not go away after he took his medication; he had to do the unthinkable for an uninsured person, he went to the emergency room. He lost his gamble with not having insurance he ended up paying a fortune for his ulcer coverage because he was without health insurance. The actual costs were not disclosed. Jake before the doctor visit could barely afford rent and other living expenses including health insurance (Amsden, 1).
There are other stories such as Jake’s out there, where young people who are rarely sick do not have the coverage they need in case of an emergency. The healthcare providers commented on this blog which Jake’s story was on. They gave him a link to get affordable healthcare through them, the provider is Blue Cross Blue Shield. Even if there was “affordable” healthcare to many, how could someone like Jake who was only making $6 an hour be able to fix his other expenses? There is no cutting corners in his case, he has no money and is living on necessities.
With the institution of universal healthcare people such as Jake would not have to pay a lot to obtain coverage since he does not execute a lot. Why is it that in America the better off richer class doesn’t want to help everyone else? Universal healthcare redistributes the wealth that we are not getting a fragment of. When the majority of our wealth is going to the 1/10 of the top 1% in our country how can the rest of us afford to live? In theory, their money would help fund everyone else with healthcare from their taxes. Wouldn’t it be better to live in a community where everyone helps each other, and there is no one who has to choose between eating or taking their child to the doctor’s office?
Universal healthcare is a topic that cannot be ignored any longer. We have too many people living amongst us who simply cannot afford the absurd premiums that the insurance companies are charging. The people that are dying because they cannot afford regular doctors visits are real people who have families and people that rely on them. This is a change that will need to be addressed as our new president comes into office in the year.
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