Yesterday after-school, one of the students who was still hanging in my classroom mentioned that he couldn't stay long because he had to get to a doctors appointment. What happened next took me by total surprise.
One of the girls (also hanging out )wistfully said "I wish I had a doctor's appointment".
I looked up and asked her if she was feeling sick, and she said no that she just never has seen a doctor and wishes she had one. The look of astonishment on my face was probably what prompted several other students to make the same confession. I was like....
Q: What?
Q: Seriously?
Q:Vaccinations?
Q: Sore throat?
A: clinics
A: emergency room.
A: School nurse in Cali
Q. Seriously, You guys have never had a check-up?
A. hhu uuh (that's no)
Q: ever?
Q: serious?
A: unhh huhh (that's yes)
Q: for reals?
Q: What about your parents? mom? dad?
A:"no, they never go either"
A: my little brother was in the hospital last week.
Q: for what?
A: they are still trying to figure it out, he couldn't breath, but he's okay now.
Okay, now I am going to get up on my soap box; please stand back and give me some elbow room. Hand me that bull horn!
Every time a sick person ...with no other resources ...goes to the emergency room ...it costs everyone of us dearly!
The insured population is paying for the uninsured and it's totally killing my pocketbook! BIG TIME !
My premiums keep going up-up-up and emergency rooms, when needed, are log-jammed.
Yes readers, I like the new health-care reform bill.
It will allow people (35 million of them) access to health-care!
It will put more people into the insurance pool and spread the costs more fairly.
Duhh...it's a no brainer.
Healthier people = better workers = happier bosses = happier parents= healthier babies (more babies) =
smarter children = better students= makes my job nicer and my country a better and more loving place to live.
Q: Whose going to pay for it?
A: You and me and everyone from sea to shining sea will pay for this bill.
A: No one is exempt.
It is our patriotic duty.
Health care is exactly what was meant by our "inspired" forefathers when they penned the declaration of independence: "Life liberty and the pursuit of happiness".
Q. Why are the Republicans so angry and making everyone else miserable?
A: Good question, after all many of the provisions in the bill were originally suggested by Republicans; logically one would think they would be more co-operative.
A: Republicans are self loathing beings who hate everything that has ever happened since women were allowed the right to vote.
A: The real answer, my friends, is very sinister and politically motivated…Republicans are painfully aware that when health care reform passed in Britain, the Labor party stayed in power for over 10 years. People on the other-side of the pond loved it!
For many, the new American health care bill is a God-send. People have been praying for it for years.
Q: Who?
Q: Did you think that all good Christians where republican tea baggin' wing-nuts and God told them to hate this bill?
A: You’re wrong and retarded and need to get a life outside the radio daytime talk-show circuit.
A: God loves everyone, including the elderly, disabled, unemployed, bankrupted, mentally ill and those with preexisting conditions and yes, even you (maybe).
God wants everyone to be healthy and happy and he has mentioned it more than once that he would like us to look after one another….at least that’s what I’ve been taught.
Q: Weren't you?
No one in this country should be without access to quality healthcare. No one! ...and this I believe.
Q: Weren't you?
No one in this country should be without access to quality healthcare. No one! ...and this I believe.
Some anti-healthcare haters hate the idea of being "forced or fined", it seems so un-American to them; but...
A: for this reform to work, we need everyone to participate.
A: We need a big huge pool of healthy insured people to keep the costs down for all, that's just the way the insurance business works. (I'm pretty certain that all happy capitalists totally understand this concept)
A: Deal with it!
It's no more socialist than clean water, pasteurized milk, roads, firemen, police departments, public education, military, ATF, FDA, FBI, UDOT ETC, etc etc…
Q: get it?
A: for this reform to work, we need everyone to participate.
A: We need a big huge pool of healthy insured people to keep the costs down for all, that's just the way the insurance business works. (I'm pretty certain that all happy capitalists totally understand this concept)
A: Deal with it!
It's no more socialist than clean water, pasteurized milk, roads, firemen, police departments, public education, military, ATF, FDA, FBI, UDOT ETC, etc etc…
Q: get it?
A: Some anti health-care haters and brick throwers think that "MOST" Americans don't want health care reform. They are wrong and totally sore losers (key word "losers") I would suggest they are watching too much FoX news.
A: President Obama won the election, fair and square and by a landslide and his winning platform was centered around health care reform. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to connect those dots, which is why Glenn Beck never will.
To be fair, there are still many things about the bill that need to be worked on, but it is a step in the right direction.
Great Post.
ReplyDeleteI am not as excited about this as most.
I wanted single payer, universal health care, medi-care for all, or as I like to call it Socialized Health Care for one and all. They even forgot about the Public Option, in this whole brew ha ha.
Once HC becomes 25% of our GDP then we will be forced to go to medi-care for all. It was and is the only sane answer.
Agreed RZ. It needs to be worked on. I wanted a single payer option too and I admit I lost faith in the whole process...but now that it's signed, sealed and delivered and its better than nothing. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteI love your soap box.
ReplyDeleteI agree that much needs to be done quickly, but the government waste worries me big time. I think the government and it's citizens should help those that cannot help themselves or give them a leg up in new training that is perhaps paid back either in $$ or through service. But it seems to me that the government is rewarding those who are more than able to work, making them lean on the government more and more. I am not for single payer as there would be no competition to keep costs low... though I do believe that is the direction Obama is headed. If this was about insuring those that don't have insurance, there are cheaper ways. This is all about more government socialized control... health care and now student loans? The government is talking about taking over the student loan business and including it under the health care plan? There are too many sweetheart deals, union exemptions, etc. No transparency. No bi-partisan efforts. I am disappointed with all of them. The American people deserve better, including that student of yours :)
I do not trust Obama.
I sure love you!
Get up on that Soap Box more often.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the myth still exists that single payer will drive up costs because of no competition worse than the greed driven system we have in place now. My only answer to this fear of the unknown over the reality of what we have is I am willing to try almost anything if it will stop the money grubbing private sector from stealing my money and then not deliviering services promised.
Having the government involved I am sure will create hassles. But I bet the rules will be cleaned up and the services promised will be delivered as advertised. And if they are not, we have a better chance of getting them addressed than trying to get disconnected CEOs wearing wing tips and power ties to listen.
There has been entirely too much Kool Aid passed around and swallowed on the right side of the aisle in recent years.
Totally agree! Having worked in a hospital I saw the discrepancies between those with insurance and those without. ERs full of runny noses and small issues. Those who are so worried about paying for health care must not understand how much they are currently paying for unnecessary ER care, disabilities caused by lack of preventative care, and birth defects caused by lack of pre-natal care. I'm so totally sick of the hate-mongers and their ilk. Hopefully they'll give up the fight and shut up soon.
ReplyDeleteThe O Team gave the wannabe dems a lot of false hope.
ReplyDeleteSingle payer, or the public option, was never ever in the White House cards. Yet they kept the dems thinking it was going to happen. Once they got the base all juiced up, they started presenting this as HC reform. Knowing all along that the only thing they cared about was the mandate. Putting a band aid on a cancer patient is insane.
Why did the CBO not score single
payer?
Because the White House did not wan tto buck the system, and they knew that those numbers would have really made sense and blown this nonsense out of the water.
Well put and spot on. Unfortunately changes always happen soooo slowly in the USA. Actually, that was the way the founding fathers designed it. But this bill has been 50 years in the making...and it is only a start, maybe not even a particularly good one, but it's one small step...In the meantime it certainly has shined a light onto the underbelly and sheer ugliness of the republican party.
ReplyDelete