Thursday, June 28, 2012

Why the Health Care Vote is Personal for Me

Today the Supreme Court upheld the Obama Health Care plan as constitutional.

I am relieved.

Not a single Republican voted for this plan in congress. It was all about party lines instead of having any compassion for people who don't have health insurance - people of both parties. I am one of those people, and not by choice.

Chief Justice John Roberts' vote today is what gave the 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court. I do not know this, and I'm sure he will not speak about it since justices don't offer comment, but I'm guessing he is personally against it. But, he did his job today, and upheld the constitutionality of it. That is the job of the justices in this case. He did his job admirably. I want to offer my gratitude for him doing his job instead of bowing to the pressure of a political party. He has assured his place in history, as many people who did what was right instead of what their party wanted right now.

I am relieved because in 2014 I will be able to buy health insurance. I want to have health insurance. For the first time in my adult life I am uninsured, and it is not because I want to be. No company will insure me. If you've never looked for health insurance as a individual - not part of a group - you probably do not realize how difficult it is to get. Besides, any health issue you might have is a pre-existing condition and not covered if you can buy it.

For those of you who believe it is all about personal responsibility, let me say that as far as I know, I did not do anything to cause a tumor to grow on my right ovary. However, the fact that I had it removed, in order to determine if it was cancerous, makes me uninsureable. (It was benign, I'm happy to say.)

I live in a state that has a high risk pool I can buy into. However, to get a $10,000 deductible plan, it would cost me about $500 a month. The upshot of that is that I would pay $16,000 a year before they would pay anything. There has only been one year of my life where I required that much medical care, and I hope there is never another one. It makes no sense for me to do that, even if I did happen to have an extra $500 a month.

My hope is that when insurance companies cannot pick and choose their customers, and everyone has to buy insurance, the competition will drive prices down. We will see. I just know something has to be different.

You can read my health care story, and why this is personal to me.
http://www.blog.patsyterrell.com/2009/09/my-story-about-health-care-reform.html



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To be clear, I am not inviting debate about this issue. This blog is my opinion, and my incredibly personal story. Please share your dissenting views on your own blog instead of mine. Thanks in advance. 

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