Moemg
Gone but not forgotten
So sorry for your loss .Health care has gotten out of hand in this country . We desperately need to be able to take care of our citizens maybe at a more basic level without the horrendous costs that are present today .
I hope someone closes this thread before I blow a gasket and .....
Getting health care does not equate to "living the good life" for me.
Originally Posted by ERD50
However, I find it offensive that they use this sad case to paint anyone who doesn't feel that 'ObamaCare' is the best/only solution as some kind of heartless monster.
The article did not say that.
Melissa died because she couldn't afford to see a doctor.
In light of a federal court judge's decision yesterday to overrule the Obama healthcare law,...
A woman her age could not get even close to $50 a month, and may very well not be insurable.
You don't understand the USA education system. Yes, publicly funded education is mandated but it varies dramatically in quality from community to community. Children in different communities receive very, very different educations. Calling education a fundamental right would be a stretch IMO.As a Canadian, it seems bizarre to me that in the US, education is seen as a fundamental right (everybody everywhere is allowed to go to school till age 18, right?)
We're resistant because it's painful to decide how to pay for it. Traditionally, middle and lower class Americans want something for nothing, a way to scam the system, a way to have others pay for what they receive. Upper class types just want to pay as little as possible and support as few others as possible. We'll arm wrestle this one until one of the political parties has enough of a majority to ram something through and then we'll get on with it. In the meantime, FIRE wannabee's will speculate on how they'll be able to RE with publicly funded health insurance they get for free or at a highly subsidized rate.Up here, health care is as fundamental a right as education. We don't have mandatory insurance, or even subsidized insurance. We just have a "Health Card," just like a driver's license. You bring it to the hospital and they treat you. End of story. No bankruptcies, no ruining of credit. Just the care you need, no questions asked. I don't understand why the US is so resistant to a similar model.
I'll start at the end -
I think you are misinterpreting what we are saying. Under the health care system that we have had, like it or not (and I don't like it), one needs to take some action to be covered. It appears that this person chose to do what she loved, and that didn't come with coverage. Some of us chose to do things we really didn't 'love', in order to get/maintain that coverage. So in a way, she was "living the good life" by doing what she loved. I know people who did what they loved, and took a second job to get the coverage, or got it through a spouse. You make sacrifices. youbet gave an excellent example of this earlier.
Again, I don't like the system we've had, but you have to play the cards you are dealt.
-ERD50
Maybe some would say that she should have had a job with health insurance. And maybe she could have had one if she picked a different field of endeavor than the writing she did. Yet, is that how we really want our country to be? Where you have to pick your work based upon whether it gives you health insurance? And what about all the jobs that don't offer health insurance? Bear in mind, she did work ... just not for places that offered health insurance.
You are blaming her and the 50 million other uninsured people for being in the position they are in.
/snip/
I know all sorts of people who don't get medical care because they ca't pay for it. It might just mean not going to the dentist, but even that can have long term consequences. It might mean not taking medications, which can lead to bigger problems later. Like others here, I also know someone who avoided a doctor because she had no insurance and ended up dying of breast cancer because it wasn't treated early enough. Sure found a lump, but convinced herself it was probably nothing, as most lumps turn out to be. Things had gone too way to far by the time she went to the doctor. Now her husband rationalizes it as "it was her time."
/snip/
I hope someone closes this thread before I blow a gasket and do a Ron Boyd. There is no way to divide the deserving from the undeserving. I value having an educated and healthy population, so I think everyone is deserving. We can make it a right if we chose to make it a right. Getting health care does not equate to "living the good life" for me.
Tool to try to defend health care reform? So what. The story has some relevance.
And we don't have to live like monks to have national health care. Though it might do Charlie Sheen some good to live like a monk for a while.
/snip/
No, she couldn't afford health insurance. She had a fall that required medical treatment a year or so ago that almost bankrupted her. It seems so backwards to me that people who *don't* have health insurance get charged 10 times as much as those who do.
/snip/
I'm sure that if she had realized that her pains were heart attack symptoms she would have done that. On her facebook page she posted early last week that she had injured herself picking up her dog. She then posted several times during the week that she was in a lot of pain. She was so happy when her doctor apparently called in a prescription for her.
/snip/
If she had gone to the ER and they said she had a pulled muscle from lifting her dog, how many people would be saying she was frivolous in making an unnecessary visit?
Sad, sad story. The subject of the story who died last week was my childhood best friend. Seems like such an unnecessary death.
The Lipstick Chronicles: The Least Among Us
I think it is appropriate to comment the health care issues when discussing society in general. But, to use the death of one person of which we know little for political points is wrong.
This is done by many authors to illustrate a point and make it more personal and understandable. For example, consider Bill Gates talking about a little boy he met in Africa that died of AIDS to promote his charity work. The AIDS problem is hard to understand because it's so big - the dealth of one little boy when you see his face makes the tragedy seem more real. There are many examples of using a story about one person to promote understanding of a message. It's used in just about every type of communication - business, religion, politics, education, advertising, etc.
Sad stories quickly spread. A writer, artist and longtimereviewer for such esteemed publications as http://thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c57f753ef0148c8342d75970c-pi Publishers Weekly, Melissa had been depressed over finances and the death of her sister years before. Most recently, her beloved dog, Daisy, had been sick and she had strained herself lifting her. It had been a bleak winter of worries and frustrations and fear.
...Since this topic keeps coming up in different threads, I think there is a strong desire to talk about health care - an issue which certainly pertains to early retirement. It would be great if we could find a way to talk about this issue without the thread getting closed.
Speaking of closed threads, I see RonBoyd's is now closed. I don't understand why. I would have been unhappy if I had been away from my computer for a day and didn't even get a chance to say something to him before the conversation was ended.
ERD50....I do not agree with your statement above at all. In many cases, individual health insurance is NOT available at an affordable cost. Some people make a huge effort to try and get health coverage under our "messed up system" only to be turned away time and time again. This is because they cannot afford the cost for catasrophic coverage plus paying 100% of their healthcare costs because the deductable is so high. Sometimes it comes down to a choice......buy healthcare insurance and be homeless, or have a home and hope for the best.
Perhaps you don't live in the United States so don't understand our current healthcare system. It isn't an emotional issue....and it's not personal. It's just business. Healthcare if is simply a product just like toothpaste or printer paper. If you can buy it, you can get it.
"Many of those people choose to be uninsured (it's available, and at reasonable prices, yet they don't pursue it), some don't take the extra effort that is required under our messed up system to get
coverage". ERD50
ERD50....I do not agree with your statement above at all. In many cases, individual health insurance is NOT available at an affordable cost. Some people make a huge effort to try and get health coverage under our "messed up system" only to be turned away time and time again. ....
This story, plus the many cases I know of, are the main reason why I am a huge supporter of Obamacare.
It didn't. That was his point. Obamacare doesn't kick in until 2014.Just curious. Exactly how did Obamacare help in this case?
Oh, that's great. Help is on the way in three years. Wonderful. What about all the people who need help now or they will probably be dead by 2014?It didn't. That was his point. Obamacare doesn't kick in until 2014.
But I also think it is over-reaching to say that 50 million (or whatever number) are uninsured through no fault of their own.