Dems and Healthcare

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think mandated health insurance for all was what people from my POV (which could be very small, I'm admittedly biased because I deal with high healthcare costs every time I look at our budget)...think of as access to appropriate healthcare for all, or has much to do with reining in the high cost of treatment.

Here's a true story from my neck of the woods...everyone in my dh's group agreed to forego a tiny raise (not actually a raise, a one time bonus) this year; last year there were no raises either. But our insurance company costs more and there deductions are higher. September is our family's high cost month; our outgo is about fourth of our family's annual take home pay: : we pay ds's tuition, life insurance, property taxes, and the last 3 month supply of medicines/supplies for our kids, and the $300 each deductible for prescriptions until the copayment kicks in ...dh needs some shoes that he can hike in because his work boots are mostly to protect his feet on the job or riding his motorcycle...not good for hiking. So I when he wanted to buy hiking shoes, I said, until I run the figures, don't buy them...you might have to wait until October. So...dh has had a lifelong case of acid reflux, not susceptible to the OTC medications...so his doctor tried him on a new one, to turn off his stomach acid and let the upper GI tract heal. (dh's dad also had gastric reflux, as does our daughter...so far we have not been able to solve this by changing diet, etc. And it's a risk cancer in various kinds of cancers, including pancreatic, which dh's father died from.) Anhyow, the doc had a sample of a new drug that works really well for dh...but very expensive and not covered by insurance, so she prescribed Nexxium again, a less well tolerated drug. The pharmacist handed me the package...$135 for a one month's supply. For a gastric reflux drug.

I took the prescription back to the car. dh was very quiet. Then he started talking about needing to make more money, which would mean quitting the only job he's ever truly loved. I could tell that he was thinking about the shoes.

I know we have an unusual combination of high expenses. For dh, it's just waiting another couple of months to get shoes. But what about the half of Americans in similar situations who make less than we do? So called "healthcare reform" left the insurance companies in the driver's seat.

Deborah