Archive for March, 2010

Healthcare Bill Becomes Law

March 26, 2010 | Updates

I wrote a whole post on this the other day. It was good, but it was long (longer than this one). In an effort to save you time and hopefully get my point across, here is a shortened version.

According to Rasmussen reports this past Sunday, 54% of voters opposed the healthcare bill while 41% supported it. That same day, it passed the House. Since then, reports are showing that 55% of voters support repeal of the bill (while 42% want the bill to stand).

At least 6 Democratic senators were bought off by the Obama administration through backroom deals in order to get them to sign off on the bill. This doesn’t include another 8-9 Democratic senators who changed their vote based on an executive order by the President removing government funded abortions from the bill. (An order that can be easily removed by ANY president at ANY time.) Not one Republican voted for the bill. No legislation of this magnitude in memorable history of our country has been passed without at least one affirming vote from the opposing party. Deals were also cut with drug companies and hospitals to get them to support the bill. Some of those who didn’t cut deals (like medical equipment companies) were stiffly penalized in the bill. (The equipment industry was assessed $40 billion over the next 10 years.)

To be clear, I am for healthcare reform.

But I am NOT for THIS reform where our government has completely ignored the will of the majority, decided that we are unintelligent enough to decide for ourselves, and pushed upon us what they think is best.

I do not for one second believe that having healthcare run by the government will save us money.

I also do not believe that giving the government control of the largest sector of our economy is in any way, shape or form a good idea. And, having a government organization (think the IRS) decide what healthcare I am and am not eligible for is - for all intents and purposes - suicide.

And when elections come in November, I will be looking to vote in people who will stand for my RIGHTS and help repeal this ridiculous bill. Because there are much, much better ways to reform healthcare.

In the meantime, I’ll worry - mostly about Samuel.

Despite the fact that Samuel qualifies for Medicaid due to his brain injury, we still keep him on our $1,000 a month health insurance policy. It is worth it despite the fact that his condition has severely inflated our premiums.

Why?

I can give you a few quick examples.

First, Medicaid makes more denials for coverage than any other insurance agency in the country. Medicaid will pay a maximum of $2,000 every 5-7 years for a wheelchair for a disabled child like Samuel. There is not a wheelchair in existence at that price that will address his physical needs due to his severe disability. Our private insurance has spent in excess of $7,000 over the last 4 years on wheelchair equipment for Samuel. If we had relied on Medicaid, we would have been responsible for that addition $5,000 or we would have been reduced to one large wagon and a bunch of blankets to transport him with. And that is just one small example.

Second, I’ve seen what Medicaid pays doctors and frankly, it’s ridiculous. My doctor gets $35 from my health insurance company and $20 from me for office visits with Samuel. Medicaid would pay less than $35 a visit and require no copay from me. Honestly, I wouldn’t spend all the time and money and deal with all the overhead of being a doctor only to get $35 or less from each patient I saw. Lawyers charge up to 4 times that amount for 1/2 an hour of their time. Because of this, many of the doctors we prefer to see no longer accept Medicaid patients. This is a restriction that will only get worse and fast when 16 million more people are added to the rolls of Medicaid.

Lastly, I don’t want to ever have to deal with convincing a governmental agency that Samuel needs certain medications, feeding supplies, therapies, equipment, etc. Have you ever dealt with the IRS, the DMV or the post office? The rules are the rules and they could care less what the rules mean for us. That might be infuriating, but livable when I’m dealing with my taxes, car and mail. But when it comes to healthcare, that’s not something I want to face - especially when I’m dealing with a child who will be seen as a huge drain on the healthcare system that doesn’t “contribute to society” in the eyes of the government.

Hopefully you can see my point because that is just the beginning.

And hopefully I’ve intrigued you enough that you’ll do your own research and vote in November to get people into office who will represent what the PEOPLE want, not what they see fit to push upon us!

This is our country.

Let’s make sure it stays that way!

Posted by admin @ 3:19 pm | 5 Comments

Needing Spring and All About Christmas?

March 19, 2010 | Updates

So, I’ve been missing for awhile. I think it’s a bit of life and me really needing to see the sun again. Things have been so busy and the weather has been dreary. BUT…I’m seeing the hints of spring and I’m excited!

Anyway, who wants to hear about Christmas? Since I’m so very far behind, I’ll do a little work to catch up. Hope you all don’t mind!

For Christmas this year, Samuel’s special needs class at school put on a program. They worked on it for months and they did such a cute job. They wore antlers while Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer played. They shook little bells while Jingle Bells played. They each took turns telling about their favorite things at Christmas time. The teachers even made all the kids shirts so they were mathing. It was a great little program that they all participated in and I was very impressed. And afterwards, Santa came and gave them each gifts that their teachers had gotten for them. Santa did a really great job and in the end, it turned out that the young man who played Santa had Down Syndrome - so neat!

Here’s a picture of Samuel with one of his classroom aides…