Absurdity in the Health Care Bill
I have new respect for flu shots. I got sick last Tuesday night with a weird flu/cold thing — fever and chills, cough and sore throat, runny nose, eyes feel like they’re swimming in a boiling soup in your head. Because I work on a pay-for-hire basis rather than salary, I worked through the week anyway. No workie, no checkie. As a result I am still not 100%.
There is nothing that scares me more than the prospect of a chronic illness, because it would shred my ability to earn, and I do not have expensive disability coverage. On the upside, I pay for health insurance, so if I got a catastrophic disease, I would be covered after paying a maximum out of pocket.
Unless, of course, the sneaks in the Senate have their way. Check out this nice piece of reporting from the Associated Press: A loophole in the Senate health care bill would permit insurers to put annual limits on the amount they pay for costly illnesses! Insurers could set limits as long as they are “reasonable.” Hello! Isn’t the purpose of insurance to keep someone from going bankrupt if they get sick? What would be reasonable to an insurer? $10,000? Cancer treatment can cost upwards of $100,000.
This is one reason I dislike the bill in its current form — because it’s already corrupt. It’s reminds me of the legislation creating 401(k) plans. It supposedly offered a wonderful new opportunity for Americans to save for their own retirement and control their investments. Well we know what happened. It created an entitlement that was mainly a giveaway to financial services companes.
Congress has known for a number of years, through its own reporting, that 401(k) administrators freely rip off unsuspecting savers, and yet they’ve done nothing to stop it. (Here’s a column I did on it two years ago!)
I can easily see health care heading down the same road: Here’s a great solution for you uninsured folks! Oh dear, the service providers who benefitted from this legislation are ripping people off! Except this time, instead of a diminished retirement, people end up dead.
Call the Senate switchboard and ask to speak to your senator at (202) 224-3121. Tell them to eliminate this absurd giveaway to the insurance industry.
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