The Trap
There’s a man who hates his job. Oh, there are lots of them but this guy can’t quit and his boss knows it. His son has asthma and has been in and out of the hospital since he was born.
The job he hates includes health insurance for him and his family. He can’t be sure that health insurance at a different job would cover them. If he interviewed for a new job, and asked too many questions about health coverage, he might scare them off — fearful that he would drive their premiums even higher.
The man can’t say no when he’s told to stay late by the boss because the boss knows he’s trapped.
Across town, there’s a woman not sleeping, drinking the last of a bottle of wine. Her husband is out all night — again. It happens all the time. She’s talked to her friends, her pastor, family and even a counselor. The husband doesn’t give excuses, he doesn’t have to. Is she going to leave him? Where would she go? She doesn’t have health insurance without his job, and since she had a mastectomy a few years ago she too is trapped.
Maybe it’s time, when we talk about protecting family values, that we talk about health care. Health care, or the lack of it, goes right to the heart of families and their day-to-day struggles. How do average working men and women protect their spouses and children from the constantly shrinking coverage and continually rising costs? Too often the answer is sacrificing dreams and relationships.
More than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies are the result of catastrophic medical bills. In 75 percent of those cases, the people had at least some health insurance.
After last week’s column, I got an email from a reader. Apparently Alaska needs a pipeline for all my solution-less bitching and moaning. The email asked what idea I had to improve the economy in our great state.
I do complain bitterly about our lawmakers. I’m not ashamed of bellyaching about the billions of dollars of public wealth we’ve handed to some of the richest corporations in the world — in exchange for exactly nothing.
But fair enough. I’ll take the challenge. What I would do differently?
Think how much more competitive Alaska would be if, instead of throwing money at oil companies, we offered preventive and catastrophic health care to every Alaskan.
The biggest stranglehold on people and businesses is the ever-rising cost of health care. These costs have been growing three times the speed of wages, and that’s if you still have a job. Caring for the sick and saving lives is a for-profit industry (and that includes then “nonprofit” hospitals). But we don’t call that immoral?
Many military folks have health insurance, as do many through the Indian Health Service or federal employment. But what if everyone could get similar coverage? Every worker, every child. Can you imagine how businesses would breathe a sigh of relief? Their workers insured, they could give them a raise! Talk about a stimulus plan!
When corporations shop for places to build businesses, the “Big Wild Life,” with health care for all, would be a draw. Maybe we could get Xtratuff to manufacture in Alaska (we’ve got the testing lab right out our front door, and Lord knows we couldn’t do worse than China is now).
How different would our lives be, as employers or employees, if we Alaskans decided this is what we want from our Owner State earnings. (We’ve already committed to pay for the health insurance of every employee of ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and BP, so it’s not like we’re opposed to the idea on principle.)
Maybe you don’t like my idea. Maybe it needs a big study — I’m all for that. Goodness knows we’ve wasted more money on the boomers’ dream of a KABATA bridge.
Billions for oil companies. Guaranteed health care for Alaskans. Maybe you have a better idea. Awesome. I knew you would.
Let’s hear it.
[This article is cross-posted at The Anchorage Daily News]
Several years ago our daughter, at age 17, had cancer. It was successfully treated, but she was about to be dropped from our insurance at her next birthday. I was terrified she would not be able to get insurance but she joined a union and had a good policy a month later.
Yet another reason to support unions–and the new health care law.
I am not sure that universal healthcare is the answer–but I am open to the discussion. We have insurance because the cost of healthcare is too high (for a variety of reasons) and as another commenter stated, to help employers encourage employees to stay. I would rather see the actual cost of healthcare go down. That way we’re not lining the pockets of another big business. In that sense, employers wouldn’t be required to provide health insurance, and could still provide the raises we want. It also wouldn’t require the rest of us to pay for the bad choices of a few. I know that I will get a lot of flack for this, I’m sure, but it’s still my opinion.
Businesses used to offer benefit packages including healthcare to attract and keep employees. Now their only focus seems to be on profits, so they no longer want to spend a penny more than they have to for labor. We can both relieve businesses of this burden and free our citizens of this trap by expanding Medicare to all. That large of a risk pool would reduce premiums and have the clout to negotiate down health care cost. Imagine the profits and high executive salaries normally associated with health insurance being spent on actual health care including education and prevention.
Hey, if California can do it, so can we. This is yet another area where states can lead federal legislation. This time as a force for good, instead of evil.
We’ve got a Permanent Fund, why not Permanent Health Care? Norway successfully does it with their oil money, so it’s not an untried experiment.
What we need in this country is Medicare for All. I’m hoping the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, is the first baby step toward universal medical coverage. I don’t call it health care, because it’s not. It’s illness care. Unfortunately, that’s what all too many people need, with a processed food diet rife with GMO ingredients, a lack of healthy exercise, etc. Alaska, with its tiny population, would be a good place to start.
I HATE that SO many decisions we, as citizens, make, often are ultimately determined by our health care…or lack thereof. Unfortunately, there is SO much misinformation floating around about ‘socialized’ medicine/Obamacare, that it’s no wonder our nation still lets business concerns (insurance industry) dictate our medical care. Arrrgh –I could just scream! But since that would not be good for my health, I try to have patience and gather as much info as I can about the issue so I can share it with ‘non-believers’ with the goal of ending some of the nonsense; I want, SO desperately, to have Single Payer/Universal Health Care for us All.
So, anyway, I followed a link last year and it led me to a 9 July 2012 blog post titled: “How I lost my fear of Universal Health Care” — I bookmarked it at the time and when I read AKMs topic tonight, remembered that I had — just reread it this evening to see if it might be as germane to AKMs topic as I remembered/thought it would be… It begins:
When I moved to Canada in 2008, I was a die-hard conservative Republican. So when I found out that we were going to be covered by Canada’s Universal Health Care, I was somewhat disgusted. This meant we couldn’t choose our own health coverage, or even opt out if we wanted too. It also meant that abortion was covered by our taxes, something I had always believed was horrible. I believed based on my politics that government mandated health care was a violation of my freedom.
When I got pregnant shortly after moving, I was apprehensive. Would I even be able to have a home birth like I had experienced with my first 2 babies? Universal Health Care meant less choice right? So I would be forced to do whatever the medical system dictated regardless of my feelings, because of the government mandate. I even talked some of having my baby across the border in the US, where I could pay out of pocket for whatever birth I wanted. So imagine my surprise when I discovered that Midwives were not only covered by the Universal health care, they were encouraged! Even for hospital births. In Canada, Midwives and Dr’s were both respected, and often worked together. [Full post here: http://tinyurl.com/ck5w7wt ]
The whole post, IMHO, is Excellent…but wait, there’s more — it’s a two-parter of Excellence. I found it difficult, violent librul that I am, to not appreciate the logical ‘argument’ and direct information of the post — I mean, how could anyone disagree with it? beth.
PS – Melissa, the linked-blog’s author, has a forthright manner and pulls no punches. Her whole blog is incredible! Talk about honesty and openness! Yowzers! What a journey the woman has had — and is having. b.)
You wuz a whut,when?? Did you rilly say that dreaded R word with negative connatations?? “Gasssppppp!!!”
[[For that comment, this violent librul ™ is going to have to abuse you, mike from iowa! Well (dis)abuse you (of the notion), at any rate… Here goes…]]
No, the two Italicized paragraphs in my post, are the copy and pasted words of Melissa, the woman who wrote the linked blog. She is the once-R, conservative person; not me. Definitely not me! I’ve Never been an R…had I been able, surely would’ve been one at the time of Lincoln (R – President of the US), but I was a tad too young then for a party affiliation and none of us females could vote in those days, anyway, being as how we’re all such flighty, flaky, frivolous, flibberty-gibbits, who are totally incapable of understanding Any ‘difficult’ things, and all… beth.
My sincerest apologies for jumping to contusions. This miserable person obliviously missed that memo above which resulted in my total shame and self-loathing. I would commit hiri-kiri if I could pronounce it. Please to forgive and then take no further notice of this despicable dog. As an afterthought,I have several dozen onions that survived the cold and snow and also got over a hunnert hills of taters tilled and planted this very day. Possibility of snow on Thursday. 80 plus yesterday,70s today and tomorrow.
You described my situation exactly. I need a divorce but I am trapped without healthcare provided by the man’s job. And this economy ‘s not helping.
I, too, am in the same trap. I am engaged to a wonderful man who lives across the country from me (he moved from NY to California to fight in court for more time with his young son), but I can’t leave my job with health insurance, especially now that I developed a blood clot in my leg during my last trip there, and now have a “pre-existing condition.” He lost his job because he had to take so much time off for court and for stress-induced illness, so now HE has no insurance. I would move to California if I had guaranteed health insurance, but I don’t dare..so basically my entire life, and his, are being dictated by the insurance issue.
CorningNY–you’ve got red flags waving in front of you. Investigate what is going on in that custody case.