America has just traversed a huge chasm with respect to the health care freedom of its citizens. Arguably a civil right, and clearly an inalienable right and part of first world human rights, America was holding out on this issue until Sunday evening. The new laws are not nearly as good as many would have liked, but it has undeniably extended something originally promised in founding documents, to most all of its citizens: the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Being sick in America remains a sentence to poverty, stress and insecurity. These problems are not understood by citizens disconnected from the perspectives, but in time I am confident even the most certain of health care deniers will come around.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Blue Cross the Bully
Only when you truly experience the joy of regular interaction with an insurance company enjoying unchecked power provided by the US Congress do you understand the issues with health care in America. I hear others speak about being terrified of health care outside the US but none of those people has had any experience with it. Just as often, I find that those who praise the system here in America are also those with no real experience using it.
What is most shocking in this dynamic of naivete comingled with teenage recalcitrance is that real people suffer and die in the hands of American health care. Do citizens of other industrialized countries die at the hands of their systems? Most likely. But, how many Canadians, British or Swedes lobby for their fellow citizens; including children, the disabled and elderly, to suffer and die because the government just can't save everybody. I would bet it is in the range of few to none.
In fact, America cannot really use an argument related to money because we have tons of it and choose to spend it on wars and otherwise filter it to very discrete groups of citizens. Those in our government opposed to health care rights are certainly entitled to their opinion, but should not be able to impose suffering and death on other citizens. On that note, those citizens opposed to life should not otherwise be permitted to give these life and death decisions over to a corporation, which is a human invention with financial focus--not human interest.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield is one of these corporations in America that has been given the right to decide if I, and others who sucscribe to their plans, can solve health problems or suffer and die. As my insurance company, they hold the key to everything and they clearly exercise their authority.
A staff level person who is likely to be less educated than me decides my health care. Yes, a bureaucrat stands between me and my doctor. The monthly cancellation forms, the phone calls, the denial of claims are clearly bullying at the least--terrorizing at most. Oh, I realize the workers there are just doing their job, but they know what they do. Their actions are real, with real consequences.
Blue Cross has recently denied my claim for genetic testing because my genetics are apparently a pre-existing condition. They review all my claims for approximately a year before they pay or deny them. Blue Cross the bully. America can and should do better.
What is most shocking in this dynamic of naivete comingled with teenage recalcitrance is that real people suffer and die in the hands of American health care. Do citizens of other industrialized countries die at the hands of their systems? Most likely. But, how many Canadians, British or Swedes lobby for their fellow citizens; including children, the disabled and elderly, to suffer and die because the government just can't save everybody. I would bet it is in the range of few to none.
In fact, America cannot really use an argument related to money because we have tons of it and choose to spend it on wars and otherwise filter it to very discrete groups of citizens. Those in our government opposed to health care rights are certainly entitled to their opinion, but should not be able to impose suffering and death on other citizens. On that note, those citizens opposed to life should not otherwise be permitted to give these life and death decisions over to a corporation, which is a human invention with financial focus--not human interest.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield is one of these corporations in America that has been given the right to decide if I, and others who sucscribe to their plans, can solve health problems or suffer and die. As my insurance company, they hold the key to everything and they clearly exercise their authority.
A staff level person who is likely to be less educated than me decides my health care. Yes, a bureaucrat stands between me and my doctor. The monthly cancellation forms, the phone calls, the denial of claims are clearly bullying at the least--terrorizing at most. Oh, I realize the workers there are just doing their job, but they know what they do. Their actions are real, with real consequences.
Blue Cross has recently denied my claim for genetic testing because my genetics are apparently a pre-existing condition. They review all my claims for approximately a year before they pay or deny them. Blue Cross the bully. America can and should do better.
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