TESTIMONIALS
The Crisis From Within
by Robert H. Sickler
As we spend millions of
dollars chasing the "evil doer's" across the globe, there is another
insidious plot that could prove equally deadly to our well being as
a nation if left unchecked... It is the state of the U.S. healthcare
industry. The sad fact of human nature is no one likes to do anything
about anything until it's almost too late. Only a handful of visionary
legislators actually see a problem brewing with the healthcare "industry"
and have been trying to do something about it in recent years, only
to be rejected and outweighed by lobbyists against the cause. It's mostly
no big concern to Congress... Would you be worried if someone were paying
your healthcare premiums and will continue to do so long after you retire?
For the rest of us, it's a different story.
For a case-in-point study,
I'll tell you my story. I have worked many years for others and it was
always my dream to someday start my own business. It wasn't until I
lost my job in the early 90's and was denied unemployment benefits did
I start to really worry about it though. I was working one of many temporary
jobs to support my family without the benefit of health insurance. Thankfully
no major illness happened to me or my family during that time period.
I just plain couldn't afford to pay for health insurance on my own and
keep my car, my place to live, and eat three times a day. There are
so many people with less than myself in worse scenarios, but those less
fortunate people can usually get economical medical care (rightly so)
a lot faster and easier than someone in the middle and upper income
bracket.
Working hard at a temporary
day job and at night as a self-published writer, I was finally able
to think about starting a home business in graphic design. Before I
could plan a comfortable move in that direction though, my temporary job
became just that... I lost it without warning. Unable to collect unemployment
benefits because of my sideline work as a writer, I was thrust into
working for myself without an option. Being denied unemployment benefits
because of royalty income from past writing work is technically illegal,
but you can lose your shirt trying to fight it or even prove your case
to the authorities of the New York State government. So you do what's
best for your family and get over it.
Growing older presents more challenges to your health, so it was time
to try to afford a health insurance program to protect myself and my
family with my self-employed income. A local broker of group insurance
was contacted and a plan was devised. The monthly premium was a little
over $300 if my memory serves me correct and the individual deductible
for major claims was about $500. The doctor visit co-pay was a reasonable
$15. Three hundred dollars monthly was a definite strain on my ability
to produce earnings while trying to afford materials and equipment to
start my business and all the other expenses of daily life and homeowning.
A short time afterward, I was contacted by the insurance broker and
told if I wanted to keep my monthly premium the same, I would have to
change my family deductible to $2,500 per year/per person - No alternatives
period. Otherwise, I was told, my premiums would increase dramatically
to keep the $500 deductible. To me that's getting someone where you
want them and then you do anything you want because you know their fear
of not being insured. Being a family of never got answers for. As time
went on the premiums started to climb. I tried to look elsewhere for
insurance, but all the avenues looked the same as far as cost was concerned.
What ever happened to good old-fashioned American competition? That
doesn't happen in the "healthcare industry"!
three, our deductible was now a whopping $7,500 per year
for the same monthly premium. The excuse from the provider was that
"costs were going up". "What costs, whose costs and why" were the questions
I
Moving this
story abruptly ahead in time after paying premiums that had grown in
excess of $550 per month, I turned 50 years old... Three days later I would
finally and reluctantly exercise my right to utilize the benefits of
my insurance policy and have my gall bladder removed. It never really
hit me that satisfying a deductible would have such a disastrous effect
on my financial well being. The regional economy had taken a rippled
down-swing from the terrorist activities here in New York State and
my own income dropped dramatically. I don't sell matches or toilet paper,
I sell a service people use when they want to — And then was a time people
stopped advertising on a large scale.
The payments to doctors
I didn't know who worked on me and who "read" my expensive high-tech
imaging scans never seemed to end. I would get advance statements from
the insurance provider, but more bills would come nearly 7 months after
my surgery. What a slow, almost methodical grind this was. My savings
account was quickly disappearing while I struggled to make the monthly
$550+ insurance payments. I started to realize if I banked the money I
put into insurance for the last 6 years, I would have had more than
enough to pay outright for my medical obligations and had some money
leftover to buy two used cars needed so badly at that point. During
the course of making what payments I could, my hospital contacted me
and offered to discount my bill by 15% if I would pay the balance in
full that my insurance excluded (huh?). I thought "great!", but I started
to think... If they can discount, was I really being charged a fair
amount to begin with or was I overcharged to compensate if I couldn't
pay right away. To me this seems to be a big greedy scheme at the expense
of the unhealthy. In my opinion, it appears doctors and healthcare institutions
are in a constant fight against the insurance companies to gain higher
fees for their services while the insurance companies are trying to
reduce what claims come in and continue to raise their premiums to increase their profits.
So where does it all end? For me, I lost my ability to afford health
insurance completely. A drained savings and minimal earnings in a poor
economy produced a basic ultimatum for me... Eat and keep a roof overhead
for my family or pay my health insurance premiums.
Looking
to the New York State sponsored health program was a no-win situation also.
According to their web site, to enroll in the Healthy New York program
requires the applicant to have had no health insurance for a 12 month
period prior to application. In addition to this, your income must be
not be in excess of a calculated amount. I would have to wait a full
year without insurance only to find my income would fall just a hair
over the line of unacceptance in the program. The state subsidized projected
premium would have been approximately $480 per month... Still not very
affordable for people who can't afford regular health plans I'd say.
So what
do I mean by "crisis"? Think about it... The hospitals, doctors, and
pharmaceutical companies continue to compete with each other driving the
cost of insurance up above the sky... The ability of people to afford
healthcare will soon be a luxury which only the wealthy can pay for.
Why is it less powerful nations in Europe have adopted national healthcare
programs before us? Is it perhaps citizens of those countries actually
care about what happens to each other? What it boils down to is you
will eventually have the freedom to live longer comfortably if you can
afford to pay for it. This is ethically and morally wrong and will eventually
bankrupt the majority of US citizenry making us a very weak nation indeed.
It is a weakness and a "cancer" that will have a far greater effect on
our health than any attack from the outside.
Why is it we can coordinate
lotteries and legalized gambling that generate billions of dollars and
we can't even initiate a national contributory health plan that would
care for all people at all levels of income equally? Is it because if
it were made fair and equitable for all there would be no profit in it?
When is this nation going to realize you can't put a price on a human
life? Leave profit to material things that people lust for, but please
don't make people pay unfairly above their means to survive.
So what can we do about it? Get involved
in calling your legislators and let them know their voting constituents
want help and change. Write a letter to the President and tell him not
to forget about the "doer's" at home too.
Right now
I am not prepared financially for my daughter's education past high school.
I hope I can hang unto my home. My car with 186,000+ miles will eventually
stop running and I don't think I can replace it with anything much better.
I have no doubt I will be working until I am very old - if I last that
long. I have no retirement funds to do otherwise with anyway. All this
and there are far greater numbers of US citizens who sleep in cardboard
boxes at night and die because they are too proud to ask for help. If
this story sounds all too close to your own life history, it's time
everyone woke up and started doing and saying something about it before
it's too late — don't you think?
Addendum: I was
not asked or compensated to write this editorial for the host where
it appears. I personally have the same ideology as the host when it comes
to opinions about the healthcare "industry" and I think it's time
something be done before the damage is irreversible.
Permission
from author to use this article is on file 12/05/2002
IF YOU HAVE A MEDICAL STORY TO TELL US PLEASE
SEND IT TO US TO BE INCLUDED:
Write us, or Just press E-Mail us
to send your story.
Citizens For Universal Healthcare
P.O. Box 3028
Kingston, New York 12402
