Thursday, August 06, 2009

The Real Faces Behind The Health Care Reform Debate

I know that we don't usually get political here on the ConCLAYve blog, but this particular issue is very personal to me. This may or may not represent the feelings of other members of this blog - but it definitely does represent mine.

I would write something long and detailed about why we so desperately need health care reform and why we need a public option that takes the profit out of the health care industry . . . but nothing I would write could possibly be as eloquent as this short video by Brave New Films. It shows the true nightmares of what regular people who think they have insurance are faced with when they actually need to use their insurance to combat serious illness. These are real people and the frightening thing - any one of them could be -- and may be -- us.

I pray for a day when need and not means dictates health care.




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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the film. This issue is so full of emotion that it is difficult to discuss in an objective way. While insurers are making profits, people are suffering. But I am not certain government bureaucracy is an improvement.

We definitely need to make changes, but ramming through a bill that most in Congress have either not read or simply don't understand isn't the way to go either.

I hope that calm heads prevail and that rational steps can be taken to improve health services here in the USA. Sometimes incremental steps are the way to go, and other times using individual states for case studies can yield unexpected results.

Granted these options will not foster immediate change. But I would hope incremental change including closer oversight of the insurance industry can take place.

Thanks for such a thought provoking blog.

Anonymous said...

Given the circumstances I'll take a bill rushed through any day. The Insurance Companies are counting on stalling tactics because they know that what you can slow down, you can stop. They have been doing so for years. Americans spend more on health care than any other country for a system rated 37th.

Medicare, A GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH PLAN, is the most efficient, least expensive, highest quality health insurance provided in the US. That is why they are so afraid of a public option.

As long as we continue to allow medicine and health care to be viewed as a way for some people to get wealthy, others (usually the poor) will continue to suffer and die needlessly. There are a billion ways to get rich. Why do we need to make denying people needed medicine and medical treatments one of them?

Anonymous said...

As someone who is a Medicare patient, I have experienced bureaucratic screwups and waste that boggles the mind. No system is perfect. In fact I was denied care recently despite the doctor's and other professionals' requests for the treatment because someone who never met me and was sitting at a desk in another area of the country decided I didn't need it.

The ConCLAYve-Nan said...

That's truly amazing anonymous as I have talked to many many Medicare recipients (friends and family and strangers) and not one of them has ever had a treatment denied them by Medicare. In talking with my two doctors, they have never had Medicare deny treatment to their patients. My father, at 91 years old, received no only a pacemaker but was having dialysis. On the day he passed away he was sitting in a dialysis chair at his hospital having treatment. Your story is interesting as it is so contrary to anything I've heard from anyone else.

Anonymous said...

nO ONE SHOULD BE IN A HURRY FOR THIS HEALTH REFORM TO BE PASSED UNLESS YOU HAVE READ IT COMPLETELY. DID YOU KNOW CARE FOR THE ELDERLY WILL BE RATIONED,IN OTHER WORDS TREATMENT DENIED. dID YOU KNOW AS PART OF THE BILL THE GOVERNMENT WILL HAVE ACCESS TO EVERYONES BANK ACCOUNTS AND WILL BE ABLE TO WIRE TRANSFER AT WILL. THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE ITEMS THAT ARE REALLY CONCERNING PEOPLE. ALSO,THERE MUST BE A REASON WHY COUNTRIES WITH SOCIALIZED MEDICINE COME TO THE U.S. FOR TREATMENT. PLEASE EVERYONE READ THIS BILL THOROUGHLY,BE CAREFUL YOU MIGHT GET WHAT YOU ARE WISHING FOR.

The ConCLAYve-Nan said...

I put the last comment through becuase it shows such absolute ignorance that it should be seen by all. The CAPS in and of itself shows the anger. There can be legitimate discussion about how to pay for healthcare reform - but every single thing written above is a right wing talking point that is completely and totally false. Every single thing. The only truth is that rationing is taking place right now in private health insurance - just watch the video. Those people had insurance and were denied coverage. That's rationing. Right now. Private insurance makes money by rationing. Use your brains.

No other country that has nationalized health insurance is fighting to have ours. No Country. None. Zero. Even conservatives don't want to change their health insurance. And they are not socialized medicine. Socialized medicine is what the UK has - the government pays the salaries of its doctors. Like we have here in the United States for our veterans. The VA system is socialized. The others are single-payer systems with private practice doctors.

We pay more than twice any other industrialized nation for health care and we have 47 million uninsured and are ranked 24th in life expectancy.

Those are facts. Not scare tactics. Read the bill? Which one? Took me a week to read the house bill. There's nothing in there that this comment mentions. NOTHING.

Please people, use your brains to really understand this issue. It is too important not to know the truth.

House Bill Line By Line Check Up

Reform Myths

White House Reality Check

The other things mentioned are just to dumb to even bother addressing.