As snow blankets much of the country, news stations blare warnings about using precaution in shoveling. Every year hundreds of people keel over clearing snow. Some survive and some do not. Some have adequate healthcare coverage and many do not. On the whole our healthcare system is inadequate for a nation that is supposed to be one of the richest in the world.
A national shame
Every year thousand of people are forced to move forward without healthcare. The rising cost of insurance has outstripped the average yearly increase in salary by thousands of dollars. Families even with members working second jobs find even greater portions of their salaries chewed up by medical coverage costs. That does not include if they have medical expenditures for treatment and medications. This is compounded by insurers rejecting or limiting treatments as well as eliminating coverage for certain drugs.
A system that stops short
The inequity does not stop there. You could go for years minimally or not even use the insurance only to have it run out when you do. In effect, much of the coverage you pay for when you are healthy is money thrown away. When you are sick and or out of work, your insurance can limit your treatment or expire all together. There is no credit for the years you did not use the coverage.
The forgotten backbone of our county
Recently, I read the self employed such as small business owners and farmers are forced to decide whether to discontinue their insurance or not eat. The choice is horrific but simple. If you eat healthy, you cut down the risk of not having insurance. If you have children not matter whatever your choice it is a no win situation.
Stealing from retirement
Most of this information is just for the younger part of the family. The elderly are besieged with increasing health cost. There quality of life is absorbed by prescription cost and medical treatments. The golden years are tarnished and spent in worry and suffering. Depression is growing with our society at an increasing rate and the with the elderly even faster.
Now is time and the place for change
The coming President election looms big for our country. For years, the lobbiest have fought off the efforts of Senator Ted Kennedy toward healthcare reform. The HMO system has proven to be corrupt and woefully inadequate. It is time to step up as voters and citizens to demand this not just be something to banter about, but an issue of necessity for the here and now. It is time to move forward by demanding that candidates do not just talk about improving healthcare, but show us a complete plan and model that they support. By not accepting generalities and demanding specifics, we are instituting measures of change.
A starting point
John Edwards has begun the ball rolling by making healthcare a major part of his platform. It is only a beginning. His plan though a step in the right direction is ripe with generalities. Edwards is the first to set the bar. We can set the bar higher by forcing the candidates to come forth with more specifics. Do not accept words like "full mental health coverage." Demand to know what the candidate means by the words they use. Demand them to define their terms not just use them for us to take what we want from them.
The power of one
The snow for most of us is a yearly thing. This year has been strange with upstate New York setting record highs while other areas set record lows. Through it all the dysfunction of our present healthcare system looms over each and every American. There is a fallacy that one person cannot make a difference. Everyone person who is part of difference being made is a one. One man, one woman, one vote each to put someone into that seat of ultimate power. Better healthcare means a better quality of life for every "one."
