When I saw the pro-public option healthcare demonstration in D.C. today on the news, I cheered! It seems that although so many people would like a public option for health insurance, most of what we see on the news shows is about those opposing health reform measures.
I want a public option! I am unemployed as I care full-time for a totally disabled husband who requires very expensive home health aides to get him/us through each day. Although I am healthy so far, my insurance premiums go up 50% every year! And I still pay deductibles, co-pays, and more. We still pay big bucks for my husband's medications also, when we hit the Medicare drug "donut hole" and they won't pay any more. And we pay big bucks for drugs that Medicare considers "tier four" and will pay only a tiny percent of the cost.
The demonstration in D.C. today was aimed at health insurance company executives who were having a meeting there. As much as I dislike health insurance companies because of their objective of making profits, they are not the only ones at fault for our horrid health system. The real demon is selfishness - selfishness which is shared by those in many groups: a) the selfishness of health insurance companies who want to make as much money as they can; b) the selfishness of drug companies who need HUGE profits so they can advertise their drugs in all the media and bribe doctors to give out their drugs (drugs should not be advertised; if we need them, our doctors should know that! No "ask your doctor about....." Pffff!); c) the selfishness of Americans who are pleased with their insurance situation and don't want any government interference in private lives, even if they can keep what they have re health insurance while the government helps others - they see this as a first step toward Big Brother-type government taking over of our lives; d) exorbitant costs of too many tests given to patients because a patient's various doctors do not communicate effectively with each other; e) the selfishness of lawyers who wage frivolous lawsuits against doctors that are not always called for, raising rates of doctor's liability insurance, thus raising doctor's fees.
And the confusion of all the various insurance plans and drug plans!! OMG!! It is virtually impossible to choose the "best" plan for you by wading through all the different scenarios of premium vs. deductibe vs. zillions of other variables. Then some people want to expand choices across state lines - we need more choice????? HELP! I want a public option - I want Medicare; although imperfect, Medicare is way preferable to what I've got in my private plan. I'm just not old enough for Medicare yet.
And then, the doctors' office staffs have to contend with all of these zillion different plans - that is expensive also for the doctors, not to mention downright maddeningly frustrating.
A recent article in TIME magazine placed America behind the other Western countries (Canada, France, Great Britain, etc.) that have public insurance with regard to life span. Therefore, our private system is NOT delivering the best healthcare.
The healthcare mess in Congress is just that - a mess! Everyone squabbling over their own narrow selfish interests or those interests that pay politicians to squabble for them. If any health reform happens, it won't be very different from what we have now, I fear, and I certainly don't expect any difference to be made in my own situation of no income and HUGE medical expenses and health insurance premiums.
So, what would Jesus do? Jesus would work toward a solution that would benefit everyone. If people weren't so consumed with selfishness, we wouldn't need a Government because we would all help each other in our communities. But that isn't the case. There are many, many wonderful giving, unselfish people, of course - but theirs are usually not the voices out there fighting for their interests. Our Congresspeople should be looking toward the good of everyone; then we could have "trickle down" compassion. Wouldn't that be great? But love of money and selfishness are so rampant in our society that they are the greatest illnesses we have - illness of spirit of a society where so many reject God and His ways of love and compassion. Until that great illness is cured, I can't see that help for our physical illnesses will become easier to obtain.
But that's just my opinion, from my own little corner.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
My Red Balloon
Did you ever read the book or see the film "The Red Balloon?" My parents gave me the beautiful picture book from the film when I was a child, and I have seen the film several times; I've since gotten a copy of the book for my grandchildren.
It's the story of a little boy named Pascal, who lives in Paris and one day finds a red balloon. It becomes his best friend and constant companion, waiting outside his apartment window for him, when his mother won't allow him to bring it inside. One day a bunch of rough kids capture the red balloon and break it with a stone. While Pascal is sitting next to the broken balloon with his broken heart, slowly all the balloons in Paris come together - all colors of balloons float through the sky and their strings tie together and come to Pascal. He holds onto the strings of the balloon bouquet and is lifted into the air by the balloons, flying away in the sky over Paris. What a beautiful, happy ending!
As I sat by my ill husband's side just now, crying because he rarely talks and because sometimes it just gets to me more than other times, I felt like Pascal sitting beside his broken balloon. Like the red balloon, my husband is very "broken" by his illness, and has been "broken" since we were married almost 11 years ago.
As the balloons of Paris came to Pascal to heal his grief and lift him into the sky, so God has sent me so many new friends and three beautiful grandchildren, all of whom have lifted me up from my grief and who help me endure it every day. My co-well spouses from Well Spouse, new friends from church, and the many activities I do for Well Spouse have given me new life in the face of the depressing illness that I am "married to".
But unlike Pascal, I will not go flying off happily into a sunlit sky, because I will have always lost my husband, because we never had a "normal" marriage, and no matter how many "balloons" God puts in my life, I will always have the pain of the one broken balloon - my husband. Yes, my husband is alive and I'm thankful for that, but his mind is no longer here, and nothing will ever replace that.
So although I know that God has blessed me immensely and is my constant companion and Savior, and though He lifts me up every day to keep going, sometimes I do have to just sit by my broken red balloon and cry.
It's the story of a little boy named Pascal, who lives in Paris and one day finds a red balloon. It becomes his best friend and constant companion, waiting outside his apartment window for him, when his mother won't allow him to bring it inside. One day a bunch of rough kids capture the red balloon and break it with a stone. While Pascal is sitting next to the broken balloon with his broken heart, slowly all the balloons in Paris come together - all colors of balloons float through the sky and their strings tie together and come to Pascal. He holds onto the strings of the balloon bouquet and is lifted into the air by the balloons, flying away in the sky over Paris. What a beautiful, happy ending!
As I sat by my ill husband's side just now, crying because he rarely talks and because sometimes it just gets to me more than other times, I felt like Pascal sitting beside his broken balloon. Like the red balloon, my husband is very "broken" by his illness, and has been "broken" since we were married almost 11 years ago.
As the balloons of Paris came to Pascal to heal his grief and lift him into the sky, so God has sent me so many new friends and three beautiful grandchildren, all of whom have lifted me up from my grief and who help me endure it every day. My co-well spouses from Well Spouse, new friends from church, and the many activities I do for Well Spouse have given me new life in the face of the depressing illness that I am "married to".
But unlike Pascal, I will not go flying off happily into a sunlit sky, because I will have always lost my husband, because we never had a "normal" marriage, and no matter how many "balloons" God puts in my life, I will always have the pain of the one broken balloon - my husband. Yes, my husband is alive and I'm thankful for that, but his mind is no longer here, and nothing will ever replace that.
So although I know that God has blessed me immensely and is my constant companion and Savior, and though He lifts me up every day to keep going, sometimes I do have to just sit by my broken red balloon and cry.
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