Health care in our country is a very political animal. Because of the huge amount of money there is to be made, namely by the health insurance industry, there are many special interests trying to claim their piece of the pie, and in doing so they have created the mess that is health and care in this country.
What other democratic and industrialized nation in this world has the process of health care delivery sitting before a court that may well decide that people like my husband don’t deserve to be able to purchase affordable insurance to live? The answer is none.
And why do people who have no idea what it is to have a life-altering or threatening disease, through no fault of their own, feel the need to try and take away health care from those who need it?
I have no answer for that but it is something this family is faced with every single day. From people on Twitter who regularly harangue me for speaking out in favor of the Affordable Care Act to yes, family members who are against it, I have to remind them all that the Affordable Care Act is saving lives. I also remind them that getting sick is part of the human condition and some of us get more sick than others.
And without the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan, my husband and many others would die. It is that simple a truth; that black and white.
We pay a premium every month, just like those who have insurance through their employer. Until 2014 when the law is fully enacted (depending on the Roberts court, of course) and the health insurance exchanges are set up, your employer is the only access point for affordable health care.
The PCIP is a pool of people who the health insurance industry won’t insure. Why? Because the health insurance industry does not like to spread their risk pool out to people with diseases like Multiple Sclerosis or cancer because they know they will have to pay claims for these people. It’s the same with Medicare, the health insurance industry got rid of their most expensive risk pool, those over 65, when Medicare was created.
All insurance is a risk pool, we all pay into that pool to cover each other. I may never have a claim because I am healthy but my money goes to cover those who do and vice versa–that’s how insurance works. Imagine if we just opened up the Medicare risk pool to everyone, cradle to grave, and we all had the chance to pay into it. We’d solve all our problems, both with Medicare solvency and with insuring all our citizens.
The next time you hear someone, anyone, claim the Affordable Care Act is not affordable, ask them if they think it’s all right in this country of ours to allow one industry the right to deny care over and over again while taking in billions in profit.
Ask them if health care is not already “rationed” by the health insurance industry, because it is. Just ask the parents of Kyler Van Nocker or Nataline Sarkisyan.
Ask them if my husband, and other citizens of this country, have the right to be able to see their children grow up by having access to medications.
Ask them if denying access to affordable care isn’t infringing on your personal liberty.
Ask them if they even know that Medicare is a government run program that saves senior citizens from bankruptcy and death.
See what they say and the answer you receive will tell you everything you need to know about their morals and their character. Everything.
MS Activism 