Health Care

Health care reform is on everybody's mind now that we are so close to actually having some kind of reform passed. But does anyone actually understand what the provisions are in the two bills (House and Senate), and how they will affect each of us? I found a website that compares the two bills side by side, and is actually written in plain english language that most of us can understand. The site is the Kaiser Family Foundation and has lots of other information on health care reform as well. If you would like to read the page with the side by side comparison, here is the link to it. http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm

It seems that the provisions in the bills are really not that far apart at all, so I can't understand why our elected representatives can't agree on something and get health care reform passed.

I just spent three months with no health insurance at all. It turned out to be due to an administrative error, so luckily my Cobra was reinstated, but I learned a lot during those three months. For one thing, no middle class American can afford health care. A regular doctor visit with the family care physician who I have been seeing for over 20 years costs $120. He certainly doesn't receive that amount when he gets paid by Cobra (doctors only receive a "maximum allowable amount"), so why can't he just charge me that amount instead of bankrupting me? I don't even want to know what one of my specialists charges.

And forget about prescriptions. Just one of my prescriptions cost me $101.42, and I take eight prescriptions, so add it up. Needless to say, I haven't been taking any of my prescriptions.

Buying health insurance is not so easy either. Even though I had a certificate of creditable coverage (something which certifies that you have had continuous health care), I wasn't eligible to buy any insurance because of my pre-existing conditions. So what good is the dang certificate?

I sure hope a health care reform bill is passed before my Cobra runs out. I hope so for me and for anyone else out there who doesn't have health insurance.

Cat