Its all dead

[bdeutsch]

We (my family) have been fortunate enough, save for a period of time that I was unemployed, to always have health care coverage. Beginning at age 60, as a retired AF Lt Colonel (10 years active and 11 years with the ANG), we (me/wife) fall under the TriStar program. So, at least in theory, we will be covered for life.

Having said this though, a couple of additional thoughts. During the period of unemployment mentioned above, I had the opportunity to utilize COBRA. At that time, for a family of 4, this coverage worked out to about $1,000/month. Fortunately, my wife was employed during this time and we were able to utilize her coverage. Had it not been for her job though, one cannot help but wonder how a typical family can afford for any length of time, $1,000out of pocket when there is no income. While it is not clear to me whether this condition would have changed under the proposed plan (and I think this is one of the problems, i.e., nobody really knows what it is supposed to do), it is just an example of one of the current issues with our healthcare system.

Next point, anyone with kids knows that once your children hit a certain age, and depending on their status (full time student for example), they are removed from your health plan. My oldest son, after graduating from a well known college here in California, was obliged to find his own healthcare plan, to fill the time lapse between the time he graduated and when he became eligible for benefits with his employer. It is during this period I found out how broke our healthcare system is. He has a very minor (really minor) condition which requires medication. Insurers defined it as a pre-existing condition. So here you have a very healthy and athletic 24-year old male, who, because of what any of us would consider to be more of an annoyance than anyting else, had a very difficult time finding an insurance carrier who would cover him. It was not really a question of the $$, we simply could not find a company that would insure him. I think the saddest thing about this whole experience is that we wanted to do the right thing, but went through a very difficult time actually getting him covered. Ultimately we were able to find coverage, but during this time, he was completely without healthcare insurance.

While various posters have made points about how the spoils should go to those who earn them, I submit that the challenges with our current healthcare system are much more complex than that. While I personally do not think that the healthcare course taken by our honorable representatives from the Democratic side of the aisle were correct, we (insurance companies, unions, public employees, for-profit companies, states, etc.) need to examine the current system, as at least in my opinion, it does not work even for those of us who try to do the right thing.