Senate committee rejects 'public option' amendment

[Scott S]

Originally Posted by Excaliber

. Or had a major health problem and found out their insurance was cancelled. There are a bunch of reasons why we need reform.

47 years ago I slipped on the planks from my way back from the outhouse and got a big sliver stuck in my left palm that nobody noticed until my hand swelled up and I got sick with blood poisoning. I spent 10 days in the hospital and had a newly developed surgery along with the new wonder drug(penicillin)IV administered to save my hand.

2 years later(I was 6) I had my appendix removed, that same year I broke my left arm.

The summer between 2nd and 3rd grade I had a softball sized Bakers tumor removed from behind my left knee and got infected with Scarlet Fever during the surgery and spent 30 days in a hospital while being injected every 8 hours with the new wonder drug Ampicillon..

I broke my left arm again when I was 12, at 16 I had my tonsils removed with complications that turned a overnight stay into a week.

Since all of this I have had 1 knee surgery, 3 shoulder surgeries, and my gall bladder removed.

4 years ago I was sitting at State controlled road repair project and was rear ended.... the gal failed to see the half dozen or so notices but the 60 ton log truck I had just loaded didn't have any trouble stopping just behind her...

Whiplash can be very real, I suffered for a couple of months before I realized I need to turn in my >EXTRA TOUGH LOGGER CARD< and get some help. I had a new procedure done to isolate a some of nerves to control the pain. It worked but it triggered a very rare symptom for men....

I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia which can be be very painful. I described it best as if you have ever split a cord or two of wood or done several dozen crunches you might feel some discomfort... it's kinda like that but even your toenails hurt.


All this is considered when I apply for health care coverage for my employees, just because of my unfortunate health history I have to pay far above the market to cover some of the best of my industry.

It's down to this,l I can pay my guys about 5-6 bucks more a hour it they weren't penalized by my health history.

THIS REPUBLICAN HAS HAD IT WITH THE SYSTEM WE HAVE>>>>

[VRM]

Scott,
Is there any resentment from your crew that you are costing them a fair chunk of change? Do they even know?

So what would you do? From an insurers standpoint you are a terrible risk (I know you don't need me to tell you that), so what should your rates look like compared to theirs?

What sort of changes would you like to see? Should you pay the extra for your coverage yourself? The DNC says that is not fair (not true - being responsible for yourself is fair) and that people are being wiped out financially because of medical bills for situations like yours (true - folks without coverage have to pay for those bills themselves, or some of them default 'cause they can't afford the $300,000 for treatment so we pick up the tab).

So what should we do? What/who should be covered, and how does it get paid for?

Steve

[Ron61]

Steve,

Both you and Scott have good points, but I still don't think anyone should be made to buy insurance or anything else the Govt. decides on. I pay all of my own medical bills and don't have insurance. I don't want to be forced to buy it as then I most likely won't be able to pay other bills and they are more important to me than having the Govt. tell me what I have to buy. Also when they force this down our throats, every person that can afford their prices will run to the doctor every time they sneeze. Many people in this area are barely making it now on their retirement and adding Insurance to their bills will cause them to lose their homes and then we will have more homeless. Also a loss of property tax, more crime which is already on the increase around here, loss of sales taxes because they won't be able to buy anything and it goes on. The argument that they force you to buy car insurance does not hold water as they don't force you to buy a car, and about 1/2 of the wrecks they have here at least one party has no insurance or drivers license. This is sort of rambling, but I just don't like being told that I have to buy something because the Govt. has decided it is good for them. Oh, and on top of that they have just tripled our water and electric rates and have sent out a paper outlining the increases for the next two years. In 2011 our rates will be more than 4 1/2 times what they are now and they are already foreclosing on people that can't pay todays rates. And these are people that lost their jobs and won't be getting them back as this area has no real employment opportunities and they will have to leave the state to find anything. So another Govt. added expense is not the answer. I wish I knew a way to overhaul the Health Care plan without a lot of poor people getting shafted, but without big tax increases I see no way. By the way, this is not meant to pick any fights or start any flame wars. Just my opinion based on what I see around here and the fact I don't believe that our Govt. has the Constitutional authority to start deciding what we will buy and when.

Ron