My friends deserve the Public Option

I mentioned in a previous post that I was trying to rehab a knee injury. Little did I know it was a torn ACL.

I had surgery. Even with insurance it has been a pretty expensive process. But I am blessed to have a cousin who took on the expense of housing me, feeding me, and providing any medication and supplies I needed. I have parents who drove from Missouri and contributed as well. I have other friends who brought food and loaned me exercise equipment to help me recover faster.

My recovery has been faster than most, I believe. I am grateful.

But I can't help but be troubled by my friends who need surgery and don't have insurance...nor could they afford it even if they did.

One friend particularly disturbs me...

As we walked and talked the other day, he stopped. His hip was convulsing. I paused and asked if he was ok. He said he was; his hip just sometimes acts like it wants to move out of socket.

After standing for about 30 seconds and the shaking hip continued, I quickly grabbed a chair for him to sit in. I don't think he could have moved at that point to go get the chair himself.

My friend is only 24 years old.

I asked him what caused his hip to do that. He explained that he had an old basketball injury from high school. At the time of the injury, his family was poor and had no health insurance so they didn't (couldn't) fix it.

As he got older, he found out that the injury had progressed and gotten bad enough that he needed hip replacement surgery. However, they won't do a hip replacement on a 24-year old. Besides that, he is an adult on his own now, has graduated from college, and is now in seminary. He is on his own and, once again, doesn't have insurance. He could at least use physical therapy...but, again, no insurance.

He takes 16 hours in seminary. He works a 30+ hour a week job. What has he done to *not* deserve health care??

We need a public option. Please, President Obama, push for the public option.

But, President Obama can't do it on his own. We need to help.

Discovering meaning in the health insurance debate

A few weeks ago I injured my knee while working out. I really enjoy working out so the injury has really frustrated me. While it's healing, I've had to slow down my workout and find alternative ways of exercising.

As I swam laps in my friends pool, I allowed myself to be frustrated with my situation. Yet, as I swam, each lap created a new thought in my head...

I'm swimming laps in my friend's pool. How many people have friends with pools they can go to when they need alternative exercise? How many people do I know who had swimming lessons as a kid and can even swim?? And then if they do have a friend with a pool, how many have gas and transportation to get to that pool?

Then I started thinking...

Truth is, I can afford to pay for a monthly gym membership to keep me healthy...which is how I got hurt in the first place. How many of my friends can afford a gym membership? Not many. Because I can afford that monthly cost, I am able to keep my stress level (and my weight) down. Exercising helps me feel better about myself...about life...about situations. Exercising makes me want to eat better to maintain that good feeling.

Then I started questioning the intelligence of my actions...

Is my knee really healing right? Maybe I should have gone to the doctor. No, that would've been a $30 co-pay and they would've probably sent me to another doctor for x-rays, which would've been another $30. That's too much money. But I guess the reality is, I have health insurance and I have the choice to go to a doctor. Though it's expensive, it's a WHOLE lot cheaper than the visit would be without insurance. Wow...how many people don't even have that option and opportunity?

Which led me to also appreciate the job I have...

Wow...what if I had a job where I had to stand all day...and didn't provide sick and vacation days either...like many of my friends in the service industry?

My knee isn't 100% yet and I'm still irritated that I can't workout at the level I'd like. But I also realize that many people don't have all of the opportunities and benefits I do. I think of this as I listen to people lament over the fact that a change in insurance my not allow they or their children the care they have had (which I don't believe will happen).

I wonder if they realize that so many people have never had the care that they and their children have. I wonder if they realize (or care) that while they're so adamant about maintaining privatized care for themselves, they are advocating that *some* people and *some* children don't deserve what they do. They are advocating to shut them out of that opportunity to be healthier...which ultimately affects all of us.

Because of my knee, the health insurance debate has a little more meaning these days.

Obama signs SCHIP bill

One thing I truly respect about President Obama is his tireless dedication and commitment to ALL children...and ALL people.

Last week President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Act that will demand equal pay for equal work between men and women. This week he signed the SCHIP, a bill that will continue healthcare for 7 million children, provide healthcare to an additional 4 million children, and lift the ban on states to provide healthcare to legal immigrant children if they choose to do so.

In his speech, he committed to the children:

We are not a nation that leads struggling families to fin for themselves, especially when they’ve done everything right. No child in America should be receiving his or her primary care in an emergency room in the middle of the night. No child should be falling behind at school because he can’t hear the teacher or see the blackboard. I refuse to accept that millions of our children fail to reach their full potential because we fail to meet their basic needs. In a decent society, there are certain obligations that are not subject to tradeoffs or negotiations. And healthcare for our children is one of those obligations.

Despite the tax situations with his chosen leaders, I still say he's setting a good standard that ALL people should be treated equal--poor children and women included.

Bailouts? Think about the children

We're busy scrambling to bail out people who have tragically failed our system. What about bailing out the people who haven't even had the chance or opportunity to make a bad decision yet? Listen to Karim's take on it...

Stand for children!

Going home for the holidays can be a lot of fun--seeing friends and family you haven't seen in a while...eating great, home-cooked meals...playing games...watching football... and then, invariably, some conversation related to politics creeps in.

It's always nice to know the facts...AND to be able to communicate those facts to others. The Children's Defense Fund has come up with a great way to help us out during the holidays:

Survive the Holidays and Stand for Children!

We started off 2007 with a New Year's resolution for Congress to act to provide comprehensive health coverage to the more than nine million uninsured children in America. Although we've made some progress this year in bringing this issue to the forefront of the national policy debate, we've still got a ways to go before our country is a place in which no child is denied the right to a healthy start in life.

To help us reach this goal, we need your help! The holidays present a perfect opportunity to discuss with your friends and family the importance of children's health coverage as you gather around the dinner table. To help you in your discussions, we've prepared a Holiday Survival Guide that will help you to respond to any misguided (albeit well-intentioned) friends and family members!

No Healthcare?? Tough luck. Deal with it.

I got a call from one of our college students this past week. Sarah (not her real name) is a sophomore in college. She has always been independent. Sarah was placed in foster care when she was around 9 years old. She was adopted, I believe, around 12 or 13.

Though her adopted mom wanted her to go to college, she did not have a great knowledge about what it took to get her there, nor did she have the money to send her. Sarah took the initiative to figure out the process herself. She talked to caseworkers to figure out what benefits she could get from the foster care system. She filled out paperwork. She made phone calls. She ended up getting in to the college of her choice and actually, through the government/foster care system as well as through the pell grants, she has all of her college paid for (please don't think this is every case...most other students, even with a full pell grant, still need to take out loans and struggle to make it financially through college. Hers is an exception due to her foster/adoption status).

The Spring of her freshman year in college, her adopted mom was diagnosed with cancer and passed away not long after. Right around that same time, Sarah turned19. Though Sarah had received Medicaid up until then, she was no longer eligible once she turned 19. When she attempted to apply as a 19-year old, they told her that because she was in college, there are grants available and she didn't need Medicaid. Huh???? I don't get that. She may have received school grants, but there aren't grants to pay for her dental care! And the money she receives isn't exactly making her wealthy! It's getting her through school. Sarah gets by because she manages her money extremely well.

Sarah's adopted mom had no savings or anything to pass on to Sarah. Though her biological mom and sister are in her life, Sarah is on her own. She takes care of herself completely. Can you remember being 19? Can you imagine being in college and figuring out adulthood and all of the complications of adulthood without any financial support from a parent and without any job-related income? I can't imagine!

When Sarah called me, as always she didn't ask for a handout. Sarah was calling for advice and information about how she could access dental care. She just wanted her eroding filling fixed so she didn't have to take pain medication every day. Out of the two dentists she tried, one was not taking new patients and the other one charged $75 just to assess the situation. She is afraid the procedure may cost hundreds more after the assessment. Sarah just wanted to know if there was a dentist who would accept a payment plan...even though she also knew a payment plan for an expensive dental procedure would probably deplete the money she has saved so that she can pay her own expenses in school (phone, food, etc.).

We ended up working it out so that she can go to Central Dallas's dental clinic hopefully as a walk-in so she will only have to pay the $15 fee. She will have to miss a day of school, but she is in so much pain she is willing to do that.

This whole process has been frustrating to me. She is asking for nothing except necessary healthcare. She is doing everything right. She is budgeting her limited funds. She is attending college. She has applied for an 18 hour/week job to add to her 16 hour course load.

Sarah can't afford a monthly health insurance policy. Even if she did get independent health insurance, I'm not sure that it would help her that much. I've heard those independent policies cost a lot of money and don't offer the benefits that a big company insurance plan could offer.

When you think about whether our country should offer a national health care plan or at least revise what we now offer, please think of Sarah.