I don't have health insurance. If I did, my pay check would not be enough to help pay the bills. Most of the money that comes into our home is from my wife's disability checks, which includes the money that Social Security pays for our 2 boys also.
My wife has medicare, which covers most, but not all of her medical expenses. We pay them what we can, when we can. My 2 boys are on medicaid, through that MIChild thing. All of their medical stuff is covered. I'm on Ingham Health Plan, which is NOT insurance, even they say so. It covers basic medical stuff, like doctor's visits and so on. But not ER visits.
So, this past October, when I went into the hospital for heart problems, I'm wondering, what's gonna happen? Are they gonna treat me, toss me out cause I can't pay, or what? You know what, NO ONE asked me if I could pay or not. None of the doctors, nurses, not even the admissions people. Sure, I filled out forms and stuff, saying I was responsible if my "insurance" didn't cover it. But no one asked if I could pay or not. And I got the best medical care there is, in Lansing. (And I have to say, that's pretty damn good care too.)
Now, there was this one rep who came and helped fill out paperwork so that Medicaid would cover some of the expenses, so I guess I won't see some astronomical bill (And I'd really love to see what the final cost was, just so I could have a good laugh). But she was about the only person even remotely concerned with that end. Then again, I think it was her job.
If I needed chemo or some other procedure, I dunno what would happen. But, I've been going to the Sparrow Wound Clinic for over a year, for an ulcer on my heel that doesn't want to heal. They've never turned me away, and I KNOW Ingham Health Plan isn't covering all the costs there.
In my opinion, we do have the best health care in the world. The biggest problem with it is cost. And that, to a certain extent is our own litigious fault. If we hadn't gotten so law suit happy over the last few decades, suing for every little thing, malpractice insurance wouldn't have gone up, and doctors' fees wouldn't have gone up to cover the expense. That's the part of our health care that needs to be fixed.
But thanks to the lawyers, that will never happen. To be honest, I'd be
relieved if there was some sort of gov't sponsored health care that I could afford. But I don't want a mandatory health care, affordable, free or otherwise. That wouldn't be
fair to all the people who have jobs with decent health care plans. And I just know the tax necessary for such a plan would be too outrageous. So no thank you Mr. Obama, don't include me in your health care plan.
