I have been thinking and reading about this obamacare fiasco for some time and now I have to speak out. A couple of recent events affecting people I know and care about have made me so upset that I have to say something rather than just post the opinions that come across my timeline. Granted the health care system in this country needs an overhaul but obamacare is NOT the way to do it. On Tuesday, I received an email from a friend who is on disability and is unable to work. She is one of those people who truly deserve the help she gets – she has no living relatives that she knows of and suffers from multiple sclerosis and is mostly bound to a wheel chair for mobility. I have asked her if I could post her story and mention who she is but she is a proud lady and said she would be mortified and embarrassed if I did that so I will respect her privacy. Then today, I saw a post from another good friend here on FB who I also know would be completely embarrassed if I mentioned his name but I just can’t stay silent on their stories. Both are people who want to work – who want to be productive and independent and contribute to society. Unfortunately, due to their health problems, neither are able to do that. Both, up until Tuesday, received health coverage through the state of Minnesota. Now they have both been notified that their no-cost healthcare coverage through the state has been terminated and they are expected to apply for obamacare. Even though I have yet to have an opportunity to talk with the second friend I mentioned, I’m sure his story is more than likely the same as my first friend who I will just refer to here as “Sue”. Sue receives roughly $700 a month for disability. I say roughly because I have never asked her to divulge to me exactly how much she receives. I do know that because she lives in a section 8 apartment, about 25% of her monthly income goes for her rent. So that means Sue is roughly left with $525 a month to pay for everything else. And now, even though she can’t afford to own or drive a car, does not have a free Obama phone (which, by the way, was a program started by George W. Bush and not Obama), uses a donated PC, and has her home phone and internet subsidized by the phone company, she still has a hard time paying for her groceries and utilities and other living expenses. And now to add to her financial burden she is expected to “pay” for obamacare. Her and people like her were the ones obamacare was supposed to help! It was supposed to be “free” for people like her. And now she is seriously having to consider cutting back the one living expense she has the most control over – food – so she can pay for her obamacare coverage. Or maybe she should give up her phone and internet-her only contact with the outside world? Sue told me she’ll also be keeping her thermostat turned very low this winter – just warm enough, as she put it, “to keep the pipes from freezing.” I’ve seen her apartment. Basically, it’s a studio with a very small bedroom (which looks to me to be a little more than an oversized closet). By no means luxurious in any sense. Not centrally heated. Not centrally air conditioned. Most peoples’ pets live in nicer conditions. She’s frantic, worried, and horribly depressed and I sure understand why. This is truly an outrage. I have no doubt that some will get free coverage but shouldn’t it apply to all that need it? It’s no different now that when my son was still alive. When our insurance ran out we tried to get help through the system - and repeatedly had doors slammed in our faces. To this day I get sick to my stomach every year when the United Way campaign starts because I remember how we were treated - how my son was treated. Only Jackson County Regional Services provided help with regular therapy and “patterning” for him but could not provide any financial assistance and United Cerebral Palsy provided us with respite care so my wife could work but we still had to pay for it until we could no longer afford it. And yet there were others we knew who knew how to play the system to get benefits from the government that we were denied. Our problem was we were probably too honest. We didn’t “hide” our income. We worked. We scrimped. We did without. We took responsibility for ourselves and our family and when help was not forthcoming, we continued to work and do the best we could for our young family. Would it have been easier to not take on that responsibility and quit trying and give ourselves over to the welfare state? Yes it would have but we both agreed that it was inherently wrong to do that. And that is what this government of ours is encouraging now by the proliferation of entitlements. There are more people on welfare now than at any other time in our history. When that marriage ended, in large part due to the terrible stresses our marriage had to endure, I took on a couple of mortgages worth of medical debt and because my parents gave me a place to stay and fed me, I paid my child support and I paid off that medical debt – putting practically everything I made towards that debt for 3 years-and in that time I had no life. Credit destroyed. Eat, slept, and worked like a dog. But I didn’t expect anyone else to shoulder that responsibility-he was our son. I am thankful my family stood with me and that was the only help I received. I know not everyone has that kind of family and that is sad indeed. But bottom line is this - the above experiences are at the core of my feelings about obamacare. Not only is it discriminatory but it will eventually bankrupt the country I love if left unchecked. If you don’t believe me, take the time to read through this travesty. And then read the Congressional Budget Office’s numerous and sometimes contradictory reports where the fines are forecasted to offset some of the cost of the program. The fines? Seriously? And then tell me again what a wonderful program it is. And don’t cheat by reading the various summaries. Read through all 906 pages yourself here: gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr3590enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr3590enr.pdf (I have yet been able to find the original 7000 page document but am still looking). If you do, you’ve already done more than the people who voted it into law….and then we’ll talk about it.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Oct 2013 20:26:31 +0000
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