barack obama touches my heart

I haven't experienced this with politicians before. Oh, I've heard rousing speeches and speeches that excited me or stirred some patriotic urge. But I haven't encountered a politician who reaches right into my soul and makes me feel . . . comforted. That's it, he comforts me. He speaks to me in ways no politician ever has. Maybe it's life experience and where I am at this point in George Bush's America. I don't know what it is, but when I hear his calm voice telling me his plans for this country (and I'm smart enough and informed enough to know that his plans could work), I feel better.

Watching what is widely known as Obama's Infomercial last evening, I found myself in tears from the waving wheat. Inside of me is still that child who recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning before class at First Lutheran. The one who felt that the possibilities for my life were countless and that optimism and hard work would always be rewarded.

Hearing from the couple who'd planned a comfortable retirement, then had to refinance their home to pay for medical bills just wrecked me. When the 72 year old man put on the Wal-Mart cap to go to work for his wife's car, to save their home, I wept. Hard.

My house, too, was paid for. My retirement was secure and then Mike got sick. I'm a can-do all American gal, so I buckled down and started a business so I could take care of him. And I worked 100+ hours a week for four straight years. Forty hours for the health care we desperately needed and the rest to cover the copays and deductibles and "experimental" drugs that were the only cure for him. American dream turned nightmare.

It shouldn't be this hard. I have worked since I was 14 years old. I had a great retirement planned until the stock market bottomed out. I am still comfortable, relatively safe, safer than most I know. And I have health insurance ~ $1500 a month in health care costs ~ and I am fortunate.

My sweet friend Crixi van Cheek, who's had more than his share of health care nightmares to deal with, said this about the Infomercial, being billed by the right as just another slick marketing tool:

We watched sitting at the kitchen table. On the same day that the doctor told me I may need more surgery on the same day that Aetna denied coverage for more chemo and told me my co-pay would be over $4,000.00. And I watched that man on TV and I cried because despite the circumstances of my health, our finances and utter wreckage of the Bush years he provides hope.

Thats enough. Just give me hope.

And that's enough for me too. Give me hope. Barack Obama did that last night and I can only trust that he touched others as well. Hope. A little bit of help. It's all we need.

self administered medication: $72.63

Seriously, our health care system is totally fucked. The "self administered medication" in question? Two 2.5 mg Percocets I took in recovery, post-surgery. How could it possibly cost $72.63 for a nurse to shake two pills from her bottle, walk five steps, hand me a cup of water and two tablets?


My insurance company will undoubtedly bargain this down significantly. But what of those who have no insurance? How can any single uninsured working person possibly afford to pay $8,900 for the facility fee only for a 90 minute outpatient surgery? That's not even counting the pathologist's fee, the anesthesiologist, the surgeon's hefty pound of flesh, or any of the assorted radiology or lab fees that always fill the mailbox after an encounter with a hospital.

George Bush's solution is "health care savings accounts," whereby American can surely pay for . . . I don't know, maybe a typical prescription which, without insurance, generally runs at least $100 and often as much as $400-500. With the US savings rate in the negative, can anyone besides the ultra rich save money at a pace which could easily cover an unexpected health event like this one? Ninety minutes in the hospital. Ninety. Minutes. Two. Pills. $8,900 and more to come. It's madness.

Michael Moore addressing health insurance execs

Excellent two minutes of Moore on the need for nonprofit health care.

Sicko

Another set of clips from Michael Moore's upcoming Sicko, with a cast of characters (the second clip) ranging from Richard Nixon to the AMA to Ronald Reagan. The first clip tells the story of a woman, an ICU nurse at a major hospital, who fought to get her husband's treatment for kidney cancer. It contains the confession of a woman whose job it was to deny care to sick people, even when it was an unnecessary death sentence.

If the second clip doesn't piss you off, you're brain dead. The juxtaposition of Richard Nixon meeting with a corporate medical man to discuss limiting care for the American people, then telling us the very next day that he has a "new plan" for improved care for all is sickening. If you're unconcerned about health care, or if you think you've got yours, so all is well, please watch these.

I think we are about as safe as we can get with my vested self-pay insurance from the State of Oklahoma (at $750 a month) and my husband's Medicare. But I worry about the rest of you, about my extended family, my friends. I remember my stepdaughter's inability to get treatment for a broken neck ~ no insurance ~ and I think this could happen to anyone. Private company, one of the chronic ailments, and *poof* you're uninsured and broke and maybe dead. Please care about this issue, people. It affects all of us.

michael moore, sicko and oprah

Michael Moore appeared on Oprah Winfrey's afternoon program to discuss his latest documentary, Sicko, a thorough dissection of health care and insurance in the U.S. Though insured, my husband and I faced steep medical bills when he became ill several years ago. The expenses were shocking ~ beyond anything we would ever have anticipated ~ and we were fortunate that our insurance company moved from a $1 million lifetime payout to an unlimited payout two years after he became ill. Had that not been the case, we'd have been uninsured by the 4th year of his being sick. I am grateful we had insurance. It was actually considered to be a top notch policy, and the fact that we had a preferred provider plan ~ meaning we could see any doctor on the list, at any time, without having to get approval or go through committee ~ probably saved his life.

Michael Moore discusses horror stories far worse than ours in his newest work. It is a timely piece, this country being the only industrialized "first world" nation not providing single payer universal coverage to its citizens. It is time, truly, and this is an issue that really cannot wait any longer. None of the candidates from either party are suggesting anything that will really help. As Moore notes, when healthcare is a profit-making venture, service to the sick will suffer.

When you have a minute, check out TruthDig's post on the Moore-Winfrey encounter. Then come back and tell me whether or not you wanted to smack Oprah Winfrey? She never thought about the uninsured? Miss Generosity herself? Something about her attitude in this interview really gets under my skin. As far as I'm concerned, Moore's an American hero for this work. I am hoping Sicko, opening nationwide June 29, generates some serious discussion and, even better, some real action on this critically important issue. Meanwhile, y'all stay healthy.