How is this Affordable Health Care?

Reagan was elected in the early '80's when I was coming of age. When I was working for a pizza franchise back then I has free medical, hospitalization, vision, dental, disability and life insurance. This job I had was above the minimum wage but, I was by no means rich. In fact all full time positions I held came with these benefits. Those were the times of high interest rates so I suspect the premiums paid by my employers were then fairly low and the insurance companies were investing the premiums with great returns and able to pay claims easily. I guess the population then was much younger overall so less expensive to give care.

The '90's, as I swung into full career mode, health care changed a little. Co-pays, much higher deductibles and co-pays for prescriptions were appearing. I work for a small research lab and the owners were beginning to feel the strain of higher premiums. Folks in our small workforce were having the normal life things going on: having kids, the beginning of relatively normal chronic ailments, mostly things that folks that are approaching middle age have. The owners of this business prided themselves by providing health care for free to us, but, it really staring to cut into their bottom line.

That was when I began to really notice the creeping health care crisis. Hillary Care was killed and problems of folks getting coverage really started gathering steam.

In the late '90's I was self employed. I bought a "catastrophic" health plan. I was in great health at the time, so I figured that was all I needed. Boy, it was real expensive. $200.00 a month got me a $5000.00 deductible to pay for the hospital. That was all I got. No doctor visits, no prescription, no primary care.

I don't really have to go much more into time to demonstrate how costs for health have just skyrocketed in to the stratosphere. For the past 9 years or so I know a lot of folks that have not received any real raises because their employers want to keep high quality health care for their employees. So many have lost jobs and lost employer coverage. Those who can afford it face uncertainty in the health care market that what they buy from these health insurers will actually cover them.

I posted a while back why the Senate Bill was a real bad deal for the middle class. I used Nate Silver's graph of a family of four's cost under this plan. Nate Silver argued that this was such a better deal for these folks. Good Lord. He exposed himself as an out of touch member of the elite. Dang. (And I actually wanted him to be my boyfriend. I think smart is real sexy. Oh, well. Sigh.)Nate actually thought that a family cutting back on luxuries could make it. Got news for you, Nate, a family of 4 on $54,000 a year HAS NO LUXURIES. OK? You can return to Versailles with the other out of touch librul elites, now, and have this absurd conversation with your other friends. You are not helping, sorry. Your arguments are getting in the way.

Marcy Wheeler spells this out for the ones who don't get the point that the Senate Bill helps only the health providers and really screws the middle class. All this brings a real moral dilemma to bear, because, there is a lot in the bill that will help the extremely poor. No wonder there is such fierce arguments regarding all of this.

The fix is in. This is a "bail out" for health insurers , no doubt. I hope those elected in Congress up for re-election next year enjoy the dollars they earned by screwing us.

Oh, BTW, a few blogs posted this link to see how different folks will come out under the senate and the house plans. Worth looking into........