The Sad State of Health Insurance in the US

[Dawn]

I have never worried too much about Health Insurance for myself and my family. I have always had it. First I was covered by my Dad's insurance and later by my company's insurance. During the short periods where I was either unemployed or on leave, I was covered either by my husband's insurance or COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act). I never really worried about pre-existing conditions clauses either, since group insurance plans through an employer generally haven't had them. I've been spoiled.

Time to wake up. Way past time, probably.

For one thing, I have medical problems. I have fibromyalgia, arthritis, a herniated disk, psoriasis, an irregular heartbeat and female problems. If I had to go out and find my own insurance coverage, most of those conditions would be excluded from coverage by a pre-existing conditions clause. If I was lucky enough to find insurance that would cover me for those conditions, it would be prohibitively expensive.

So here I am, 51 years old, with medical problems in a shaky economy with a rather rocky marriage. If I were to lose my job, I could get temporary coverage under COBRA at a cost. I could get coverage under Richard's plan as long as we're still married. Other than that, unless I become disabled, I probably have no guaranteed rights to coverage until I reach the age of 65, when I become eligible for Medicare. There's Medi-Cal through the state, but I don't appear to meet the criteria although I could possibly get the children covered.

Judging from this map I found, it's a pretty legitimate concern:

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/06/mapping-health-care-coverage/

This is based on 2005 data taken before the economy got so bad and there are a lot of disclaimers, so take it at least somewhat with a grain of salt, but still, up to 46.8% uninsured in some areas of a rich country. What does that say?

Yes, I realize some parts of the world basically don't even have insurance. People are dying from treatable conditions in other parts of the world due to poverty and greed and other reasons. I don't mean to diminish that at all. It's just not the topic of this blog. But let's look at some other parts of the world that do have some form of universal coverage:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

Socialized medicine, social insurance, national health insurance... Essentially three different systems, each with their own pros and cons, but the point is that the citizens of those countries are insured. Why can't we do that here?

[Dawn]

I suspect it won't, almighty dollar and all that. But I can be optimistic. Next year we will have universal health care and Yuwie will be a happy, thriving community. hahaha

[Gary Graefen]

Nice Blog Dawn!-Thankyou
Sadly I am kinda in a similar boat-Though I have no insurance. Sorry to hear about your troubles to.
Hopefully universal coverage will become a reality-Though with the economic issues, I am not so sure