| Healthcare shouldn't be a privilage |
| Posted by Jaime Contois (jcontois) on Jun 02 2009 at 7:39 PM |
I commend The Keene Sentinel for its article “Lack Coverage? Health insurance options, resources” published on Monday February 2nd. Many people in the region probably benefited from this information, as the current situation only worsens day-to-day and is predicted to trouble us throughout the upcoming year before it improves.
However, with all due respect, your article cannot state strongly enough how little COBRA, the NH Health Plan, and NH Healthy Kids can actually cover, leaving thousands and thousands more uninsured with no viable options. As the article briefly mentioned, paying for coverage under COBRA is expensive, something that many cannot currently afford if they are unfortunate enough to lose their jobs in this economy. In
As mentioned, some companies have stopped insuring their employees because of the rising costs. These now uninsured workers may earn a moderate income, one too high to qualify for the Healthy Kids program, and their children join the millions across the
Although Walter H. Rorh provided a clue as to how one with a pre-existing condition can help being denied within the first 63 days without coverage, those with pre-existing conditions still suffer greatly in the current system. Sometimes it seems as if the insurance companies are saying, “We’re sorry that you inherited childhood diabetes (or X,Y, and Z) from your grandfather, but unfortunately, your life is not worth what it would cost to insure you, which is why we are denying you based on this pre-existing condition.” Surely this would be a fair method of a person could control their genetic predisposition.
One last point that the article did not even cover: It is true that the hospital will treat you, no matter if you are insured or not, but even though that patient does not pay, the care is not actually free. The hospital must find ways to absorb the costs, which often fall onto those with private insurance. Premiums, co-pays, and other costs are all rising, partly to cover the expenditures from the uninsured. Another way hospitals are coping with this is in lay-offs; The New York Times published an article in December focusing on how even hospitals are no longer recession-proof, and many have laid off workers to help cover the costs from uninsured patients. Hospitals often provide a large amount of employment to the area which they serve, and these lay-offs are detrimental to our job market and economy.
Thank you for providing information and resources to our community in a time of need, but unfortunately, the options that are available are not enough. Unlike the myth suggests, those without quality, affordable healthcare are not lazy, unemployed people working dead-end jobs. These are hard-working men and women across
More than ever, we need to maintain constant discourse regarding our healthcare system, so that we can ensure all Americans will have affordable, acceptable coverage. For more information, please contact the Working Families Win campaign:
jaime@wfwin.org
(603) 354-0108 (office)
Sincerely,
Keri Wolfe