It's People Powder!

We were some of the lucky ones--the other night we got around an inch of rain.  This is a long way from ending the drought--maybe if my namesake, tropical storm Debby, found it's way up here from the Gulf, that would temporarily end the drought.  But I'm already watering things again.  I skipped two days and stuff started to wilt.  But I'm considering watering most of it every other day instead of every day--I'm concerned that at some point our well might run dry.  I've heard stories of that happening to people.  And the drought is expected to last through July.



There's been a lot of debate about Obamacare, and I could happily argue either side.  Free insurance for all--good.  The cost--bad.  Government control over our health care--bad.  Not knowing exactly what's in that bill--bad.  Mandating that people get healthy insurance--well, I have TriCare now, which I can't use because of the deductibles and co-pays (that's a whole other blog post).  But before, I didn't have insurance and couldn't qualify for Medicaid.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to afford heath insurance (my husband's workplace at the time charged half his paycheck, so we went without).  I worried that we'd get in trouble for not having the insurance that I actually wanted.

And while free health care sounds wonderful, somehow after all my mishaps with public education, Medicaid for the children, Social Security and recently my husband's National Guard, I can't quite bring myself to trust our government not to screw it up.  Especially since the pile of paperwork associated with Obamacare is too big to even be read by the people voting on it.  But a little bit of experimentation sounds like a good idea.

Here's a state (Oregon) who put a piece of it to the test:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/23/health/oregon-study-reveals-benefits-and-costs-of-insuring-the-uninsured.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

"When Wendy Parris shattered her ankle, the emergency room put it in an air cast and sent her on her way. Because she had no insurance, doctors did not operate to fix it. A mother of six, Ms. Parris hobbled around for four years, pained by the foot, becoming less mobile and gaining weight."

There but for the grace of God go I.  Anyway, four years ago Oregon decided to hold a lottery among poor adults.  The winners--almost 90,000 of them--got Medicaid.  Oregon discovered some things:

Having insurance made people "feel healthier, happier and more financially stable."  People without insurance "reported being in worse physical and mental shape and were less likely to describe themselves as happy."

There are quite a few things that aren't generally necessary for an individual's happiness.  But medical care when you're sick or hurting seems pretty darn important, right up there with clean water, food, and shelter.

Here's another case that hit close to home for me:  "Before winning the lottery (for health insurance), Mr. Bell filed for bankruptcy after emergency surgery to remove kidney stones left him with a $6,000 bill that he and his wife could not pay, he said."

Been there, done that, just a couple of years ago.  I was in and out of the ER over a few days, and finally had to be admitted to the hospital.  And yes, I did have trouble getting people to take me seriously.  But then my kidneys started to shut down--I started throwing up everything, and when they hooked me up to an IV, I still wasn't peeing.  The stone had to come out.

The surgery was a piece of cake.  I drifted off to sleep, and after a very short nap, woke up.  The recovery was quick and easy.  Two days later it was as if nothing had happened.

Then the bills started coming.  There was no other option but to have the bills turned over to collection agencies.  I remember making one particular choice--will we get our lights shut off or have the bill turned over to collections?  Fortunately, they don't put the kidney stone back in if you don't pay.

After filling out several pages of paperwork (something you'd better become accustomed to if you're poor), the main hospital bill was forgiven by the non-profit hospital.  But one large bill from the surgeon (and there were also lab test and radiology bills) finally resulted in our tax refund being taken away.  We depend on those refunds to buy whatever we need on a yearly basis--my medications, contact lenses, shoes for everybody, whatever it is we usually can't afford, so this was a serious hardship for us.  And I had to stretch my contact lenses for a whole other year, which I wasn't supposed to do.

And do you think I got the follow-up care I was supposed to get?  I'll just hope I don't get another kidney stone (a slim hope considering this was not my first one).  If I do, it's back to the ER and more collection agencies.

The bad news for the government-paid insurance experiment is that people with insurance actually got more medical care.  Preventative care did not keep medical costs down.  The good news is that Wendy Parris got her surgery, got moving, and lost the weight.  Mr. Bell now gets regular medical care.

If I had a solution for this problem, I guess I'd have written a book instead of a blog post.



There's a movie on the SyFy.  Arachnoquake.  That's a great title. lol  Fortunately the new War of the Worlds is on another channel.  I highly recommend it.  When the aliens start pulverizing people, I like to cry out, "People powder!"  Don't ask me why.  Some people say I have a sick sense of humor.