WHAT WILL HAPPEN WITHOUT HEALTHCARE REFORM?

For those of you who are 'so afraid' that the government is going to tell you how to handle your healthcare - please read.

First off, if you happen to have insurance right now, insurance executives, CEOs, CPAs, attorneys, are guiding your healthcare. Yes, they are determining IF you get care, how much will be paid, if you are even entitled to get any care and if they can deny care because it doesn't meet their protocols or medical necessity criteria. Everytime they deny care or limit your care, the executives pocket a lot of money. The CEOs of all the major healthcare companies each pocketed anywhere from 13 million dollars to 26 million $$ last year. So much for a recession for them. How did they do that? Lots of ways, but the ones that hit you the most was by raising your premiums and denying care along with negotiating and paying incredibly low fees to hospitals and doctors.

You have large companies deciding your healthcare and continuously finding new ways to deny your care, as well as making it difficult and painful for doctors to deal with them. In fact, more and more providers (doctors, etc.) are now refusing to join insurance panels. That means you are on the line for the cost if you choose an out of network provider. Of course, you can decide on your doctor - you just have to pay through the nose. The insurance companies decide which doctors they will pay for. So you do not get to choose now.

As far as this stupid, stupid, stupid (can I say it again) death panel rumor, if there is any death panel, it would be the current state of insurance companies who can deny your care and hasten your death. There are plenty of cases where this is true. I bet you even know someone where that has happened.

As for a public policy, the doctors I have spoken to all take Medicare and say it is the best and easiest for them. There is NO governmental police force coming in and telling them how to handle their patients. The MDs are actually free to practice medicine. On the other hand, the insurance companies manage cases on a daily basis and doctors have to ask permission everytime they want anything done before it can be done. Okay, it's not government interference, it's corporate interference. And, remember, corporations do not care about you first and foremost. They care about their bottom line and how much they will pocket - even if it is at your expense.

If there is no public policy in the health reform act, this is what will happen:
1) Your insurance policies will increase - they already went up by 87% since 2000. They are already talking about taking 20%-40% of your paycheck in premiums.
2) Insurance companies will find more ways to restrict your care.
3) Parity laws take effect in 2010, so insurance is now making their medical necessity criteria more stringent in order to find ways to deny care for those seeking mental health treatment or substance abuse treatment.
4) Your rights for healthcare will be restricted and medications that are not generic will be more difficult to fill and more expensive.

If this is what you want, which amounts to actually NO competition in the marketplace, keep being shills for the insurance companies. They and the right wing media pundits who do not think are using you to inflate their pockets. I wish people would read this and understand what is really going on. Why would people march through the streets to deny their own healthcare? It is beyond me.

If you are so dead set against any kind of public policy and government 'interference', I suggest you pay for your own police force, your own fire department (remember, if you are late for your premium your house could burn down), your own garbage collection, street cleaning, roads, and any kind of legal recourse you might have against someone who wrongs you - afterall, the justice system is also a public 'interference'. Oh, and forget about your Medicare or Social Security as you age. Let your kids take care of you.