Forgive My Bluntness but I Hate George Bush
I’ve mostly kept my politics to myself on this blog because I’m one of those people who doesn’t like to alienate others or cause strife over things that are basically personal choices but this is it. This is where I cross that line, where I come right out and say that I hate the man as well as his corrupt, self-serving administration.
Why? Geez…where to start? There are just SO MANY reasons but for the sake of brevity, I’ll limit my focus to just one issue.
First, though, let me ask you all a question.
How many of you are paying so much for health insurance that you could actually almost pay a mortgage payment with the monthly premium? How many of you find your standard of living compromised in some way because of your health insurance premiums? I raise my hand to both of those.
We pay $800 a month (a mere $200 less than our mortgage payment) for a not particularly stellar group plan that covers my children and myself. After the first dependent, the amount doesn’t increase so when we added our son at birth it didn’t cost any more and thus, prior to his birth we were paying $800 for JUST TWO PEOPLE. My husband’s share is paid for by his employer which means that it’s actually MORE than $800 without that benefit. Have I lost you yet?
In a nutshell, our mediocre health insurance is obscenely expensive and goes up about 15% per year. Every time my husband, who has a GOOD job, gets his annual raise, it’s eaten up by a premium increase. How can people ever get ahead, save for retirement, send their kids to college or anything else in a situation like that? You can’t.
So today, I’m reading the news online as I occasionally do and I come across this article in the NY Times wherein I learn that the Bush Administration is seeking to limit access to the Children’s Health Insurance Program. It’s already impossible for middle class people like us to qualify for this program that helps give children insurance coverage when their parents don’t have access to private insurance or can’t afford what’s available.
I KNOW people who are NOT living below the poverty line that do not have access to any sort of affordable health insurance for their children. They are not indigent, homeless or even what one might consider poor. They are getting by but if were they to purchase health insurance for their children, they would NOT be getting by.
They would have to forgo things like food, gas in their cars and other non-luxuries to be able to have health coverage for the kids. And yet, they don’t qualify because they’re not a family of four living on $20,650 per year. That in itself illustrates the direness of our country’s healthcare crisis. Now Bush and Co. want to make it even harder for children to qualify while people like the aforementioned cross their fingers and pray nothing awful befalls their children.
I think Georgie needs consult that faith-based inner compass of his and ask himself “What would Jesus do?” Heh. I kid. Sort of.
But seriously, this president is COMPLETELY out of touch with what’s happening in his own country. I know 28% of you may not agree with me and really do approve of the job Bush is doing and that’s fine. In fact, you’re more than welcome to disagree with me but I can assure you that you won’t change my mind.
Regardless of your political leanings, I still urge everyone to read the full article because you or someone you know may be affected.
(I’m also going to copy/paste it at the end of this post because the NY Times may not have it available to read for free down the road.)
Click here to tell Congress to make kid’s health care a priority. It’s super easy and will only take a moment of your time.
Did you like or agree with this post? Sk*rt it so more people can learn about this abomination!
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Rules May Limit Health Program Aiding Children
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.
Administration officials outlined the new standards in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, in the middle of a monthlong Congressional recess. In interviews, they said the changes were intended to return the Children’s Health Insurance Program to its original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage.
After learning of the new policy, some state officials said yesterday that it could cripple their efforts to cover more children and would impose standards that could not be met.
“We are horrified at the new federal policy,” said Ann Clemency Kohler, deputy commissioner of human services in New Jersey. “It will cause havoc with our program and could jeopardize coverage for thousands of children.”
Stan Rosenstein, the Medicaid director in California, said the new policy was “highly restrictive, much more restrictive than what we want to do.”
The poverty level for a family of four is set by the federal government at $20,650 in annual income. Many states have received federal permission to cover children with family incomes exceeding twice the poverty level — $41,300 for a family of four. In New York, which covers children up to 250 percent of the poverty level, the Legislature has passed a bill that would raise the limit to 400 percent— $82,600 for a family of four — but the change is subject to federal approval.
California wants to increase its income limit to 300 percent of the poverty level, from 250 percent. Pennsylvania recently raised its limit to 300 percent, from 200 percent. New Jersey has had a limit of 350 percent for more than five years.
As with issues like immigration, the White House is taking action on its own to advance policies that have not been embraced by Congress.
In his budget in February, President Bush proposed strict limits on family income for the child health program. Both houses of Congress voted this month to renew the program for five years, but neither chamber accepted that proposal. Legal authority for the program expires on Sept. 30.
The administration’s new policy is explained in a letter that was sent about 7:30 p.m. on Friday to state health officials from Dennis G. Smith, the director of the federal Center for Medicaid and State Operations. The policy would continue indefinitely, though Democrats in Congress could try to override it.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program has strong support from governors of both parties, including Republicans like Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota and Sonny Perdue of Georgia. When the Senate passed a bill to expand the program this month, 18 Republican senators voted for it, in defiance of a veto threat from Mr. Bush. The House passed a more expansive bill and will try to work out differences with the Senate when Congress reconvenes next month.
In his letter, Mr. Smith set a high standard for states that want to raise eligibility for the child health program above 250 percent of the poverty level.
Before making such a change, Mr. Smith wrote, states must demonstrate that they have “enrolled at least 95 percent of children in the state below 200 percent of the federal poverty level” who are eligible for either Medicaid or the child health program.
Deborah S. Bachrach, a deputy commissioner in the New York State Health Department, said, “No state in the nation has a participation rate of 95 percent.”
And Cindy Mann, a research professor at the Health Policy Institute of Georgetown University, said, “No state would ever achieve that level of participation under the president’s budget proposals.”
The Congressional Budget Office has said that the president’s budget, which seeks $30 billion for the program from 2008 to 2012, is not enough to pay for current levels of enrollment, much less to cover children who are eligible but not enrolled.
When Congress created the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997, it said the purpose was to cover “uninsured low-income children.” Under the law, states are supposed to make sure public coverage “does not substitute for coverage under group health plans.”
In an interview yesterday, Mr. Smith said, “The program was always meant for children in lower-income families.” As a state increases its income limits, he said, “it’s more likely to substitute for private coverage.”
To minimize the risk of such substitution, Mr. Smith said in his letter, states should charge co-payments or premiums that approximate the cost of private coverage and should impose “waiting periods” to make sure middle-income children do not go directly from a private health plan to a public program.
If a state wants to set its income limit above 250 percent of the poverty level — $51,625 for a family of four — Mr. Smith said, “the state must establish a minimum of a one-year period of uninsurance for individuals” before they can receive public coverage.
That is considerably stricter than past requirements. In February, for example, the Bush administration allowed Pennsylvania to increase its income limit to 300 percent of the poverty level after the state agreed to a six-month waiting period for children who were 2 and older with family incomes exceeding 200 percent of the poverty level.
As another precaution, Mr. Smith said, states that want to cover children above 250 percent of the poverty level must show that “the number of children in the target population insured through private employers has not decreased by more than two percentage points over the prior five-year period.”
In New Jersey, which has a three-month waiting period, Ms. Kohler said, “we have no evidence of a decline in employer-sponsored coverage resulting from the Children’s Health Insurance Program.”
In the Senate debate this month, several Republicans offered a proposal similar to the new Bush administration policy. They wanted to require states to cover 95 percent of low-income children before allowing states to expand eligibility.
Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Finance Committee, argued against the proposal, saying: “No state can meet 95 percent. No state currently meets 95 percent.”
In his letter, Mr. Smith said the new standards would apply to states that previously received federal approval to cover children with family incomes over 250 percent of the poverty level. Such states should amend their state plans to meet federal expectations within 12 months, or the Bush administration “may pursue corrective action,” Mr. Smith said.
Two Republican senators, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Pat Roberts of Kansas, urged the Bush administration last week to deny New York’s request to cover children with family incomes up to four times the poverty level. The proposal, they said, violates the original intent of Congress.
But Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York said that, “contrary to the senators’ objections,” federal law allows states to set higher income limits. “Granting this expansion,” Mr. Spitzer said, “is essential to the health and well-being of New York’s children.”
69 Responses
to “Forgive My Bluntness but I Hate George Bush”
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I hear you. We are paying an assload for a seriously crappy plan. Its sort of good that we don’t have a second child…
Oh and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the bangs! Super cute.
Every one is scared of the “S” word, but nothing’s gonna change until medicine is socialized, or something close to it. I’m thinking of my parents, whose plan is so shitty that for some specialties, there are only one or two doctors listed, and neither take new patients.
As we live in Canada now, I can say that Health care is certainly MORE affordable - as in 3K for a whole year of health care for the entire family….
Of course, there are issues here in Canada too.
That being said, I worked FOR my health insurance. The prime reason I took less pay in government sectors was health insurance. You simply can not have a child and NOT have health insurance.
And GW is another reason I moved from the US to Canada. I couldn’t take it any more. The selfishness, the downright Meanness of the administration. The Bush white house was VERY close to dismantling Head Start - VERY. Cause you know - poor kids and their families don’t vote.
The whole thing just makes me all veh-klempht , Izzy.
On another note - I want the world to know that Izzy’s hair ALWAYS looks really good, even when she is trying to say it doesn’t. I have seen her hungover in the morning..and her Hair? Naturally gorgeous!
I own my own business and I can’t afford health insurance at all. Never in my 31 years have I ever even had insurance. I’ve been lucky in not having any type of illness. I’m getting married next June and it will be the first time I can actually go to the doctor or dentist without having to plan way in advance for it.
If you haven’t seen Sicko….GO SEE IT. Or rent it when it comes out. It’s an eye-opener.
This makes me furious. I’m not sure who to write about this, but it seems like some kind of campaign is in order. There are so many people who either don’t have coverage or are so poorly covered that one illness means the loss of everything.
Truly, this is so disgusting. I think my husband’s insurance, for just him, when we lived in the states came to about $300/mo. I can’t remember what mine was, but part of it (dental, for example) was through a union so while the premiums were cheaper, the coverage was limited to “union rates” - and it was near impossible to find someone who worked at that rate, so you ended up paying some out of pocket if you wanted proper care.
It’s easy to say from outside the states, but the health care thing is just scary and really horrible. No one should lose everything for the already sad misfortune of falling into ill health or being injured. I wish this would become a primary election issue.
We pay about $400 a month for crappy health insurance (no dental at all). My daughter’s prescriptions are $60 a month and mine are $40. It doesn’t sound like that much, but it’s a big bite out of my husband’s pay check. It sucks. We don’t qualify for any state programs either, because he is offered insurance thru work.
I think many people judge a country by how their most vulnerable citizens are treated, and right now the poor, very young and elderly are getting a bum deal in the U.S. I wonder just how much the immigration rates into Canada from the U.S. have risen during the Bush administration?
Raising my hand here too.
Do you remember that challenge for politicians to try to live like someone at poverty level for one week? Remember how they all failed, and whined?
Here’s an easier one: Dear. Pres Bush, live at my lower middle class level for one week. Give it a shot.
Plan your daughter’s wedding and honeymoon for $2000. Period. Like I did.
Cover the dentist, eye doctor and doctor with my insurance plan (that would be called OUT OF POCKET).
Buy groceries and all items needed for less than $150.
Go on…double dog dare you.
Now…still feel like cutting crap?
Sincerely, a citizen
You Go Izzy!
I hate him too, for this reason - and many more!
The middle class and the small biz people are suffering. The hubs and I have no insurance b/c we own a small business and he is in school. We simply can’t afford it. Luckily in our state the income limits are higher than $20,000 (but not by a whole lot) so our two kids get health insurance through the state. I hope it lasts until my husband finishes up his PHD.
My husband works in law enforcement. He did a brief stint working for a local police department in a major metropolitan city and we were shocked and awed by the insurance coverage prices. It would have cost roughly $1000 for coverage for a family of three and they charged extra by the kid so everytime you added a kid you paid another $200. It was insane. And law enforcement doesn’t even start out making much to begin with. Luckily, my job includes good health benefits because I can’t figure out how a middle class family could afford to do it.
I hear you! Health insurance is one reason why I am going back to work. I have lived in France and Germany under their systems, and I can tell you that they were MUCH better than most of the crappy US programs– public or private!
Oh, and I hate Bush for MANY reasons. I can’t wait for him to be out of office!
Add me to the list of hatas. I’ve had ridiculously crappy or no health insurance for my entire adult life and it sucks. My kids and I all need dental work but we simply cannot afford it. It’s ridiculous that Americans should have to live their lives in pain because they cannot afford dental work.
This is supposedly one of the wealthiest, most powerful countries in the world and yet a majority of the middle class are also the working poor and can’t even afford preventive medical care even though they go to work everyday and pay their taxes and pay into Medicaid/Medicare. It’s disgusting.
This is totally a thorn in my side. I watched a story on ABC last week that talked about rich people pretending to be poor just to get free health insurance. Ugh.
Right now my husband doesn’t have health insurance. I pay $ 500 a month for the kids and myself (work pays a good bit on me too ). If I added him it would be $ 850 a month. I guess we would have to give up the fancy things in life… groceries, electricity, water?
My husband used to work for a big pharma. We had great insurance, not free, but affordable and comprehensive. Now, after being laid off, we are facing coming up with our own insurance in 73 days.
Not that I’m worried about it and counting down or anything like that. We should be able to afford it.
WOW I found this by accident when I googled my name , You girls should be ashamed of yourselves speaking badly about old GW Bushladen Come on, he may have started a war against the wrong country and gotten a lot of Soldiers killed, but hey look what he did for America! He helped build bridges in dozens of countries while ours fell down. He improved electrical systems in the middle east but never did a thing about that huge multi state power failure a few years ago that blacked out from NY to Michigan! When Asia suffered from that Tsunami a couple years ago, he rushed aid to them. Of course when we got hit by that hurricane he took a 6 months but he eventually sent a couple idiots down there to kinda help a tiny bit. Lets not forget the illegals get free and far better medical care than Tax paying citizens or GI’s and Veterans (I am a Vet) Vets have to go pretty far to get to a VA Hospital or to a Clinic that maintains short hours (usually Monday to Friday 8-5) while Illegals can go to a good local hospital and get free charity care. His moron pappyduring his 1 term decided all veterans must pay for the crappy care we usually get there in spite of the fact we were all promised as a soldier we would get paid below slave wages while risking our lives, but we would get free health care for life, Well pappy Bush crapped out a crummy illiterate son, who is at best a babbling idiot! hey wait a sec…. am I insulting him too? How can anyone not insult superboob? Love you girls, you are great! Write to your congressmen and senators and bush and tell them what you all posted here, it is real and what a lot of Americans are suffering with now. Tell them we need a national health care program now! I’m happy to know people like you all are awake and aware of the problems we have here in the USA. Please vote, if you don’t want to vote cause they are all alike just vote against whoever is in office now and get rid of them all after 1 term so they do as little damage as possible. SORRY I went on so long. I hate politics but realize if we don’t do what we can we are doomed
John
Part of the reason my husband took his current job is for the health insurance. He works for the state, so we get a pretty good deal. But even if our premium is only $180 a month, we still have high out of pocket costs. I’m putting off paying the rest of my labor & delivery medical bills yet another month because we can’t afford it right now. (The mortgage is less understanding than medical bills when it comes to skipping a month, and we’re trying not to end up as one of those foreclosure stories.)
I can’t imagine what it would be like if we had no insurance or worse insurance. We’d lose our house for sure. And yet, with my husband’s salary we’re considered too well off to qualify for any assistance.
This government’s priorities are screwed up, and it’s only getting worse. Just look at how much harder life has become for the middle class in the last 7 years. I miss the prosperity of the 90’s. Sure, the president was busy getting BJs from interns, but at least when it came to policy he thought of the entire country, and not just helping his rich friends get richer.
Wow… we may not be perfect, but I am SO grateful to be Canadian….
Bush is an asswipe of the first order.
I have no health insurance whatsoever. My son plays football, so every practice, every game I’m holding my breath, but I F-ING REFUSE to tell him he can’t play the sport he loves so much because mama doesn’t have health insurance and what would happen if he got hurt?
Izzy - I’m with ya all the way. Bush is a pock on the ass of America. And, while I’m thinking about it, is about as articulate and intelligent as one, as well.
UGH!
I’m no George Bush fan, but I am NOT a fan of socialized medicine. Just by being insured we get BIG discounts from health care providers. Uninsured people have to pay sometimes up to five times more than people with insurance. They don’t get any discounts.
And when the government pays for health care, guess what that means? Anyone who pays taxes pays for health care. And would you want to pay for the health care of people who are completely poverty stricken and absolutely have no way to get health insurance or people who can afford, but would rather buy a boat or an Armani or a bigger house…
The system isn’t perfect, but government health insurance made over $70000 for the health care of my sweet daughter, when we were in a very very rough financial position, disappear. Now we also pay high premiums with my husbands new job, but we feel blessed to have the incredible health care that we have in the United States.
I couldn’t agree more. If you HAVE that wonderful American healthcare, it’s fantabulous!
If you have to choose between food for your kids or an exorbitant healthcare premium, however, let me just say, you can’t eat your healthcare.
The point of the post is that for many who can’t afford to insure their children, whatever the reason, the Children’s Health Insurance Program may be the only way they can secure insurance (and they DO pay a reasonable premium). To make that life raft even more difficult for Americans to reach when we spend billions in Iraq is shameful.
It’s not about healthcare in America being substandard. It’s about it being completely UNATTAINABLE for millions of people
amen, Just Post, and hallelujah.
I find Bush to be a despicable being and the health care issue is only one small issue in his bag of nastiness. Kudos to you for speaking out.
FIRST, the federal poverty level is a total joke. I would LOVE for politicians to have to try and live on $20k a year just for themselves, much less for their families. My RENT on a 500 square foot, old house is $11,000 a year. Which would leave all of $9k to provide food, clothing, transport and medical expenses - since you KNOW my $20 k a year job wouldn’t cover insurance.
It is ridiculous that in a country like this, we have people suffering and a crumbling infrastructure. But it is more important to go bomb other people than to take care of our own. Yeah, it makes me sick too.
I will add an “amen from the back row” from the Toronto area. We too moved to Canada for a better life. We pay 52% of our income in income tax, but I know that a major illness won’t put us out on the street. I have issues with the current administration and the imbalance of domestic and foreign spending- which puts us right back to lack of affordable health care. We do have issues up here in the Great White North, but at least I can afford to get my kid to the Doctor!
That’s one thing I miss about the UK. Free health care. My husband lost his job and WE HAVE NO HEALTH INSURANCE NOW! I think I might have to look at Medicaid or something. My parents are older now and my mom has diabetes and even though they have insurance they still have to shell out thousands a year. It’s sickening! I HATE BUSH!!!
I live in MA which has put together the closest I can see to ‘universal health care’. Time will tell if it’ll work but I think the states will just have to do what the federal gov’t seems incapable of doing.
You know I am with you, sister.
Word. For. Word.
I long to stay at home with my children, but the reason I have to work is health insurance. My employer pays almost everything for me and my 2 children, including dental and vision, but my husbands employer would charge us out the ass for coverage. I am just not comfortable not having insurance so I work.
Great post! I totally agree with you. Good for you for writing this!
I can’t stand Bush & Co either, for so many reasons - it just doesn’t make sense to me not to take care of the people that live in our country. WE are the country.
I simply don’t understand the commenters that don’t want ’socialized’ health care. I am a Canadian, and thankful as hell for our system. Especially since I’ve had a crash course in navigating the American system thanks to my father’s illness (he is American and lives in the states). I’ve never seen a better example of the disparagies between the haves and the have nots.
I have to add here that I grew up in Finland, where my parents pay around 50% of their salaries as income tax. The health care is theorethically free, one week’s stay in a hospital and a miror surgery costs you around 150$.
There are a lot of good things about the “socialized” model, not just in health care, but also education. In Finland they actually PAY students to go to FREE universities.
If you think the society as a whole, the socialized system makes the society to have healthier, and better educated work force. And everybody wins.
Think of it this way: healthy and educated people will make better decisions when they are voting. But maybe that is not what the government wants - maybe they just want a mass of people, who blindly vote people like Bush.
The fact is though, that the whole American Dream-ideology would be crashed by socializing health care and education. If the governement takes a big portion of your pay check, the “American Dream” is going to be just that - a dream.
All I’m just saying, that there isn’t a perfect system.
The American system gives individuals the freedom of choice, the Finnish and Canadian system give the service, but lower income level (because government takes most of it). When people have less money to spend, they buy less stuff, and there will be less jobs for people to make more stuff to buy… A tax rise will have a bigger impact than just better health care. And that’s where things get complicated, and that’s why so many people are against socializing health care.
In the society level I think making education better would also make the cost of health care smaller. If people would know better how to take care of themselves, the need for health care would be smaller. On personal level I’d rather pay higher taxes and then be covered if my family needs health care.
Great post, I concur with your anger. Great blog!
Amen.
answer?
move to canada
:)
(it’s not perfect…but it’s pretty damn good. and i live here, so there’s a bonus right there!!!)
You shouldn’t worry if any of the average 28 of 100 Bush supporters argue with you.
You should hope that any of the average 18 of 100 Congress supporters try to argue that the Democrat-controlled Congress will do anything to change this.
I agree completely, even though my premium is not QUITE as much as yours is it is still VERY high. And our coverage sucks. Almost every med I have had to get filled this past year has NOT been covered. So not only am I paying insane premiums I was paying for a newborn with refux’s Axid because the liquid form was not covered. My daughter’s Zantac because the liquid is not covered, and my own Protonix because I had not tried Zantac or other heart burn meds…by prescription. It didn’t matter that I had tried all of these over the counter and they hadn’t worked.
Very frustrating.
I couldn’t agree with your sentiments more. But I have to tell you that you’re missing a HUGE part of the problem, something I’ve blogged about ad nauseum, something I’ve written about to every representative I have, as well as Elizabeth Edwards, her husband, Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the frigging kitchen sink. NOTHING but nothing will change for the lower middle class and poor until the FEDERAL POVERTY RATE CHANGES. Yes, I had to yell, because people do not understand that every social welfare program in the US, including medicaid (which is the state insurance program and not medicare which is federal) is based upon the Fed. Pov. Rate. The rate that has not changed in years, and is so outdated that it makes NO SENSE to base any health care on it.
In MA, we now have required health care. I’m linking you to the page that shows the eligibility rates for our Medicaid programs:
http://www.mass.gov/portal/gog_cache.jsp?q=cache:pjvxm32Rk90J:www.mass .gov/Eeohhs2/docs/masshealth/deskguides/fpl_deskguide.pdf+fed+poverty+ rate&access=p&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&client=mgov&site=EOHHSx&proxy stylesheet=mgov&oe=ISO-8859-1
This shows the amount of income a family of varying sizes needs to meet in order to get Medicaid health insurance, which is REQUIRED in our state.
You’re a family of four. You are allowed to live on under $1721 a month in order to get this health care. Now, you live in a relatively cheap part of the country. Where I love, NOBODY, not one solitary soul, could live on that money. It would be impossible. The average 2-bedroom rent is $1800, the average home is 500K. IMPOSSIBLE. And yet, the federal poverty rate does not give any cost of living increase for location. People in San Francisco and Manhatten have to live with the same rate as people in North Dakota and Mississippi. It’s ridiculous.
Until the poverty rate is overhauled, any fed or state insurance program isn’t going to help anyone. I pay $96/month for my medicaid, another $66/month for my prescription coverage, and $48 for my kids health insurance through Mass Health, our medicaid program. That might seem cheap until you look at my income, which is over the 133% of the fed poverty rate that would allow me to receive free health care for my kids. You see, I’m NOT poor in MA.
It’s insane. But trying to fix the insurance problem has to start at the very bottom, and that’s medicaid. Health care for children,which is what you’re talking about, is a farce in most states because they base them on the fed poverty rate. The automatically push away any kid that really needs help and that’s WRONG.
Bush is a complete asshole. He doesn’t have a clue and Cheney is too mean to care.
Sweet mother of crap! $800 a month! I had no idea it was that much. I’m in Canada so we don’t pay premiums. That is totally appalling and one more very good reason to hate Dubya. I’m crossing my fingers for all of you that the next president is able to fix some of the awful mess that he’s left behind.
And did you know that our administration spends four times per person on health care than countries like France?
Yes, go see Sicko if you haven’t already. It will make you want to move to France.
I think you and I have the same health care plan from hell. It’s awful!
I was sitting in a meeting this morning talking about another of W’s fucked up policies wondering if this ultra-privileged ass has ever actually seen a middle-class or poor family.
It is unbelievable to me that any American citizen should be worrrying about being able to pay for basic healthcare.
(sorry for the swearing, but the dude pisses me off!)
I can’t get started on insurance and poverty….I think it’s all been well noted here.
I admit I was a BUSH supporter…for a while…and I still agree with some of his politics. But when we lost more people in this war than in 9-11, that was it for me.
Senseless Politics.
“a family of four living on $20,650 per year”
That right there? Is what is wrong with this country. There is just NO WAY a family of 4 could live on that income. A family of 2 could barely survive on that. My husband and I both work and have good jobs, but we are one layoff away from losing everything because the cost of living has increased so dramtically in the last 2 years but salaries have not. He carries us on his insurance which ends up costing about $500 per month. Granted that is for 5 people, but it would still be that much for 2 people.
My daughter has a $156.52 virus. That’s what it cost me to find out that nothing but time and TLC will take care of it. That’s without insurance. Let’s thank the medical professionals for sticking it to those of us who save them a paper trail and the need for additional office staff to process insurance claims.
I just wrote about this recently after struggling to get coverage for our son for three months. It sucked because he was completely uninsured. Now, at least we are covered through private insurance, but, like you we’re paying $800/month and that doesn’t even cover immunizations which is the most expensive part of well baby care.
Sucks.
Love you for this post! I hate Dub-ya for this reason and SO many more (Iraq? Lying? Brownie? What’s not to hate?).
And on this topic, you know that when my conservative-to-the-core father who’s been a physician in his own private practice for 40ish years says “we really need universal healthcare in this country”-well, that’s saying something right there.
You go on with your bad self!
Don’t be concerned with being too political. Your view is accurate and I doubt many people will disagree with you. Thanks for bringing those that don’t know up to date. Keep the information coming. Blogs, media, are all we have on the average person’s side.
Dorothy from grammology
Great post. Shrub sucks.
I absolutely agree and support you in your hate! the whole way of this guy is concentrated on realization of own inner ambitions. Starting with those military action in Yugoslavia and finishing with the Europe Based Antimissile System with many-many points in-between.
Sorry I’m late to the conversation — just catching up after being out of town for a few days. Izzy, I’m sure you can guess where I stand on all of this. There’s just no excuse — even the Sunday New York Times editorial agrees with you. The big question at this point is how can we keep the Dems from messing up this presidential race and leaving us with Giuliani or Romney or some other GOP candidate who is going to take the same Bush view of health care?
Amen, sister! And while you’re at it, let’s add Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss to the list of dumb politicians we hate. After sending him a note to advocate for this program, he sent me one back explaining that 1) he supports the President’s view that this program should be limited to its “original intent” of supporting only low-income children and not adults and 2) he voted against the amendment to expand the program using increased tobacco taxes because Americans are just burdened with too many taxes.” HUH???? So let me get this straight, we are NOT going to protect the health of poor adults…just their children…because those children can take care of themselves when their parents get sick and can’t afford medical care? And we’re going to protect smokers over low income families? We wouldn’t want to lower teen smoking rates with higher tobacco taxes (as it has been proven to do) because that would just make TOO MUCH SENSE!
I love my life, but I hate living in this backward state sometimes.
People need to be shielded from higher tobacco taxes? So they can smoke more? He must own a tobacco farm or major stock in tobacco companies or something. What a dumbass!!!! I hope he gets voted OUT!
I’m kissing Canada’s ass. We may have our problems with our medical system, but compared to yours, it’s all sunshine and roses.
And as a tax payer, I WILLINGLY pay higher taxes just for the peace of mind that there is UNIVERSAL health care for everyone in my community.
That’s worth more than dollars saved in my pocket.
I actually voted for Bush. I am a die hard conservative. But…what the crap? We don’t have health insurance, it is offered but would cost 800 dollars a month plus 300 dollar deductible per person. My husband makes too much money for us to qualify for government coverage for the kids. While on the surface our income looks great, we are facing several months of layoff during the winter months, and have to save a butt load of money to get us through those months. I recently found out I am pregnant, and we will be having to pay those costs totally out of pocket. Now I understand, it was my choice to get pregnant, and I am not asking for a free handout, or for others to pay for my pregnancy. I will gladly pay for services received from my midwife and birthing center. What I DO NOT gladly pay for is the huge cost of malpractice my midwife has to pay, which is directly handed down to me. It makes the costs obscenely high. If something goes wrong and I end up needing a C-section, I don’t know how we will pay. Plus, if I or one of my children get sick, we will lose everything we have. I am not a fan of universal coverage, but if the government won’t do anything about the shockingly high costs of insurance and medical care, I don’t really see any other options. Of course, if they did something about the cost of medical care, they wouldn’t get all those campaign contributions from drug and insurance companies.
Then there was the whole little ” get rid of overtime” thing that went down a few years ago with Bush. Yeah, way to take care of all of those low and middle class workers working 60 hrs a week to try and make something of themselves.
And lets not forget making it almost impossible to buy meds from Canada. Cause you know, they can’t guarantee that the meds would be safe and reliabe, Canada being the third world country that it is. No, of course it didn’t have anything to do with the drug companies that have this administration in their pockets.
And don’t get me started on Iraq. Ughh.
I totally share your sentiments! When peole are paying anywhere near their mortgage to pay for basic health insurance, you have to wonder where the priorities are of this administration.
Interesting point of view. Very limited, and without perspecitve, but interesting nonetheless. I really wish that you would have politics out of your bolg. It was nice without it. I started reading your blog pretty religiously, but no longer will. I hate it when people get political… especially when they don’t know what they are talking about. happy birthday.
Well “Rachel”, since you’re apparently such an expert on CHIP and politics in general, please feel free to enlighten my ”limited” perspective. I’d love to see what a petty, intolerant Bush acolyte actually knows or rather doesn’t know.
As for my ”bolg”, I really liked it better when people like yourself didn’t visit. If you can’t disagree respectfully, you’re simply not welcome so after you try to show me the error of my ways, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Lastly, it’s pretty cowardly to come to someone’s blog, make rude, inflammatory statements and then not even have the balls to leave your real email or blog address. That tells me you don’t feel confident in yourself or your point of view. Pity. I was really hoping you’d have some degree of intelligence because I really enjoy a good debate.
Oh, and thank you so much for those sincere birthday wishes.
*snort*
Wait…maybe I should call you “Tami” instead of Rachel, hmmm?
I hate him too, he f*** war in Bosnia he destroyed Serbia he F**ed Iraq , i mean its not all him but most of the government including him.
I will put his picture as most hated man in united states!
The health insurance premiums are outrageous, there’s no question.. especially when your spouses employer tells you to cover a family of four it’s costing $14,000 per year. Which on average is roughly about $5,000 per year when you shop online.. so someone is screwing him over there. we wont say who, though.. In the dictionary if you look up the phrase, greedy pig, you might see her photo.
I meant to say that the premiums for the very best health insurance policy are roughly 5K less than what the employer is stating. I am not sure how this is even possible. But then again, the hours have increased from 9 and 10 hours a day to that of 11 and 12 hours a day - and mandatory requirements to work on Sundays… but the premiums and the hours are a okay because the premiums cannot change until someone like Hiliary gets into office or we convert to the way it is in Canada.. With respect to the mandatory increased hours ? well that’s just so that the boss can be home with her family at a decent hour. and heck the state doesnt care about this.. so long as he’s making minimum wage.
I am so sick of greedy people.