Health Insurance an Illusion

When health reform passed, I thought I might have a chance to visit a doctor when I needed to.  Not so.  I am still stuck in the Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool.  My premium keeps going up.  I could not pay my premium this month.  Unless I come up with two months coverage by the end of the month, I cannot continue to have health insurance.  I have a steady income of $1100/mo.  My health insurance premium takes more than half.  I have very little left to live on.

I cannot transfer to the federal program because I am in the Texas program.  If I go without insurance for 6 months then I can apply for the federal insurance.  I do not know what to do.

If the Repubs do not repeal health insurance reform, then in a few years I will be able to obtain health insurance.  Of course, the odds are not on my side that I will live that long..  I have avoided going to my cardiologist even though my primary physician says I should see her.  I don't have the money and the health insurance I have for the moment has a $2500 deductible I have not met and won't meet unless I am hospitalized.  Hospitalization becomes more likely if I don't see the cardiologist.  Isn't life fun?

Delaying implementation of health insurance reform may have been necessary, but how many will die because of the delay?  No one cares.

The United States has hardened its heart.  The Repubs blame the poor and the unemployed for their plights.  Remember all the Repubs that said unemployment insurance only encourages the unemployed not to work. What does it matter that there are often hundreds of applicants for every job.  Keep them destitute and some will volunteer for the military.  That's how to increase recruitment.  The pulpits of the fundamentalist churches characterize poverty unless caused by illness or injury, as a sin.  After all, if you give to the church it will be multiplied and returned to you, they preach.  Wealth is a sign of God's approval.

We are not a Christian nation.  We are a selfish nation.  We concentrate on the accumulation of personal wealth.  We ignore the neighbor next door eating ramen. God does not bestow riches because we give to a church, synagogue or mosque.  God bestows his riches when we follow his example and care for those around us.

Our God -the Golden Idol of Gratification

I fear for our country. As a nation, I fear we have lost our heart. Why should people suffer because they are too poor to pay for health insurance? Yet, as a nation we have turned our backs on such pain. We let insurance companies make life and death decisions based on profit and loss. There is no compassion or nurture in the counting of dollars.

People fear health reform because what they have may be taken away. The majority would be satisfied even if the minority dies. We put our lives in the hands of corporations yet fear our own government. We are a nation that has lost its way.

Christ asked us: "Who is your neighbor?" We have answered: no one who costs us money. Our second television is more important than a child's smile whose pain has been relieved. We are so afraid of being cheated that we turn away all. Is it time to ask why in a nation of conspicuous consumption so many struggle to survive?

We are a self-centered nation. Our goal is wealth. Our God has become the golden idol of gratification. We pay those who defend our nation, but not enough. We would rather have the money go to private mercenaries with exorbitant fees because this is free enterprise, not government. Our corporations look only at the bottom line, not the worker at the bottom.

We must remember that we are the Samaritan, that we are our brother's keeper, and that we are judged by how well we treat the least of those among us.

Photo by marissas23