This morning, the Supreme Court voted on whether ObamaCare is constitutional. Everyone was concerned whether it would be shut down, especially the part about the Individual Mandate. Also, because the trend of the Supreme Court has seemed to skew towards the more conservative as well as their controversial ruling with Citizens United.
But to everyone's surprise, it was voted that ObamaCare is constitutional and it even kept in the individual mandate, the very part most people believed it would vote down.
Overall, it is a victory. I'm not disputing that it is a victory. I do believe that every American should have health care. There are a lot of cases where if a person did have the insurance coverage to take care of his health care needs, then perhaps his life would have been richer, or in some dire cases, saved, due to early detection and prevention.
However, my main concern is the penalty if one fails to get the insurance, particularly if one is unemployed or underemployed.
This ties in with the current battle I have been facing regarding my own health care. Although one situation has been regulated and under control, the new situation I mentioned in one of my past blogs has not. I attempted to apply for Charity Care and they were more concerned with why my 2011 hospital bill wasn't covered more so than the current help I needed.
I ended up getting rejected because according to their scale, for the past two years they were looking at, I brought in more that what was needed to qualify. It doesn't matter whether you are a lot over or a few cents over--if you don't meet the thresh hold exactly, you get rejected.
The thing that brought me over weren't my pure wages, because most of 2010, I didn't work at all, and in 2011, there were a lot of seasonal/temp jobs. The thing that put me over the top was that I still needed unemployment to help out because the temp jobs weren't bringing in enough income. The aid to keep a roof over my head and bills paid was the thing which did me in and made me not eligible for any type of additional assistance.
I have looked at the cost for paying for insurance out of pocket; it isn't cheap. Even with the one that will not exclude you based on pre-existing conditions, it is still rather costly (for me it would run about $343 a month), and unfortunately, the way things are set up, you don't get any assistance in being able to pay for the insurance.
If the ObamaCare plan has a way to provide financial assistance to those who are unemployed or underemployed to be able to pay for this care, then I will have no problem dancing in the streets and being insanely thrilled.
However, if I am looking at my refrigerator and pantry, running low on food, and $343 a month to pay for medical insurance....
If I have to decide between risking driving with no auto insurance and $343 a month (which is higher than my auto insurance) for medical insurance...
If I have to decide between having my rent and utilities covered without the landlord coming after me and $343 a month for medical insurance....
...but when the question is raised, "How am I going to pay?" yet the response is "Figure it out."
I've already decided which way I have to go.
Yes, I have been looking for better employment, but so far, I have been getting a lot of misses, so it's not like I'm sitting around and not trying to do something about it. I would love to have a job where they automatically have health care given, but a lot of organizations are pulling back offering health care benefits for part time workers. Also, in some places, they are only giving health care benefits to full time workers who are in management roles, so there are people who work full time who still can't get health coverage.
I think a better idea is for us to get the kind of health coverage Congress has. From what I hear, they have the best in the world. Now that is 1st class health care. I'll happily take some of that.
But until then, I will see how all of this plays out.
Deuces.
No comments:
Post a Comment