I was sixteen when my mom figured out that one of her friends was being abused by her husband. Mom did what she could. She tried to talk to her friend. She got her phone numbers for shelters and domestic violence hotlines. She proposed escape plans.
And then, one night, we received a phone call from a woman’s shelter. Our friend had escaped. We rejoiced for her safety.
Two days later, she went back to her husband.
This choice bewildered me as a teenager. How could she be living a nightmare, make her escape, then choose to return to the nightmare? In time, I have grown to understand. The new world our friend faced in leaving behind her life was scary. It was unknown. In the end, she chose to live her nightmare as a co-dependent rather than face the unknown.
This story has been popping into my mind a lot these past few weeks as I listen to the media, neighbors, and friends discuss the Affordable Care Act. In spite of the approximately 50 million Americans who are uninsured, I am hearing folks express a lot of fear of the unknown. Some who are uninsured are defiantly choosing to pay the tax penalties rather than purchase a policy. Some are seething with anger that their tax dollars will be paying for someone else’s healthcare. Others are simply petrified that if they move forward and enroll in the exchange, they will suddenly be without any coverage. As a nation, we are being asked to take the first steps to leave behind a cruel relationship. We are collectively confronting a great big unknown. Suddenly, all the homelessness, suffering, and bankruptcy offered by our current system seems preferable to confronting something new and different. It is as if we’ve become co-dependents to our existing abusive healthcare system.
I am keenly aware as I write this that roughly half of my readers will agree with my views. The other half will be disappointed that I should take this stance. I once spoke at a large sustainability conference where the director observed to me “half your audience is from the Green Party. The other half is from the Tea Party.” In truth, if I may be so bold as to presume, I’d say that most of you are more accurately members of what I prefer to call the Green Tea Party — you honor the earth, and sincerely feel that the surest route to securing a good life in harmony with the planet involves personal accountability and a degree of self-reliance, as well as a commitment to neighbors and community. Knowing this, I am certain some of you will be keen on the ACA; others probably detest it.
For all of us Green Tea folks, there are certainly elements of the ACA that are detestable. Many of us resent that we will be compelled by law to give our money to corporations whose profits seem to be determined, in some part, by their success at failing to deliver a needed service. We feel we are being compelled to pay into a “sick care” system; one that does not honor our belief that healthcare starts with nourishing the body and spirit; one that fails to acknowledge the proven successes of less expensive, less invasive alternative care services. I agree with both of these points. We are faced with an imperfect plan to escape the current situation. But we have to start someplace. We can move from here. Remember: The U.S. Constitution has had 27 ratified amendments. Perhaps we need to think of the ACA as a first draft. We can still work to change it. Meanwhile, it offers some important protection for self-reliant Green Tea Party members, as I have learned from my own personal experience.
– Protecting Your Center of Production: Maybe it is true that you don’t use the conventional healthcare system. If your back goes out, you use a chiropractor. If your kids have a cold, you use herbs and homeopathic remedies. But the conventional healthcare system is still responsible for broken bones, third degree burns, torn tendons, inguinal hernias, and bleeding wounds; all of which can happen very easily to anyone who derives their livelihood from doing physical work (which describes most of you who read my writing). If any of these calamities should befall your family, they can put you on the road to financial bankruptcy. If you happen to live in a state with homesteading laws that allow you to maintain a certain amount of equity in your home when in bankruptcy, and the value of your home falls below that threshold, great. You are safe.
However, many farmers and radical homemakers typically invest to make their homes a sustainable center of production. Perhaps you install good quality windows, a production kitchen, solar panels, or well-crafted additions and improvements. It doesn’t matter if you did it on the cheap, using salvaged scraps and your own sweat. Suddenly, that inexpensive little slice of heaven takes on astronomical replacement value, and it exceeds the threshold of protection offered by homesteading laws. Thus, in the event of a medical catastrophe, you stand to lose more than your home. You stand to lose your center of production, the foundation of your livelihood. Bob and I started our life in a cheap little cabin assessed at $56,000. Over the years we fixed up the floor, got solar panels, built a passive solar addition, laid a brick floor for thermal mass, and got ourselves a workhorse of a kitchen that would let me can vegetables, make soap, and fix lunch while at the same time homeschooling my kids. We did everything slowly, paying cash along the way. And then, suddenly, we got a letter and a big fat bill from our homeowners’ insurance company. The replacement value of our house had sky-rocketed. In the event of a medical catastrophe, we stood to lose a lot more than we did in the days when we slept on a used mattress on the floor beneath a leaky roof.
– Freeing Up Income for True Health Care: It was following this revelation in home ownership risks that Bob and I decided to purchase catastrophic health insurance. On our income, however, the cost was a tremendous burden. Our family grossed around $30,000 last year, with $13,000 in medical expenses. Out of that $13,000, $8,000 paid for the catastrophic policy and the deductible (which we would have to spend for insulin). The other $5,000 was stretched as far as possible to pay for dentists, eye doctors, and the alternative care that truly helped us to stay healthy. By necessity, we had to greatly reduce our use of alternative care. Through the ACA, next year, we will be able to greatly reduce the cost of conventional health insurance, which means we will finally be able to spend our health care dollars where we think they are most efficacious: on alternative health care. And we don’t have to worry about losing the heart of our livelihood anymore.
– Creating Opportunities for Sustainable Economic Development: I think if you asked most members of our Green Tea Party to articulate the best way to restore the economy and heal the planet, they would all agree that locally-owned farms and businesses are at the heart of the solution. In my opinion, the very best small business incubator we could possibly have is a national health plan (preferably single-payer…but that’s not in the cards yet). I simply cannot count the number of stories I’ve heard in my career about people who hate their jobs, who are being made sick by their work, but who continue to toil away in their cubicles, for fear of losing their health insurance. My prediction is that, once we work out the kinks and air bubbles in this new plan, America will experience an entrepreneurial renaissance. People will have the security to strike out on their own. This is, after all, in our blood. Our country was not founded on corporate employment and steady paychecks. Our melting pot was built by entrepreneurs, risk takers, and independent and resourceful farmers. The Affordable Care Act gives us a chance to revisit that heritage.
I know change is frightening. There will be problems and glitches along the way, and as citizens, it will be our duty to fight for improvements. But the system we currently have is far worse. It is a true nightmare. It is destructive to our homes, our families, our happiness. Like an abusive spouse, just because it is familiar does not mean that it is safe. We must leave it behind, and face the unknown. This is the only way we can begin to heal and make a better life for ourselves.
This essay was written by Shannon Hayes, whose blog, RadicalHomemakers.com, is supported by the sale of her books, farm products and handcrafts. If you like the writing and want to support this type of creative work, please consider visiting the blog’s farm and book store.
To view Ula’s Greeting Cards and support Saoirse and Ula’s entrepreneurial ventures, click here.
Feel free to click on any of the links below to learn about Shannon’s other book titles:
Thank you for putting some perspective on the change that is trying to happen in our national healthcare system. I also embrace any kind of change when “what is” becomes intolerable. I liked your analogy of an abusive relationship and you are right, there is always room for improvement.
I love your metaphor here. As a Canadian that has enjoyed free healthcare all of my life, I find it difficult to understand why so many Americans are against it. When I hear about horrible stories when folks lose their homes, life savings, etc. or worse, lose lives because they can’t afford proper care, it boggles my mind. I have never heard of things like that happening in my own country. While our system has it’s flaws, I stand by it 100%.
I started reading this essay with trepidation, OH no she is going to slam the affordable health care act. Thanks for supporting it, and I am also one who deplores being forced to buy insurance. I am 76, self employed as a potter for 50 years now and still truckin’ slow but sure. And…a big thank you for not constantly referring to AHA as “obamacare”
I could not agree more! If we didn’t have to work for someone else to keep our own and our children’s health insurance, we wouldn’t!! We’d be working for ourselves, and maybe even employing our neighbors!
I agree with you and and enjoy your analogy. Healthcare Insurance is just that, “insurance”, which is only used if you need it. I found that out a couple of years ago when I had a stroke and then had to have open-heart surgery to repair a birth defect. Without the ACA, I would not be able to obtain health insurance. I am thankful that we will all have this opportunity. Several other countries throughout the world already have universal health care, the United States is finally catching up.
A gentle voice of reason is a balm for screamers on both sides. I totally agree with you.
Well said! I’m sharing this on Facebook.
I live in Australia where we have Medicare and our medical bills don’t cripple us. Pensioners get free medical care and good hospital care. I can’t understand why Americans can be so against Obama Care. Medicare in Australia is a safety net for everyone so that you can get health care if you need it. We are all self reliant and don’t want medical care unless it is absolutely necessary. Medical care should be there for people who need it whether they have money or not.
Shanon dear friend, thank you as usual, for putting what is in my mind in to words. You take my breath away.
Wonderful essay. As always, I appreciate your level-headed, clear writing. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for expressing your view, as Laura Grace said, with a gentle voice of reason. Your analogy of the abusive family situation is right on and requires a shift in paradigm. That can be a very hard stance to take.
As green as I am, I must have too much tea in me. Why would I want to trust the inefficient and often ineffective government to manage and mandate my health care choices? Would you have the government tell you where to buy your seed and what to plant?
We opted out of the “traditional” insurance system several years ago by joining Samaritan Ministries. This Christian cost-sharing system has been very effective and reasonably priced for us. It qualifies as an approved health plan so that we will not face the fine for being without.
Also, have you been able to get a quote for your replacement insurance? From what I am reading, many people are finding that their premiums are going up. If you have a different story to tell (without getting a subsidy) please let us know.
Thank you for this. Best thing I’ve read on the ACA. And I have some reservations about it (mainly the mandate), but this article puts it into a wonderful perspective.
I can’t tell you how much I admire the time, love and thought you put in to analyzing different aspects of your life in order to make the best choices you can for your family, your community and the planet. You are a sane and intelligent voice in the wilderness. You are an example to your fellow humans. When faced with a problem, you use your brain, your instincts, your experience and your heart to make choices you can live by, while at the same time accepting that nothing is perfect and there is always work to be done and room for improvement. That is what I call being responsible. And then you let us share your thinking without demanding that we make the same choices. I like to dream of a world where everyone did the same. Thank you.
Thanks, Shannon! I always appreciate your well-thought-out writing. I was hoping to get your perspective on this timely issue.
A couple comments in response to Alan R (above): First, the “inefficient government” may not be the best option, but it can’t be worse than what we have: a “private” insurance system that profits from illness/injury. A public system (i.e. government) might give us (“The People”) some teeth when it comes to fighting that kind of corruption. And I think the jury’s still out on whether the government is worse than industry at providing health insurance because, like Shannon so eloquently pointed out, it hasn’t been tried before in America. As a government employee, I have to say that my organization is really pushing “personal responsibility” in our healthcare decisions (our head honcho said as much). Premiums and Max out-of-pocket are going up, but preventative care is 100% covered.
Second, I’ve heard a lot of sound bytes from the Right regarding how expensive Obamacare is going to be. Specifically, how? Taxes? Out-of-pocket? Premiums? I’ve heard the opposite story regarding costs–folks who were paying $1300+/month for insurance are saying “Hallelujah!” with the ACA as their costs will soon be drastically reduced.
Shannon, I too thank you for your writing. Just opening up a discussion moves us in the right direction.
I beg to differ with the prior writers statement that the “private” insurance system profits from illness/injury. My insurance company has always made more money off my premium dollars when I’m well and require no care. Likewise, if premiums were cut in half and claims dropped by 2/3, they’d still make more money than they do today. I think she grouped other sectors of our health care system with insurance carriers like medical proffesionals and the pharmacutical industry. They do profit from illness and injury.
As for the government being the providor of health care in this country, there are already examples of this. How many stories have we heard about Doctors that will no longer accept the elderly because Medicare doesn’t reimburse enough? But more importantly for me and possibly this group of readers. Our current goverment provided health care used by our millitary does not allow the personal medical freedoms you and I currently enjoy. All four of my Grandchildren have been vacinated way more than any human being should ever be and there parents had no choice as members of the military! Is that the type of health care we want? I don’t thnk so.
Now not to sound like a complainer with no solutions, i’ll offer my opinion. I’d like to see catastrophic coverage for everyone. I don’t know if that means a single payer system or private sector like I pay for in my family. Maybe even subsidised private sector coverage. No one should need to go through bankrupcy or loose their home because of Doctor recomended major medical procedures. I’d also like to see mandatory co-pays. Too many people go to the Doctor or Emergency room with minor problems. People don’t seem to have “any skin in the game” so to speak when it comes to thier own health care. If you don’t believe me, ask your dentist. He or she will tell you their patients with some of the best dental habits pay out of their own pockets for Dental services. I’m not sure how to handle pre-exhisting conditions. My wife falls into that catagory, and we don’t have a bunch of options in the current system, but we do have choices. As for ACA, our premiums have doubled in the last 2 years due in part to the coverages we now have that we didn’t before. There was a reason we weren’t paying for maternity coverage, but now we have it. In addition, my adult children would be covered on my policy at no additional cost if they didn’t have coverage of their own, again because of ACA.
Did the old system need fixing? Yes. Is ACA the solution? Time will tell. I fear we will loose many of our medical freedoms of the past. How would I like to see Shannon analogy end? The gal needed a to find a good spouse and live happily ever after.
Thanks for reading
I feel like moving to a government run system is like going from one abuser to the next. I don’t think we should dismiss the fears people have of this act as wacko and unfounded. If we really wanted to solve this health care coverage problem there are much easier solutions. For example, every man, woman, and child could be issued a flex spending card to use for their health expenses. So basically we would all move to paying “cash” for these things. This would have the effect of lowering prices because we wouldn’t be stuck seeing doctors in our “plan”. We could take our money to whomever we wanted. Including holistic doctors and alternative treatments. Doctors would have to earn our business. Bad doctors would quickly find that they need to improve. Hospitals could no longer charge $50 for a single aspirin. Things would cost what they should cost. Alternative treatments would be much more available to everyone. To back this up we would have crisis insurance. Taxpayers could subsidize the flex accounts for those who are very sick or we could donate money into other accounts. My biggest fear is that when we put government in charge of it all… then government has the control. Power corrupts and ultimate power ultimately corrupts. This is not some wacko idea. It is truth proved by history. The government now has the power to tell me that I must vaccinate my kids if I want to “qualify” for their benefits. They have the power to tell me that I cannot get this alternative cancer treatment because their plans don’t pay for it. So I have to go spend more money on top of my premiums to get this cancer treatment. We already see government overreach in this area! They are calling parents unfit and taking their kids away if they don’t do the treatment the doctors tell them to or if they feed their children raw milk formula. Why on earth would we want to give them more power over our healthcare? It boggles my mind.
way to go Shannon- again. Thanks you so much for your wisdon and compassion.
Seriously?! I just can’t fathom how any hard-working, self-respecting American can be in favor of this. The ACA is only going to increase the burden on those of us who actually take responsibility for our own welfare. I have worked in healthcare for over 17 years, and the more involved the government gets, the worse the system gets. People are fatter and sicker than ever before, because the current healthcare system allows them to be. So they get sick, don’t work, go on disability, get Medicare/Medicaid…and those of us that actually take care of ourselves and work for a living pay for it all. I’m tired of footing the bill for irresponsible people that always expect someone else to fix their problems. I have no problem taking money out of my pocket to help someone TRULY in need and doing all they can to help themselves, but I shouldn’t have to pay the healthcare (or any other) cost for someone that eats junk, smokes, doesn’t exercise and just doesn’t take responsibility for their own actions.
And anyone who believes that the cost of coverage is going to go down hasn’t done their research. There is nothing AFFORDABLE about the ACA, unless you are one of those people getting “free” healthcare from MY paycheck.
thanks for taking the plunge on this divisive issue, and with such a calm and reasonable tone. balm is right.
as a “green anarchist” who can’t stand to have a law mandate i buy something, but who has also reached the age where big medical stuff is cropping up, i feel as confused as anyone about this issue. certainly, SOMEthing has to change. while this might not be a very good solution, in Obama’s defense, he sure did try for a better one! at least it’s something different. maybe it’s just the foot in the door we need.
As a Canadian I’m grateful for universal access to most basic medical necessities. But I’m also saddened that public coverage for alternative health services is still nowhere on the horizon. I personally prefer to exhaust all possible “natural means” first before visiting an MD for a health issue. However in order to retain coverage for naturopathic, chiropractic, etc. care I have to keep “toiling in my cubicle” so I can use my employment health plan for these often more sane and economical methods. We’ve got a long way to go . . . good luck to the Affordable Care Act – maybe someday you’ll take the lead and show us the way to move forward!
We earn too much to qualify for subsidies, but we have been tied to an employer for our entire marriage because of pre-existing conditions that make private insurance astronomical. On January 1 my husband can quit his job and we can get affordable health insurance for a net cost of about $270 per month more than he pays through his company, with the caveat that his income will DOUBLE by going to consultant status. We’re part of the frustrated entrepreneur group you describe — people with genetic medical conditions that can’t be ignored or treated (solely) with alternative medicine, and who have been tied to a corporation because of it. The ACA will allow us to CREATE jobs and provide business to consultants as partners in our new business.
I
agree with Suzanne as well as Alan, as well as the Walker Farm. Paying into a government controlled healthcare plan also forces people to pay into such “treatments” as gender changes, abortion, “merciful ending of life”, not to mention behind-the-scenes atrocities that take place without most people knowing it – genetic modification of our food, livestock, poultry, produce – it goes much further than going to the doctor or hospital. The government funds things that in Europe are banned, and the citizens (in EU) are healthier, and no one is paying out-of-pocket for atrocious acts that are morally as well as physically corrupt. I pay into a health insurance plan, which true to my thinking, has, as many others of our present plans, reduce the doctors to be mere puppets as to what the so-called health insurance companies mandate, which is not proper treatment, but endless testing for things that have nothing to do with the malady one is suffering.
There was a time when, for eight consecutive years, I chose NOT to buy health insurance. Why? Because the premiums were too high. WHY were the premiums too high? Because I would have (as perhaps many now do – including me) been paying for those who are freeloading, as many are now in this country. The present government controlled system doles out a lot of free stuff to this population, at the expense of those who are paying for their own health insurance, thus causing poor quality care received themselves to fund things that have nothing to do with their needs. This is what causes loss of homes, bankruptcy, and forfeit of good quality health care for themselves. Eventually this “affordable” health care act will break the pockets of those who are subsidizing (by force) the freeloaders, and those who work hard for a living will be forced to join the ranks of those who cannot “afford” any health care as presently exists.
I am not talking about those who are out of work. I am not talking about those who truly are seeking employment and there is none to be had to support even the simplest of lifestyles. Times economically are rough right now and there will always be those who can’t even afford the “affordable” health care. So because these folks are going through a rough time, shall the government levy a tax against them because they have no money to buy any health care at all? And the ones who can barely afford it now, will they be forced to pay higher taxes to cover the ones who WON’T find work, or sustain themselves somehow so as not to be a burden on fellow citizens? These are the ones who are standing in line to receive their “entitlements” at the expense of the average Joes who are sweating their butts off to make ends meet.
Here’s a controversial word for y’all: GREED! Yup, simple as that. The ones who have all the money are forcing taxes, higher premiums for the existing health care programs (which I happened to live in a time when they once WERE affordable and the quality of care top-notch such as 100% hospitalization).
Well, I could go on for a lifetime, which a reasonably long one has been granted to me only by the grace of God, so I’ll step down off my stand now. And since I wish to continue without threat of retaliation against my say-so, I will remain:
Ann Onie Mouse
To: Aaron (above)
No one wants this to be a flame war, but here is an analogy that comes to mind for me:
I’m a “private” part-time farmer who profits (some years!) from people being hungry. (That almost sounds evil, doesn’t it!) Since some people actually go hungry in America, and others are under-nourished (while being overfed) do you think we should revamp the food distribution system on the chance that it “can’t be worse” than what we have now? Is government action what is needed give “the people” more teeth to have food and nutritional security?
I have more thoughts about the American health care system than most of you have time to read, but the following personal experience deeply colors my thinking:
There was a time in our life where I was “underemployed” and we thought it would be in the best health interest of our children to put them on Medicaid. Since my income was intermittent, I had to report it as it came in. I had an unusually large income one month. When I self-reported it, my state’s reaction was to accuse me of fraud and ask me to pay them back for the premiums they had paid that month. I had no problem with that, so I asked for documentation to support their claim. When I saw the documentation I was shocked. The premium total (for just my children) was larger than the cost of a family plan at my previous employer. How could that be?!?
I immediately took them off of Medicaid and we switched to Samaritan Ministries.
Regarding the stories of people whose estimated premiums went up when they checked out the exchanges, I read them myself on the ACA’s Facebook page. I don’t have a link but it should not be hard to find.
Thanks, Alan. I’m trying to gather all sides, not trying to be contentious. Maybe if the act wasn’t derived from a 1500+ page bill it would be a little simpler to decipher and understand. My gut always tells me that if something that should be simple isn’t, then someone is hiding (or selling) something.
It’s so refreshing to read a perspective that comes from calm thoughtfulness, that understands the concerns of both sides, and is not based on or promoting fear. Thank you!
Shannon, you’re the best. Agree with you 100%. As usual, you’re the voice of our thoughts. Using a moniker of the Green Tea Party is a very effective way to diffuse the side taking. Who could hate green tea? Here in Massachusetts, we’ve had a prototype of Obamacare for years and it works beautifully.
This comment has been removed at the request of its author.
This comment has been removed at the request of its author.
Danny: Yes, you can indeed read the entire bill. And if you did you would see that what you posted is verifiably false:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/kithil.asp
Shannon just delete my comments and I will unsubscribe from your posts.
Liberty means too much to me considering I was willing to give my life for what little freedoms we have left.
Danny, Per your request, I have removed your comments. I applaud your courage in expressing your concerns publicly. Shannon
As a six-year-old living in San Francisco, CA, I greensticked my leg in a fall from a swing. I had to hop on one foot for a painful, long week before my immigrant parents could afford an x-ray and a cast. My father removed the cast after 8 weeks because we could not afford the doctor’s follow-up fee. My leg is still slightly crooked, as a result. Subsequently, my family emigrated to Ontario, Canada, which has the public Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP). Over decades, the Canadian healthcare system evolved. Modest user fees were absorbed by employers and the Province. Extra billing was eventually disallowed. OHIP is not perfect, but it is much better than hopping about on one leg for a week. Americans who feel anxious about Obamacare should investigate the history of Canadian public healthcare, starting with Tommy Douglas and the Saskatchewan Doctors’ Strike of 1962. They will be relieved to find out that Canada did not end because hospitals became more humane. Public health insurance is a real blessing for catastrophic illness. You’ll see. Chill, like we do here in The Great White North.:)
Health begins with with personal responsibility and good food. Our nation’s farm bill has never supported truly sustainable farming. Little that I have heard of in the Affordable Care Act supports or encourages wellness or good eating habits.
If health care is to be truly affordable, we must begin by using fewer pharmaceuticals and consuming less processed “non-perishable” food. You know what I mean, Shannon. Its the stuff we are asked to donate to food pantries and other charities that feed the poor. And its the reason so many people who are poor are also obese, for the first time in the history of the world. Processed food tends to leave people hungry for real nutrition, which makes people fat.
I’ll have to share part of our story. When we married in the late seventies, my husband and I were teachers. His father, a progressive conventional farmer, suffered through open heart surgery and was forced into semi-retirement that same year. For twelve years in the 1970s and 80s, we were full-time farmers. We had health insurance through a Farm Bureau group plan.
Our children, a son and a daughter, were born in October, 1981 and March, 1985. After many months of overwork and stress in late 1985 and early ‘86, I became very sick with a severe case of shingles and Bells palsy on the left side of my face for several months. I probably hadn’t been eating right, became unable to eat normal food, lived on cream of wheat, lost thirty pounds, couldn’t nurse my baby, nearly lost my eyesight, had my eyes bandaged, and was, of course, unable to work. I missed a premium payment, and our health insurance was cancelled.
While I was still sick, our little daughter developed a kidney problem. Bills from the urologist were exorbitant, and we couldn’t afford to continue what he deemed proper care for her, but thankfully she outgrew her condition by the time she was four years old, as her very wise pediatrician told us she might.
In the fall semester of 1989, in order to provide good health insurance and to stabilize our lives somewhat, my husband returned to teaching, and I took on several part-time jobs that allowed me to be with our children. The 1980s put many thousands of small farmers out of business, and we were almost among them, as much because of the health insurance debacle as because of our then-unsustainable farming methods.
Our paradigm began to change. We had always eaten grass-fed beef, but I tried management-intensive grazing with a group of our cattle in 1989. Both of us were so impressed with the improvements MiG brought that we slowly shifted our farming to favor grass-fed cattle, and began marketing the beef directly to customers in 2003.
At about that time, while our son was away from home at school (and not eating very well), he developed ulcerative colitis, a condition that runs in my father’s family. He had an entry-level job, was in his early twenties, so should have been covered by my husband’s insurance, but it refused to pay. The hospital bills took a huge portion of his income, forcing him to live with us while he paid them off. For ten years, he has not been able to get health insurance because of this pre-existing condition. He was also told that he would need expensive medicine for the rest of his life. We started milking a grassfed cow. He returned to eating only our grassfed beef and farm-raised eggs, and continued eating food from our own garden, started making homemade sourdough bread with no preservatives. His body healed with the return to a more healthful natural diet. He has a baby now, and is looking forward to being able to get affordable insurance.
What bothers me most about our present health-care system is that pharmaceutical corporations and industrial food companies have so much influence and power in our consumer economy. Under the ACA provisions, Would our son have been forced to take those expensive medications? I don’t know. Will people like us be given any credit for maintaining a healthful life style and being the correct weight? The our insurance company’s standardized and urban-oriented health goals overlook the very things that keep us most healthful.
One of the really good things about the ACA is that young adults up to the age of 26 are covered on their parents’ plan. Another is that you can’t be turned down for pre-existing conditions. Both of those provisions would have made a big difference in your son’s case. I’m glad to hear he’s doing better. I have a cousin with ulcerative colitis and an uncle with Crohn’s so I’ve seen how devastating those diseases can be.
I am so relieved to read this. I would like to copy this to all those people ranting in fear (and ignorance) about being “imposed upon” when they are ALREADY being imposed upon by either paying premiums for uninsured OR risking ruin by going without.
About the Snopes reference against Lt. Col. Burrows, in many attempts of research I have found Snopes to be decidedly leftist, and so not even Snopes can be trusted.
Oh, good lord. Snopes is not “leftist”; it’s operated by a Canadian couple who, oh, nevermind.
How about Politifact?
http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2013/jun/08/chain-email/will-seniors-be-denied-cancer-treatment-under-obam/
Truth or Fiction:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/o/HB-3200-Obamacare.htm#.Ul3OoGQ9ASg
Factcheck.org:
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/twenty-six-lies-about-hr-3200/
Or how about the fact the the ACA is NOT HB3200 as stated in Danny’s comment? It’s HR3590.
Ann, regarding snopes, it is OK to disagree with snope’s analysis, by pointing out any inaccuracies or deficiencies. But what you seem to be doing is judging content by how much you like or dislike it. And since you dislike it, it is easy to label it as leftist and dismiss it.
The amount of paranoia and misinformation about ACA/Obamacare is astonishingly high. The list that Lt. Col. Burrow has posted (copy/pasted from somewhere else), is false in its entirety. But he doesn’t think so. Unfortunately there appear to be many in his camp who have bought the lies, hook line and sinker.
I agree that there is a lot of misinformation. But I felt compelled to respond to your claim of “false in its entirety” and “bought lies”.
One of the items in the now deleted list was something to the effect that illegal aliens would be able to participate in the exchanges. Now, I’m not a lawyer, but when I read page 160 of the bill at http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/law/patient-protection.pdf I see that the qualification that the person seeking insurance must “reside” in the state. Correct me if I am wrong, but aren’t there a number of illegal persons with proof of “residency”?
Another of the items in the deleted list was something about hospitals not being able to expand. I didn’t understand the oblique reference at this section, but the heading in the table of contents is: Sec. 3106. Extension of certain payment rules for long-term care hospital services and of moratorium on the establishment of certain hospitals and facilities. Sounds similar to the claim if not exactly that.
Here’s the one I find funny. The deleted list incorrectly stated that Congress would be exempt from ACA. Actually they were forced to used the exchanges. (132-d-3-D at page 157) The way the law was written they therefore should lose all of their employer-paid contribution, like anyone else. Contrary to this, the Office of Personnel Management has issued a rule saying that they will be able to receive their federal employer contribution. Of course the exchange set up for them has “gold” plans. OK, so there is some debate on what is really going on, but I think the average American takes pause at this story. Here are links to the two sites I used for this data.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/09/fact-check-did-president-obama-exempt-members-of-congress-from-obamacare/
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/congress-staff-insurance-dc-exchange-97571.html
There is plenty of actual stuff in the law that we could discuss. My dislike of the ACA is not based on paranoia and misinformation. It is not based on an email I received. And I know plenty of other like-minded people who are also informed on this matter, including some that work in the medical profession.
Dear Shannon,
While I must say that I disagree with you that this is the best option to fix the healthcare problem here, I still really appreciate how you set up this essay on an issue that has a way of strongly dividing people. Thank you for your words that can unite us all.
I love what you have to say Shannon and couldn’t agree with you more. As far as Americans becoming “fatter and sicker” I would bet that our agricultural policies play a larger role in that than does health care policy. Look at the countries that have nationalized health care, they seem to be a lot more fit than we. My husband and I are self employed and pay a huge amount for healthcare with some exclusions for pre-existing diagnoses. I hope we eventually head in the direction of a national health care plan. Thank you Shannon.
Thank you for your insightful article Shannon. I wasn’t exactly sure what was happening in USA re Obamacare. Now i have a much better understanding and i hope it goes ahead. cheers.
Thank you Shannon for your clear, thoughtful and rational writing in this time of made up crisis’s that are designed to confusion and scare people.Thanks for honoring the truth, it feels so good to read your words.
SHANNON, YOU’RE QUITE A WRITER. THE ACA IS FINALLY, SOMETHING FOR US AMERICANS.,WHY NOT? WHEN WE FOOT THE BILL FOR ALL THE SENATORS,CONGRESSMEN, AND ALL THE IN-BETWEENS. …. THIS COUNTRY BEGAN WITH PEOPLE COMING HERE TO SEEK RELIGIOUS FREEDOM FOR THEMSELVES. IT WAS FOR A RELIGION THAT THEY COULD CHOOSE FOR THEMSELVES, NOT TO BE FORCED INTO A DOCTRINE THAT THEY DID NOT BELIEVE IN., THEN….THE LATER ONES COMING OVER WERE OF ENGLISH BACKGROUND AND THEY DECIDED, TO FORM A GOVERNMENT BY MEN AND THEIR OWN LAWS INSTEAD OF GODS LAWS. THIS IS THE FAILURE! IT IS ALL WIN OR LOSE, YES OR NO, COMPETITION IS NOT GOOD. IT LEAVES ONE PERSON LOSING AND THAT IS A FEELING OF FEAR. IN GERMANY, WHEN YOU BECOME 60, YOU RETIRE. WHEN YOU ARE SICK, YOUR THERAPY IS GOING TO A SPA FOR A FEW WEEKS AND EVERY YEAR YOU GO TO THE SPA ANYWAY. WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT OUR HEALTH. IT SHOULD BE THE PRIORITY!. NOT THE MILITARY, GOVERNMENT, OR THE HIGH RANKERS OR THE CORPORATIONS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE PEOPLES WHO PAY THE TAXES. THIS HEALTH PLAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN EXPLAINED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WAY BEFORE NOW. THE DEMOCRATS DID NOT DO A VERY GOOD PR JOB. WHEN GEO.BUSH WAS PRESIDENT, HIS PRESCRIPTION D, PROGRAM WAS THE SAME WAY. THE SENIORS WERE LOST TRYING TO FIGURE IT ALL OUT. I MEAN,THIS IS FOR US. WHEN I WORKED, I PAID IN FOR TAXES FOR MY PARENTS, NOW MY CHILDREN ARE PAYING IN FOR ME. THIS IS THE AMERICAN WAY OF HELPING EACH OTHER THROUGH THE YEARS. THE SOCIAL SECURITY FUND SHOULD NOT EVEN BE MENTION. THAT IS A FUND OF ITS OWN.BUT THE GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN FROM IT FOR MANY, MANY YEARS AND THEN THEY EASILY PUT IN AN IOU FOR TAKING IT FOR THE GENERAL FUND. LEGALLY, THEY NEVER ASKED THE RETIREES FOR ANY KIND OF PERMISSION TO USE IT. SO….HOW MUCH IS THE DEBT TO THE SOCIAL SECURITY FUND THAT THE GOVERNMENT OWES TO US. ASK, ASK, ASK,
I couldn’t disagree with you more. You willingly chose your lifestyle, now you want others to subsidize it. I’d love to work a farm too, making just $30,000 and have others pay my medical insurance, but as a responsible adult I work a corporate job that pays my insurance. Now you want me to pay yours too. I take care of my family and don’t expect others to do it for me. Besides the fact that you miss the entire point, it’s not the idea of ACA that people object to, it’s the loss of FREEDOM, the freedom to choose what is in our own best interests, and the best interests of our families. To not have the government making our choices for us, telling us we MUST buy insurance. With the implementation of Obamacare, the USA is now officially considered Socialist. Freedom in America is now dead, thanks to you and all the others who want to force others to take care of them. It’s about freedom of choice, that is what America was founded on and what made it great. RIP America.
How very telling that you should deem your corporate job as responsible, but the farmer who puts meals on the table for 600 families who cannot charge enough for their food to cover health insurance as undeserving. Give that some thought over dinner tonight, ok? And I am just curious — are the daycare workers who watch over children for crap wages while parents work full time at their responsible corporate jobs equally undeserving?
As if the corporation that employs Life5678 does not benefit from massive subsidization in the form of tax breaks and other “incentives” that allow it reap profits on the backs of hard-working Americans and the environment.
Don’t kid yourself, Life: Your very wages are being subsidized by your fellow citizens in myriad ways.
You can thank us later;)
Woefully uninformed. You’ll wake up soon enough. I’ll look forward to reading your follow up post once you do.
Super, thanks! It is always great to know when I get a new reader. Best of luck to you, Denise!
🙂 And don’t forget that post!
Shannon, thank you for sharing your point of view on such a divisive topic. I am often pleasantly surprised how much I enjoy your posts, even on the odd occasion when I do not agree with your point of view. You (and the majority of your commenters) give me hope that civil discourse is not yet dead in America (though it appears to be increasingly endangered). I must say on this topic I have mixed feelings myself. I am glad to think of more folks having access to healthcare, but I do not like to think of our government adding anything else to its task list. Like many, I really loathe the idea that my tax dollars will be used to pay for others’ poor choices. I have already seen so much fraud in the system; meanwhile I refuse to apply for disability though I suffer from a debilitating illness, electing to work part-time to support my house (and sending those tax dollars to “pay me cash” folks up the street). I also think the ACA failed at addressing huge issues with the cost of medical care (tort reform, anyone?). At the end of the day it is the new paradigm, and I like your analogy of seeing it as a draft that can (hopefully) be altered later. I hope to navigate the new road as you do, with some sense, grace, and an open mind. Thanks again for writing; always look forward to reading your thoughts.
Thank you for all of you sharing your perspectives. It is sad about the woman who was abused, like anyone who is abused they are victims and are uncertain everyday. Sometimes when they pull away they feel more alone and more scared, but less alone and less scared than where they were? Some get addicted to the behavior, kind of like the devil you do know is better than the one you don’t, but regardless of the reason she like many is a person in pain, and probably from very early on in life. Many decide things emotionally. Fortunately with faith, love, help and treatment marriages and lives can be saved. The key is that she like most, must choose it and want it, then she will more likely do it. You can’t make anyone do anything, we are born with a free will, regardless of what person or government tries to take it away. Everyone at some point will have to say yes or no to what ever is in their lives.
Just like this story, I can’t help but think, like many of us, that we take from a situation what we see or choose to see, be it health care, economics, education, love, you name it. Perspective is most of what life is about anyway. The last question in life will be like this, “What good did you do with what you were given?” In answering that question we need to remember how we measure good, it is like love, it must be a decision and have very sincere purpose. Many describe it many ways, but when we bankrupt anyone, let alone a nation, something is wrong. When we force a people to do that which few want, that is wrong, when we drag someone out when they don’t want to and clearly know what they are doing, that is wrong. We must take care of ourselves and our neighbors, but if they do not want it, we must respect that too. If one chooses to dress simply and another elaborately that is fine, we must love the person not the clothes. If one chooses to give more than another, again it is the person not the gifts. Perspective and generosity of what gift we have is what we must take in to perspective. We can not change the world but we can fix the biggest problem and we can all say what it is, “I am”. If we want peace or anything it must begin with ourselves. Peace and love must reign in our hearts before we can console another or feed them or nurse them. I refuse to let an angry medical practitioner touch my family, the same is true for anyone else, including me. When we are too busy, overwhelmed we forget to take the time for ourselves to keep this perspective. Some like to throw money at problems others like to throw words, but in the end it must start withourselves and we must spread the good when we can, it can not be forced. If each person gave, if each person prayed for peace, the world would be perfect. This is not a perfect world we can only begin with our own lives, our own homes and pass it on. The more a government is given, the more it takes until nothing is left and everyone has their head in the sand wondering which way is up. Remember this world is not permanent, everything is on loan only for a lifetime, then it is over, any one who is rich did not do it on their own, there were others, some taken advantage of terribly, but all on someone’s back,even if done voluntarily. We are all accountable for all that we have and all that we do, and yes sometimes life gets more complicated, the more we are given the more we must be trustworthy, this must be for the small and the little. Just take it a moment and a day at a time, we can only live in the present anyway, but let us not trash tomorrow with burdens. I do mean burdens of any type, the body, the mind or the soul, that is a waste for us all.
Eventually I think all of this will end up something like Samaritans Ministries or we just all go back to paying cash like the Amish and others. The medical community cannot keep up with the demands of insurance, government, internet, it gets to the point where we must stop as it takes time and money from what was intended, get well, being well and staying well. The cost is too great to take on everyone’s problems, so let us start at home, then reach out when and how we can. We already pay into Social Security Insurance and Unemployment Insurance that is enough, in fact there is so much money there it helps fund us as a nation. Scary thought that one. In fact Social Security lends the US money and it gets invested and then taken when needed. It basically is borrowed more so than the Chinese give us, our whole life is borrowed. We need perspective here. Borrowing needs to stop and only happen when absolutely needed, I do say needed, folks forget what a need is, a need means you would die without it, like food, water, shelter and basic care.
We are facing change and we must be patient and keep talking and be green and be caring and anything else, when we all come to the table and work together, great things are accomplished. Unfortunately most politicians are only interested in themselves or their party, again themselves. This does not stop the rest of us from making sure our constitution is good for all Americans, regardless of belief, that our rights are kept intact and not changes by hidden laws that slip by us like this Healthcare agenda or Common Core Curriculum, or marriage laws, or any other law that is not voted on or taken to table in a right manner. We must all be alarmed at how freedoms are being thrown out the window for agendas. That must stop, that will destroy us all, no one has the right to do that. Change can be great and excited, but it is also stressful, we all need healthy ways to deal with that, unfortunately this new lifestyle can get too complicated with the internet and paperwork demands, everytime they try to reduce paper more work is created with more paper, just don’t get that one. I remember my sister, “KISS-Keep-It-Simple-Silly”, we need to remember that in all things. Churches used to be a gathering place, we all talked, ate, prayed and shared needs and surplus, there were barn raisings. If we are not careful and try to simplify it will fall and fall terribly, we will be forced to be simple. Our system needs help, it is a workable system, face it is what we are doing, but greed gets in the way, that is man’s great flaw. Man is also creative and generous, so let us put back together American ingenuity on the table and create a true masterpiece the world could be in awe in, and keep the UN out of here with their world laws and agenda, every time they try to make it better they make it worse. If we ratify any UN law here in the US we lose our Constitution, that is how our law is written so beware of what goes on, but also keep it in perspective. We should not try to change the world, just the problem, but its root cause not symptoms. No one should have to lose a freedom because someone else is a terrorist, let us regain our perspective and protect ourselves, our earth, and everything in it, it is the only one we have. If you think about it every day we go into the unknown, just go with faith, hope, charity, and most importantly love, but make sure it is genuine.
Love has been put best here, whether you believe in this Book or not, the words are very meaningful: If I speak in human and angelic tongues* but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.a2And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.b3If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.c
4* Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,d5it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,e6it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.f
8* Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing.9For we know partially and we prophesy partially,10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.11When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.12At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.g13* So faith, hope, love remain, these three;h but the greatest of these is love.
Godspeed to all of you and please go with peace and love, Tatiana