90 Days Until I Can Get Insurance - A Personal Case For Medicare For All

In 2018 Americans spent $3.65 trillion on medical expenses. That’s an increase of 4.4 % over 2017 according to a report by Axios. Also, from the report under private health insurance, spending per person rose 4.5% between 2017 and 2018, even though the same number of people were enrolled. That’s for one year and it is expected to keep going up (In 2016 it was $3.4 trillion)

In contrast, conservative estimates put the cost of Medicare for all at $3.3 trillion per year… or as they like to exclaim $33 trillion over 10 years!

I don’t know, that looks like a savings of $3.5 trillion a year based on their numbers and it covers everyone. That seems like a deal to me, but it won’t to them… because uh’m socialism, and as we all know socialism is bad. Always bad. Even where it works.

You know what’s not working for me though? The current for-profit medical system we live under in the United States of America. It’s not working for me, or for you, or even for most of these blue-collar Trump-loving guys who think it’s working for them.

Some of the most common complaints I hear about socialized medicine are that the Government will decide what test can be done, what doctors you can go to and what treatments you can receive. All these things are already controlled by the big insurance companies. They outright decide when and what tests they pay for, they make you pay extra for a doctor out of network and god forbid you want a medication that isn’t on their approved list. Somehow this doesn’t occur to them. Somehow, they think they would be giving up their perceived freedoms by having a government take the place of big insurance.

I have always believed we would be better off with a system that covered everyone all the time. I believed this from a distance though. I had an employer who gave us the best insurance and healthcare possible. I could see a doctor free of charge for the littlest boo boo you could imagine and it was awesome. Unlike many of my colleagues, I felt like everyone should have treatment available like this. This is how you should take care of a society. This is what the greatest country on earth should do for its people. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end and right now my family and I are at the opposite end of the spectrum. No insurance and no options. 

Let me start with some background until the end of December in 2018 I worked for an employer with what has to be one of the most generous medical benefits packages anywhere in America. They paid 100% of the cost of not just the employee, but of the employee’s entire family. Pretty mind-boggling. It was basically a $21k raise for everyone from the lowest-paid to the highest. It didn’t stop there though; they had their own fully staffed free clinic in the parking lot of the downtown branch. Once again, 100% free to employees and family. Tell me that was not an amazing thing to have access to?

Unfortunately, at the end of 2018 the company decided to sell the division I worked for another company. They would still pay the employee portion of the insurance, but now we were responsible for our family (I have three kids and a wife, I need my insurance) which came out to about $800 a month. The free clinic, gone! It was a huge and unexpected pay cut even though my salary was technically the same, and it didn’t cover as much but hey, at least we still had some insurance. We adjusted.

My wife sees a doctor for chronic pain, I see one for an inherited condition. We both have maintenance prescriptions as do a couple of our kids. It was a hardship but, as you can imagine, we were glad to have any insurance at all.

Then the layoffs came. I was laid off.

Very suddenly we have no insurance.

I’m a CDL driver. I figure in this economy I’ll find a job really quick. For three months I can’t find anything that can even cover my mortgage payment. I have to borrow to make ends meet, so much so that when I get my severance from the old job (which was nice) it is eaten up pretty quickly. We pretty much all have to stop taking our medications. It feels like we are getting close to the end of our rope here and then suddenly I finally get a job.

I accept a freight delivery job that is only about 10k less a year then what I was making. I need a job and I need to keep a roof over my head. So, I accepted the position. I’ll be eligible for their insurance in three months, and this employer gives no sick days. If you miss a day you have to get a doctor note or be written up and forget being paid a cent for that day.

And this brings us to the entire point of this article. The real reason that Medicare for All (or single-payer system, or socialized medicine or whatever you call it) would really benefit everyone. Something is wrong with my left eye. It’s gotten very blurry recently and nothing I have found over the counter has helped. I get no sick days and I can’t afford a doctor even if I had them. I am a CDL driver out on the roads of this country daily. A CDL driver who can’t see out of his left eye. Think about that.

I'm driving one of these and I can't see in my left eye!

All over this country we let people go to work sick or in dangerous states. Many times they literally have zero options. Go to work sick or don’t get paid. Don’t see a doctor because you can’t afford it. These people are a danger to everyone, not just themselves. 90 days until I can get insurance, and only then if I can afford it.

By virtue of simple dumb luck I'm not getting screwed while others are.

I really don't know if this belongs in my blog.

It's the first personal real world situation I've blogged about and it is something that just feels seriously wrong, but I can't do anything about it. I can't even blame a political party, excepting the fact that Republican's have made it impossible to collective bargain in Texas.

The company I work for just got sold. 

My old employer covered my entire family on their medical insurance free of charge.

My new employer only covers the employee adding the family is over $800 a month.

My old employer provided an absolutely free medical clinic.

My new employer does not.

Here is the deal, by a stroke of luck... a simple twist of fate... my family will be okay.

~A lucky roll of the dice~

I started as an hourly field hand.

About six months ago I became a salaried employee.

Yes, salaried employees still have to pay. I'm lucky, but not that lucky.

However the people purchasing us made a deal. If we stay four months and let them know a month in advance that we are leaving. We get to take our full severance. If we stay we get a big bonus worth about twice that. That is pretty generous. I'm not going to lie, and I'm not accusing those buying us of being a bad company but....

It's based on 40 hours a week for hourly employees. We work in the oil field. These guys put in about 96 hours a week on a 14 day on 7 day off schedule. This is backbreaking work that many of them (myself included until recently) have been doing for many years. Mine is based on my salary (I put in 84 hours a week on the same schedule.

Anyway the severance for these guys is going to come out to a few months pay. It's not going to go very far. If they stay and have a family they will suddenly be paying $800 a month unless they find something cheaper on their own. That's a sudden, unexpected $800 a month bill. The bonuses these guys get won't even cover it. That is a direct hit of $11,900 a year to guys who will work the same long hours and do the same hard jobs. Could you absorb that?

Big side note: In almost any other industrial country the amount they pay would not depend on the the whims of the employer. 

Because of my dumb luck and becoming salaried at the right time my new bonus will cover the insurance and leave me $30k richer a year.

Of course, Texas is a "so called" right to work state. We have no power to bargain. These guys have no ability to fight for a better deal.

It will be the first year of my life I don't have to struggle to make ends meet. I feel very lucky. Last year this would have ruined me. My medical bills were enough that I met my family deductible several months ago. Right now, I'm paying for nothing. No Co-Pays, no prescriptions, nada.

But I can't help thinking about these guys and that someone should realize overtime wages (which make up more then 50% of their pay) are wages. They have to pay on every dime at tax time but don't get recognition otherwise. Most people end up with a set of bills in life that is representative of what they make (not the best word usage, but I hope you understand what I'm saying). These are real people and families that in many cases already have medical issues. They can't afford to lose insurance and now will have to struggle to keep it. They will be doing the same work for what amounts to less money, does that seem right?

I also can't help thinking that in almost any other industrialized country they would have universal healthcare that would cost them the same no matter where they worked. None of them asked for this but they will all be paying for it. 

Universal Healthcare so simplified even a conservative can understand it.

Let's try to understand where you draw the line a supposed socialism.  Are police departments socialist?  We pay them to take care of a basic societal need. Isn't that the actual definition of socialism? 

~Shouldn't we, as the ultimate free enterprise country, have to pay cops to investigate crimes? Under a true Capitalist system the more you pay the more likely it is your crime will be solved~

What about fire departments?  Was it better in the early 19th century when volunteer fire departments charged to put out fires? Fires they or rival fire gangs often started? 

~Or maybe we should have a new type of Fire Insurance? One that requires us to show proof of coverage before they put a drop of water on the flames?~

Both of these ideas are obviously, absolutely ridiculous. We all know and understand that police and fire departments, not to mention government agencies like the Military, FBI, CIA, FDA, DOJ, DOL, DOE, CDC, FAA etc are all necessary forms of socialism. Our taxes pay for them and they work for the common good of us all.

Why is healthcare somehow different?

As a country we spent 3.4 trillion in 2016 on healthcare and not everyone was covered, and the cost went up in 2017, and is expected to keep going up in 2018.

Republicans keep throwing out the number 3.2 trillion over 10 years as the cost to have a single payer system in this country.  Well using the 2016 numbers that looks like a two billion dollar savings to me everyone is covered.

There are tons of different estimates of the number of people who go bankrupt each year due to medical bills. It's easy to find numbers from 600 thousand to 1.4 million depending on where you look, but frankly no one should go bankrupt for medical conditions. No one should have to choose between their health and their income.

And frankly it amazes me how conservatives miss the benefits to society as a whole. When people default on medical bills, prices go up for the rest of us. Millions of people each year use the emergency room to treat conditions that they can't afford to get looked at. Even with insurance millions of dollars in deductibles never get paid. That is passed directly on to the rest of us.

Even worse, many people, knowing they can't afford a doctor won't go. Those in lower paying, more demanding jobs will still go to work spreading sickness and disease because they can't afford time off and they can't afford treatment. This includes the people making your food. 

Others will stay home sick decreasing productivity at their employers business, some will even die. To die of a treatable condition in a country such as this should be unimaginable.

I'm not saying that medicare for all, or single payer is the answer to all this but let's at least get rid of the boogeyman concerning so-called socialism.

No serious viable candidates have ever advocated for true socialism or communism. All anyone has pushed for is that we use the resources of this great country to make healthcare for everyone a reality and have our nations Doctors protect us like we are protected by the police and fire departments. 

Agree? Don't Agree? Tell me why in the comments!