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.

Another Healthcare Rant - This time it's personal!

My employer recently sold my part of the company to someone else. I blogged about it back in December but I want to do so again with some fresh thoughts.

This is real to me now. Before the Healthcare problems of this country, while extremely important to me, did not affect me directly. 

Now it is personal to me. Before I rant, let me say I'm not blaming my new employer, I'm blaming a broken for-profit health care system.

My old employer, Pioneer Natural Resources, paid $21k a year and covered my family at no cost to me. None!!! We even had our own clinic. Most American's probably don't even realize how much their employer contributes. I'm going to make a total guess here, but I believe when most people hear about the cost of a single-payer system they are not thinking about the money their employers are already putting into the system.

My new employer only pays for my insurance. I will have to pay in $11,900 a year to make sure my wife and kids have insurance. I'm actually going to be okay, I can handle it... it's not going to be easy, but it is doable.

My coworkers can not. Their compensation is based on a 40hr work week even though they put in 96 hrs a week. Mine is based on salary, I put in 84 a week, but it would be the same no matter what. In 2018 their wife and kids were covered. Every sickness, every broken bone, they had insurance.

In any other industrialized country in the world, this wouldn't happen. The amount paid would be the same (But in America we use healthcare as leverage to tie people to a job). Most middle class and poor people in this country live to their means (in other words their spending comes close to their paycheck), most cant absorb the sudden loss of almost $1000 in income a month.

Some of these guys will have to choose now between bills and coverage. 

Now.... we spent $3.4 Trillion on healthcare as a country in 2016. It went up about 4% 2017 and is expected to be up 5.3% after the final numbers for 2018 (Edit - I have the numbers now, $3.6 Trillion).

Conservatives estimate the cost of universal healthcare at 32 trillion over 10 years. Democrats estimate $2.8 trillion. That's $3.2 trillion a year by the con estimate and covers everyone. 

By any measure that's a savings of 2 trillion over 10 years. 

EDIT: Things have changed since this blog. I have been on Obamacare since May 2020. Read about that experience here.

People have no right to fire protection - Let's bring back Fire Gangs

A conservative friend just told me that in order to get better healthcare we have to be willing to give up something. We have to cut money from other so called "entitlements" to pay for it. It's a tired argument really. In long run access to healthcare benefits everyone. Healthy workers save money and even if that was the only benefit it would be enough.

But, I really don't get the point here.... it's 2 Trillion LESS over 10 years then what we paid as a country in 2016. By the Conservative estimate.... by the 2.8 trillion Liberal estimate it saves even more, and the reality is probably somewhere in between the two. 

So why would we give anything up for something that already costs less?

Do you know most fast food and restaurant workers in this country go to work sick? When I was a pizza delivery guy I worked sick all the time. Think that was a great idea? Had no choice. Had no money for Doctors and couldn't afford to stay home. Turned around and made other people sick. 

This was right after the oil field lay offs in 2010 with a pregnant wife at home. So I'm not talking as a young guy, or ancient history. This was to make ends meet quite recently. 

The temp employees here at my current job have the same issue. They can't afford a doctor, they work sick. That spreads sickness. That decreases efficiency at work. Healthcare doesn't just help the sick person, it makes society function better, much like police and fire departments.

In fact, that's what I'll give up. Fire Departments. Lets go back to the early 1600s or so when Fire Departments were all volunteer and expected payment to put out Fires. When roving fire gangs actually set as many fires as they put out. We can modernize this idea! They can roll up, check your fire insurance and if your covered only then will they put out the fire (just like health insurance). When it spreads to other buildings? Same thing, show you are insured or pull out the check book. Otherwise they will roast marshmallows on what used to be your home.

~After all - No one has a right to Fire Protection, that's an entitlement!~ 

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!