I write this someone who has private, employer-paid health insurance:

>>>>>I want socialized health care<<<<<

No, I’m not scared of government run heath care, because I have seen the other side, and it’s no great shakes. Lets’ just say I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I have never met a Canadian who would swap their insurance for ours if they didn’t have to.

The opponents of health care reform tell me that I will lose choices under any government run plan. I say So What? Here’s a dirty little secret, I have very limited choices now with my private, employer paid health coverage.

First off, my choices are limited to what plans my employer will pay for. I currently have a choice of 4 plans, 3 of which are administered by Company C and one of which is Company K. Under my previous employer, I had Company U, but that was not an option.  In reality, since 3 of the plans were administered by one company, the only real difference was how much I wanted to pay out of pocket, so really I only had 2 choices.

Furthermore, my choice of doctor is limited by the plan I choose. I spent quite some time determining which plan the medical group my doctor belongs to will accept. They don’t accept plan K, so I am forced to go with C. So much for my plethora of choices, if my doctor hadn’t accepted C, I would have been very much screwed. So go ahead, take away my choice, it was an illusion anyway.

Then there is the argument the government will ration health care. Again this one gets a big fat So What? from privately insured me. My health plan rations care now. I only get the treatments and drugs my health plan will pay for. I’ve had to change BCPs and allergy meds several times because my plan has decided to change their drug lists. I can’t just up and call the specialist; my GP has to approve it. I have to visit only specialists approved by my health plan. Every doctor visit is scrutinized by some faceless, unaccountable bean counter who wants to save the company money. If FUBC decides I really don’t need that MRI, then I don’t get it.

For example, we once got a $10,000 ER bill because some FUBC buried deep in the bowels of my health plan decided that Mr Fly’s trip to the hospital was not necessary. He had intense chest pains, his father had dropped dead at age 45 of a heart attack, so we concluded that he might be having a heart attack. It wasn’t, so the insurance company decided that they were not going to pay. They finally did after several phone calls since “a reason person would conclude emergency treatment was necessary under the circumstances”. But note, at some point, one of their representatives, who was in possession of all the facts, did conclude severe chest pains and a family history of heart trouble did not constitute an emergency.  I guess that person was not reasonable, but they were in the drivr seat for my health care.

Now let’s talk about the argument that I will pay more in taxes for socialized medicine. I’m paying several hundred bucks a month to cover myself and my family now. Studies have shown that more than half of all bankruptcies are due to high medical bills, and most of those people had health insurance. (I’ll bet they were glad they had that super-efficient private insurance!) So let’s see, I can pay hundreds per month to private insurance, and still run the risk of going broke if someone in my family comes down with a serious medical issue, or I can pay that money to government and not have worry about going broke. Gee, that’s a toughie.

See why I’m not scared of government run health plans?

And for all that, I’m one of the lucky ones, I actually have a health plan. If I jump through the proscribed hoops prettily enough, I usually do get care, until I hit the cap of course.  (Here’s hoping I don’t come down with a serious chronic disease, or I’ll run out of room under that cap pretty damn quick.)

And for the bleating about how private is so much better, let’s talk for a few minutes about the fact that my family was not insured for several months earlier this year due to the fact I was laid off. In fact, when I was handed my lay-off packet, the first thing that went through my head was,”OHMIGOD, I don’t have health insurance anymore!” Good times.  Even with the government picking up part of the cost of COBRA, that was still a hefty chuck of change for someone who didn’t know where her next paycheck was coming from. It was also a huge amount of stress for someone who was already under a load of pressure trying to find a job.

Oh and BTW, I will have to buy my own insurance after I retire. Really looking forward to that. That’s going to be another couple thousand per month I’m going to have to cough up to enjoy my golden years. Basically, it boils down to the fact that I can’t afford to retire.

So there you go. I have private health insurance and I’m all for socialized medicine. I already have limited choices, and I already have rationed care, I already pay hundreds per month. At least with government provided care, I stop worrying about losing my insurance tomorrow and I won’t go bankrupt.

Bring it.