My husband and I are cancer survivors, which makes us uninsurable. We applied for an individual health insurance policy for our 17 year old daughter so she could have coverage separate from our health history, but she was turned down because of a topical gel prescribed for typical teenage acne two years earlier. In order to provide access to insurance, I gave up my successful small business of 18 years and went to work for a large corporation.
To us, health insurance has been more distressing than the fear of cancer itself. If health insurance companies can reject a perfectly healthy, athletic, teenage girl for such a trivial reason, they have gone too far.
As a conservative Republican from the heart of Utah County, I am generally opposed to more government involvement. However, I am convinced that the federal government must step in and establish some national regulations. We currently have a patchwork of vastly different laws from state to state, and insurance companies continue to have too much power. While I understand the arguments about a public plan creating unfair competition for private insurance companies, I feel strongly that some competition would be healthy.
The worst thing that could happen at this point is for partisan politics to bring the current momentum to a halt, thus preventing any legislation from being passed. For the sake of all Americans, we cannot return to our current situation. I urge Congress to be sure that reforms move forward.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Small Business Closed In Havor of Having Insurance for Teenage Daughter With Acne
From the Provo Daily Herald:
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2 comments:
Nice anecdote, Bob, I know there are lots of other stories like this and I feel sorry for these people.
The problem is that the left and the right use the same tactic: provide anecdotes of how either socialized medicine creates problems or a private system (well, our system is only about half private now) creates problems and argue that the whole system is bad.
Since our system is private/public already, I think that any anecdote in the U.S. is only evidence that our current system isn't even close to perfect but provides no evidence whether a government or private solution is better.
I think a public one would be better too. Our system is one of the worst and we should have the best. I don't think it is right that some people cannot get or have insurance. I know far too many people that would benefit from Obama's health care plan.
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