Thursday, September 10, 2009
Video: Reactions to President Obama's Speech on Health Reform
This is Democratic party spin but good signs nonetheless.
And here's another email I had gotten a few weeks ago from a reader of this blog:
"yo.. i'm @djyianni on twitter.. I visit ur blog often, it's quite
dope. I noticed you did a post about the health care situation...
I just wanted to tell you that I've not had any sort of health care
for almost 13 years. I'm self employed, I own a Greek gift and Music
shop in Chicago. I haven't been able to get insurance because of
pre-existing conditions. Any logical person might think that people
who have pre-existing conditions are probably the people who need
health care coverage.. but, as John Stossel said, people with
"pre-existing conditions" are like people on welfare and are just
going to abuse the system.
I've tried everything to get coverage.. even trying to create a group
insurance with my brother inlaw who owns a restaurant in my
neighborhood.. That way the insurance company is forced to take me..
but once they go thru my medical history they have the right to jack
up my monthly fee by 70%.
I had cancer about 15 years ago, and before that I had a kidney
problem that was a pre-cursor to my cancer. I've been in remission
since 1995 thanks to a stem cell transplant*. And I'm supposed to be
going for yearly checkups, but I cannot afford the 5 to 6 grand bill
for my check ups. I've gone a few times.. but I haven't been in a few
years.. I need to, but I cannot.
Just wanted to share.. and give you a personal story about how fucked
up things are with healthcare. Oh, another option would be to get a
2nd job at an office just for the insurance.. so that'd mean me
working at my business 65 to 70 hours a week, plus another job.. just
for insurance. I got married 2 years ago (its gonna be 2 years on
September 9th), and my wife's job still hasn't put her full time so we
could get some sort of benefits..
Yianni
PS The stem cell research that former President Bush put a stop to
because it was "wrong".. was the same one that saved my life. When I
had the procedure done in 95, I think the procedure was only 4 years
old. and in medical terms.. that's very new. My doctors told me
straight out that they aren't really sure what the long term effects
are from having this done because they don't have someone thats 30, or
40, or 50 that has had this done. Basically I had really strong chemo
to completely kill off my immune system and they gave me back my stem
cells that they had been harvesting for a few months leading up to the
procedure. I'm 32 now, but I have the immune system of a 14 year old.
So, picture me back in 1996 working part time and going to school, and
trying to have a social life, all on the immune system of a toddler.."
Related:
Tome of the Unknown Writer blog decided to dedciate his blog last month to chronicling health care stories from America and countries with universal health care. Here's the plug:
"Since we're being inundated with propaganda from all sides, I thought it could be enlightening just to hear from regular people how they feel about our health care system. So, I'm looking for stories about their experiences, their views on health care, what they'd like to see happen in the future, stuff like that. Then I'll be posting each story as I get them. I don't care if they're pro or con. I only care that their [sic] honest."
Click here for more details: Health Care Stories: America | Health Care Stories: International. Click here to read the stories.
Labels: Barack Obama, Healthcare
