Health Insurance Reform: A View from Across the Atlantic!

What’s the one each and every single one of us rely on, the single thing we all seem to take for granted, until it’s not there anymore? Health – or rather good health!

A lot of people take their health for granted, don’t give it a second thought, not until it’s no longer there, until things start going wrong, start failing, until illness of injury strikes. Then it’s a whole new ball game, it’s paramount in our minds, it takes priority over a lot of other things!

I’m blessed, really I am – living in the UK that is, for some may say I’ve been a little unfortunate, others may tell you I’m accident prone, perhaps unkindly they’d tell you I’m darn careless. Maybe the first ones true, or even the second, hey, maybe all three are accurate, I suppose all three can be applied to my health and my healthcare.

Please indulge me for a few minutes here, I’m going to tell you a little story, I promise it wont take too long, but may just help you see things from where I’m coming from, my point of view. Perhaps allow you to look at things from an altogether different prospective.

In the spring of 2001 I was eager to give my new bike a trial, a first ride, so I set off from my home near London Gatwick Airport at the time. I only planned on a short trip, not far, under ten miles. As it was going to be a short run, I reasoned that I’d have a late breakfast or early lunch upon my return, a brunch if you will. So without further ado, I put on some old clothes, comfy jogging pants, couple of light coloured tops and away off I set.

I was enjoying the freedom, the new bike was running perfectly, like a dream and I was a happy person, a smile upon my face, fresh air in my lungs and energy surging through my body. I can’t explain exactly what happened next, other than a sharp pain in the middle of my back was excruciating. I looked forward and the roadway was coming up much faster than it was less than half a second previously. I looked to my right could see another biker all caught and tangled up with me, it was his handlebar that was the cause of the pain in the back and was pushing me forward at an alarming rate.

Some how we disentangled and disengaged and I bounced down the road, mostly on top of my new bike. In movies it all happens in slow motion, which I now know from experience is darn close to reality. I saw myself tumble, skid, bounce down the road as if it were a leisurely walk around a lake.

I knew I was hurt, indeed I knew I was hurt bad, but the thing I noticed then was the pain, it reached a certain height and then just leveled off. I was hurt, sure I was, my legs were being annoying and not doing what I told them to, but I was also strangely calm.

The paramedics came, they ooh’d and ahh’d, slid me on to this board thingy and transported me to the local major hospital. I don’t think I was thinking much, although I tried to remind myself to enjoy the ride, after all it’s not everyday you get to ride in an emergency vehicle with the siren blasting out and the lights flashing. I think I was still thinking about that when we arrived in the Casualty / ER at the hospital. My first indication that it was more than a scrape was when the paramedic asked the head nurse where they wanted me – I can hear her words clearly now, as if they were spoken only yesterday “Straight in to re-sus!” Yeah, I’d watched Chicago Hope and ER and Casualty, so I knew that was the abbreviation medical people used for the resuscitation room! It’s where they do all that exciting stuff, probe and poke this and that, put electrodes on and all that stuff.

I’m going to cut a long, long story short here, I’m sure you don’t want to know about the ins and outs of what happened during those first few hours, my first major hospitalisation. Sure as a kid I’d have a few scraps and scrapes, broken arms and the like, but this was, as they say a biggie. This was major, I had ex-rays, MRI scans and various men and women in white coast came, examined and probed me. It was also during this time that I learnrd a crucial thing, always put on clean underwear, even if you think you’ll own gonna be going out for less than half an hour, as I had planned. For when the nurse was cutting off my jogging pants, I headed the words “Oh my god, he’s going commando” she wasn’t alone in removing the rest of my clothes! So, take my advice, always put on clean under crackers, no matter what you’re going to do, or how short you anticipate being out – you never know what’s going to happen!

Anyway, I’m not doing a very good job of shortening this story am I? So let me just fast forward a few hours, just as they would in an episode of ER or House and get to the moment when Hugh Laurie come to the diagnosis, the climax of the situation and the reason for me taking you on this journey into my past. This incident has done more some serious damage, I’d broken the outsides of my left knee, I’d squashed my left kidney so much that it would probably never work again, I’d split my coxysis in two, enough to force one part out through the skin, I’d slipped a few disc’s, probably about seven that thought. I’d also chipped one and completely squashed another vertebrae. In other words, in words that made it clear I wasn’t going to be home in time for tea, I’d broken my back! Now that would explain why I couldn’t feel much going on below the waist!

I’d been placed in a major treatment room, I’d had scans and x-rays, I’d been given pain med’s, I’d been catheterised, I’d been prodded and poked by countless doctors, nurses, specialists and consultants. And all the time this was going on, I cursed the decision not to have breakfast that morning – I was bloody hungry.

I lost count of the number of x-rays, MRI scans I had over the next month or so that I was in hospital for. I can’t remember, it was a lot, getting on for twenty of each. The way the chief doctor explained it bought home just how lucky I had been. A piece of bone from one of the vertebrae was on the inside, facing the spine, it was the width of a finger nail away from slicing through my spinal cord. Yep, little old Jason had been very lucky really, if I‘d have had religion in my life, I’d have said an thank you prayer right then and there. The bad news was, it was it‘s very position that prevented them from pushing me in to the OR and whipping that naughty wayward bit of bone out.

Slowly I gained all feeling back in my lower portions, the catheter removed and normal toilet ability regained. I recovered, slowly, each week another scan or x-ray to make sure the fragment of bone hadn’t moved, which would have meant an immediate operation and the possible end of leg use!

Months and months afterward I was told that I probably should glow in the dark, I’d had enough radiation from all those x-rays and stuff to last nine years! For some reason, I was lucky, I’d some how managed to escape the serious consequences of such an accident. I’d had a month of immobilisation and hospitalisation, I’d had the care of over twenty nurses and twelve doctors and consultants. I’d had huge amounts of drugs and medication. I had a made to measure back brace fitted and lots of after care.

I was thankful and got on with my life with a new sense of urgency and gratefulness. I did things I wouldn’t normally do, it took a while, but yes, I did get on a bike again!

Now, I want you to, in your mind rip rapidly forward, again like in all the best TV shows and movies, picture if you wish the hands of a clock rotating rapidly, whatever you wish to indicate the fast passage of time. All the way until you arrive to summer 2004, June to be exact. Now, back at the beginning I mentioned that some may think I’m a tad accident prone, well in June 2004, I was dancing onboard a cruise ship some where in the middle of the Mediterranean sea when something rather unfortunate happened. An odd and bizarre chance in a million for two people to fall in such away, but they did, or rather I did with the girl I was dancing with. As soon as it happened I knew my leg was broken, I knew that, because it I heard it break.

The doc on board the boat didn’t listen and didn’t believe it was broken, just drained the blood from inside the knee cavity that had caused a swelling and much of the pain consumed my leg. It’s probably just as well, he didn’t think it was broken, or he’d not have allowed me to fly home, which I did at the earliest opportunity.

After landing at London Gatwick airport I called an ex, who slopped off work early, collected me and took me to the nearest A&E or ER. Now when I say this time I’m going to shorten this really long story believe me, because I really mean it. The long and short of it, again after a few x-rays and scans I was proved correct, I had broken my leg. I’d broke the top of the tibia, that’s the one that leads from the knee to the ankle, I always used to get tibia and fibular mixed up, but not now!

It was more serious that your usual kind of break, as I say, this was a million to one chance, for I’d broken my tibia right on the end going downwards, splitting so much so it raised a lot of interest in the medical community.

I was admitted, I was in urgent need of an operation, I was therefore slotted in early, jumping the queue, to the top of the list. I’m not sure exactly what they did, but I had a big hole in the top of the tibia, they needed to do a bone graft, so as I was in the OR, they sliced me open, chipped out a chunk of hip, opened up the leg, slotted it in, then fixed it all together with a couple of bits of metal and half a dozen screws.

Now apparently this is an open reduction and internal fixation of the proximal end of the tibia, it meant I was on the table for five hours and had nine units of blood and a shed load of drugs!

It wasn’t dead, so I guess I was lucky, yet there was a bit of a complication, where the bone had split downwards a bit more and that if it had continued to split, they probably would have chop and be done. Meaning that my right leg would have been considerably shorter than my left one! Luckily, I was lucky and it didn’t split any further and I’ve got both legs the proper length. Well almost, the right one is around half an inch longer than then left, thanks to the metal that still holds it all together. It also gave me a lovely long twelve inch scar down my right leg, which I happen to think is rather neat and nice.

I spent over a week in the hospital with the leg, had loads of drugs and the top leg doctor in the South of England looking after me, which probably explains why the scar is so tidy and the care given was excellent. I couldn’t find fault at all with the medical treatment I’ve enjoyed during these two long hospital experiences. OK, sometimes the wait for appointments was sometimes long, waiting room chairs not conducive to long stays, but really, the main stuff was first class.

Now, getting to the main point of why I started writing in the first place, how much did all this treatment cost me. How much did I pay for the MRI scans that numbered in excess of thirty, the x-rays that must be over forty now, the five hour emergency operation with the top surgeon, the nine plus units of blood, all the treatment in the major treatment and resuscitation emergency rooms, the medications, the nursing care, the three months I’d been admitted for, the leg brace, the back brace, the after care how much has this all cost me?

Nothing, not a thing, zilch, nowt, nil, zero, not a single solitary penny did all this medical treatment cost me. Thanks to the UK’s National Health Service, the much maligned NHS, all those treatments, services and care cost me absolutely nothing. It was all free, I had no and need no medical health insurance to help me pay for all those drugs, all that help, assistance and care!

I hate to think how much it would have cost me had the accident of my birth been in America, how much would I have had to pay? Would my health insurance paid out? Would there have been a limit to what they’d have shelled out for? Would they have stopped paying after a certain amount? Now, as my leg is a pre existing medical condition, would it still be covered? Could I still get the pain med’s for free? Would I now be so far in debit, I’ll be knocking ninety when it’s all paid off?

Jennifer has multiple sclerosis, a while back she lost her job and with it her health insurance, the cost of the medication to slow the brains deterioration for a year is $6000, how she’ll find that next year is anyone’s guess.

I’ve changed his name, but Bill is a friend of mine, he lives in a mid west American state, he’s happy, but he’s not healthy. He was a smoker, but not too heavy, he also worked with birds for part of his working life. He doesn’t work any more. He’s had a few health problems over the years, a touch of anathema, along with other breathing problems. He’s escaped cancer, unlike a other members of his family. Bill had a lung infection a few years ago, it wasn’t too bad at the time, with the right treatment he recovered, however it left him with an illness, that requires a daily dose of drugs.

Last year Bill fell rather ill, his lung basically collapsed a little, however quick intervention by the medical staff at the local hospital – well local by US standards, ensured it’s didn’t fully cave in. Something about a shunt was implanted, which worked and in total Bill spend just under four days in hospital. Medically he considered himself a lucky person, for it could have been much much worse.

However, that was the least of his worries, he’s been having a battle with his health insurance providers, it’s looking likely that they are not paying out. I’m not sure of the exact excuse they are using, Bill is a rather private man, he doesn’t like his personal matters broadcast in a public forum. But, the insurance company have agreed to pay for some of the treatment, but not other parts – the parts that were an existing condition, the main thing to do with his lung, it follows the treatment he had for it when he had the infection a few years back. Which all means, that in the time of his life when he should be retired and taking it easy, Bill has a medical bill that he can’t pay of over $32,000 He’ll have to sell his house to pay the bill as his savings are all but gone.

It’s Bill’s story that first got me interested in what’s going on in American health care and how expensive it was. When I was visiting for three months last year, I really needed a simple adrenalin shot for a sever allergic reaction I was having. However, a call to the local medical office shocked me, such an injection, a simple shot, would cost not less than $150 !

That’s just one little shot, that’s just under one hundred Great British Pounds for a simple shot that would be free back home, here in England. It’s against this knowledge that piqued my interest in the US healthcare system, it pretty much shocked the air from my lungs when I heard that around forty-five million American’s have no form of health insurance! Seeing how costly healthcare is in the States, the conservative number of 45 million people without any health care insurance is utterly frightening. It really is staggering, especially for an outsider like me, I’m so used to having a health care system that looks after me completely, for nothing.

OK, so I’m not preaching the US should have a National Health Service like here in the UK, and yes, I’m painfully aware that the UK’s NHS is not perfect, that it is over stretched, over used, under funded. I’m also aware that it is a general pastime of British people to criticise and knock the heath service, we’ll moan about waiting lists and all manor of things like that, but it looks after us, it protects us, it cares for us, it costs us nothing at the point of access to use. Yes we pay a little towards it in out tax and national insurance contributions that are deducted from our pay each week or month as the case may be. But we can get on with our day to day lives free from the worry about how we’re gonna pay for medical attention if something untoward befalls us.

If we are on a low income, or no income at all, we don’t contribute to the taxes and national insurance of the country, but we can still have all the full benefits of the health service and nope, we’re not expected to pay back or pay more when we get a job, or anything. It’s just there.

To live in America without a job, or on a low income and therefore unable to afford the seemingly extortionate health insurance coverage would scare, to use an English expression, scare the shit outa me! It really would, I know how rapidly things can go wrong, how the unexpected happens and how one thing can lead on to another in rapid succession. To know that I couldn’t afford decent health care to cover such eventualities would frighten me no end.

Surely something must be done, that’s what I thought when listening to Bill’s story, about the dozens or so stories I read on websites, newspapers and the like. It’s also why I was intrigued by President Obama’s healthcare reform plans.

OK, so I may be a British person, with little knowledge or experience of the American healthcare system, but you don’t have to be a user or an expert to know that something is seriously wrong when 45 million don’t have coverage, when a simple shot that costs under $5 to produce costs $150 to be administered. It doesn’t take a genius to see that something needs to be done, an overhaul has to happen, something drastic, I don’t know what exactly, but something major needs to be sorted out.

What’s America’s greatest asset? It’s land mass, whilst it is vast, that’s not really an asses, it’s just it’s position. It’s financial institutions? Nope, in light of the current world wide credit crunch and recession, that’s not the case. Nor is it’s Californian wine, it’s Florida sun, it’s Texan food, it’s New York hussle, whilst all those are enjoyable, exciting, interesting, not one single thing the countries greatest asset. Nope, what makes America great is not it’s material wealth, it’s vast size, it’s scenic landscape, no, it’s greatest asset is it’s people! Yep, the people, and forgive me for being a tad simplistic here, but surly it makes perfect sense to look after your greatest assets properly?

I was probably one of the few English people that watched online the live streaming of the first bipartisan health care summit in Washington the other week. It was interesting, informative I thought at first. I also that what a nice guy President Obama seemed to be, coming across as a friendly and fair sort, trying to make sure everyone had a chance to speak, he tried to steer it forward, in a kind, yet determined way. Oh yeah ok, some of the speeches from some of the participants did seem to be born and from a time prior to the election! Ok, it did come over as a campaign head to head at times. I was impressed with Obama’s continued effort to move forward, to talk about what they had in common on health reform, it was also, not possible. OK, so remember, I’m an outsider here, poking my nose in, chucking in my two cent’s worth, but towards the middle and end it did kind of descended in Republicans trying to score political points of Democrat members around those tables.

I’m sure it’s not unique to American politics, however it does seem more apparent that people from the republican side with disagree with the democrat side, not because they believe what’s going on is wrong, bad or harmful, but just because it’s a democrat saying it. And yes, equally the other way round as well, which when you’re playing with peoples very lives, their very health, seems rather stupid, short sighted and well rather dangerous.

I’m going to bound out some numbers now, these are not my numbers by the way, these are official ones.

41% of American adults under the age of 65 who accumulated medical debt, had difficulty paying medical bills, or had struggled with both in a one year period. (source – www.commonwealthfund.org)

8. Yes 8 people are denied coverage, charged a higher rate, or discriminated against every single minute but health insurance companies because of pre-existing medical conditions. (source – www.healthreform.gov)

625 people lost their health insurance cover every single hour during 2009 (source – www.wonkroom.thinkprogress.org)

1 the number of dollars in every six in the US economy is currently spent on health care. (source – www.cms.hhs.gov)

98 that’s the percentage increase employers will see on their premiums between 2010 and 2020 if nothing is done. (source – www.urban.com)

I say again, I’m an outsider, forgive me for poking my nose in, you may think I’m just a nosy mad Englishman with no business meddling in such things, it’s doesn’t involve or concern me. And you’d be right of course, I am English and no it doesn’t directly involve me, I have no direct connection to the US healthcare system, it’s good side or it’s bad side. However, concern me, well, no matter how far removed I am from the actual situation, I’m still concerned, for the sake of Jennifer, for the sake of Bill, and for the sake of the 45 million others that don’t have health insurance. It doesn’t stop me from wishing for affordable health care for all!

You don’t have to be an American to care!

Thank you for your time, for allowing me, a simple, yet incredibly lucky, accident prone British boy spout off on your healthcare system!

For more details on President Obama’s health reforms click here.

Jason Shaw

GayAgenda.com’s UK correspondent

Jason’s own personal blog is www.seafrontdiary.com a slice of English life, with just a touch of madness!

Are There 51 Votes for a Public Option?

Being the U.S. is the only industrialized nation in the world where you can literally go bankrupt lose your house for becoming ill, and being there are so many Americans living without the means to pay for health insurance, I hope this guy knows what he saying.

King and Massa Go Head to Head

Larry King: “I certainly would not offend the gay community.”

What’s your take? Does that question offend you?

Martha Coakley’s Big Entitlement Failure

Contributed by Lyndon Evans:

Rachel Maddow was saying the Associated Press had called the Senate election in Massachusetts for Brown as the winner.

The unthinkable and horror to many, mostly outside the Bay State and within the boundaries of DC, had happened, much beloved Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat had gone to, hand out the aspirin and the Pepto, a Republican.

I’ll let other journalists, talking heads and pundits on both sides go through the numbers and dissection of what happened and the multitude of reasons why, I’m just going to focus on one theme. Entitlement.

Long before there was the term political junkie and having covered politics locally here in Danbury, CT, I have often watched elections in different parts of the US, local, state and national of course and often shook my head at what I saw long before the ballots were cast.

The only difference between Chris Matthews and myself is, a) he has a show on MSNBC and b) he speaks more eloquently on politics, whereas I speak like anyone down at the neighborhood diner.

So here’s the blue plate special.

What the Hell was this woman thinking !?!

Going on a Caribbean vacation when the biggest slice of pie in her political career was up for grabs. Not getting out and shaking hands, kissing babies, taking rides on fire trucks and doing everything up to and including helping Santa Claus deliver presents on Christmas Eve.

I was struck by one interview on one of the networks with a longtime Kennedy voter and faithful Democrat who said, to paraphrase, “I can’t stand her. She has not gone out to meet the people and feels she will win just because she’s a Democrat”. The man by the way said he would vote for Brown, a Republican.

My God, Ted must be spinning in his grave and Cloakley better start checking her closet each night and under the bed for the Ghost of Ted. I bet she’ll get a visit every Christmas Eve from now on as Ted takes her through the Christmas’ of Politics past, present, future and what should have been.

Yes I’ve seen some, well I can’t say it here so I’ll clean it up, head up the boo-de-ay campaigns and races, but this one certainly is at the top of the “WTF Did I Do” heap.

Some will say, and with legitimate argument, that the Obama honeymoon is over, or that folks are afraid of what the proposed health care package for the Nation is going to cost and by adding one more Republican to the Senate will help to keep the Democrats under control with their spending. They can say that and even more.

No boys and girls here’s why Cloakley lost. Because she was entitled to win.

When you run a campaign with the mindset that you are a shoe-in, and don’t take the normal effort of a good politician and get out among the people, show who you are and what you stand for and against, you are destined to fail. How many times have we seen that happen in baseball at the World Series or in football at the Super Bowl.

You as a politician are entitled to nothing, you earn your constituents votes. You are not handed a blank check with a signature. You don’t automatically get the keys to the Emerald City. As they use to say in the old Smith-Barney commercials, “You Earn It”.

I just hope Attorney General Richard Blumenthal here in Connecticut who will be running for retiring Senator Chris Dodd’s seat has been taking lots of notes on how not to run a campaign of entitlement.

If politicians were entitled to their positions, we would be living in a Monarchy …. or worse.

More from Lyndon Evans at: Focus On The Rainbow!

The Problem With the Health Care Reform Debate

So, perhaps this is not a startling revelation, or perhaps it’s only common sense, but as I watch the health care reform debate go on, and on, and on…I’ve come to the realization of the actual problem that’s preventing anything from getting done.

The only people who are debating health care reform are those who have never done without health care.

The majority of the  opposition of course lies within the Republican party.  By now, everyone should realize, any and all Republicans who stand against health care have certainly never done without.  Republicans typically have more money, and they certainly are afraid they may have to bear the burden of some poor sole who was too lazy to accomplish what they have in life.  God forbid Rush Limbaugh spend one penny of his $400 million a year salary on anyone’s health care other than his…I mean, he does have a Oxycontin addiction to deal with.

And what about Bill O’Reilly?  Did his ability to help out other end when he paid the woman he sexually harassed $20 million to shut-up and go away?

Let’s say we leave the pundits out of the picture.  I’m sure John McCain isn’t willing to sell one of his 7 houses to contribute to the cause.  Not that he should have to, but I simply don’t understand why someone with 7 houses would  be opposed to someone with zero houses being granted health care!

This is a sick America.  In more ways than one our nation is ailing.  The only people in congress who are pushing for the American people (the average person) are those who came from that background.

But the Republicans haven’t experienced what it’s like to do without, and that’s fine, but why should they be allowed to prevent others from knowing what it’s like to do without health care.  This is America!  It’s time for a different kind of “tea-party”, but not against health care reform, against the rich, who are using their money to prevent others from receiving health care.  That may sound simplistic in nature, but that IS exactly what’s happening!

This is a call to the modern day Robin Hood.  Where are my band of merry men to help take from the rich and give to the poor.  They’ve had their opportunity to do what’s right for America and they’ve allowed their greed to cloud their judgment.  They’re so worried about paying an extra $2,000 a year in taxes they can’t see beyond their greed.

Again, these are people who have multiple homes, earn hundreds of thousands each year, and many (Republicans in congress) are recipients of government run health care…the same care they don’t want anyone else to have!  Let those of us who struggle to get ahead, not those who were born ahead, debate and decide health care for all American citizens.  The time is NOW!

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