Can We Talk, Mr. President?
Dear Mr. President,
Can we talk for a minute? Look, I’ve been a big supporter of you since 2008. I mean, you made me think we could be great again. Believe me, I’m down with the program. But there’s some changes coming that are really pissing me off with this new health care bill.
I should say in the interest of full disclosure, that I am one of the crazy folks who think health care should be universal for ALL citizens. It should be a right, not a privilege reserved for those who have the luck to land a job with benefits. Also, I completely effing hate the individual mandate to make all citizens pay for insurance. If you can’t afford insurance, how the heck are you going to afford the fines you will now be faced with? I was pretty sure that whole ‘mandate’ thing was included to appease Republicans and look at what happened: they crucified you for it. See where that went?
So, while I can’t get the universal health care single-payer system I want, I thought this bill would help. So, I supported it. But now I’m having doubts. See, we have these flexible spending accounts (also known as FSA) where you can put in pre-tax dollars and pay for medical stuff like office visits, ER visits, prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. It really helps our family as we struggle with never-ending prescriptions and my boys’ severe allergy problems.
But your health care bill removes the ability to buy over-the-counter medicines with FSA funds. WTF, Barack? This is how we help Americans struggling with medical bills and the constant high-cost of the OTC medicines? So, you make a few bucks to help pay for the program. But I don’t like where those bucks are coming from. You’ve made FSA a lot less useful as a tool for my family. Thanks. I hope you never make so little money that you have to decide between food and Zyrtec.
November 28th, 2010 at 1:10 am
Amen Brother Man! Although I am not a Barack supporter, I am always a President supporter. Even if I dont like them personally, they demand our respect simply because they are our President. That being said, I hate the whole health care thing! This insurance crap started WAY before we were ever born. It is NOT going to be solved by one guy, in one term. Not gonna happen. We are never going to make everyone happy. The people who work their butts off to make ends meet, who actually NEED the help, are the ones getting screwed. The rich guys, dont need the help, so they dont care. The lazy people who sit home collecting a check, are already being helped. The government needs to worry less about the rich, and the poor and check those that are smack in the middle. WE are the ones who really need and deserve the help. After all, its my tax dollars paying for everyone else. When do we stop falling through the cracks and start being noticed? (big breath) I think it is time to step off my soap box and head to bed. Thank you for getting me all riled up, Patrick!
November 28th, 2010 at 1:50 am
I don’t like the changes, either. I’m happy that Mike will still be able to buy his OTC diabetic testing supplies with the FSA debit card, but still, there is a lot of stuff we’ll no longer be able to get with the card unless we can get a doctor to write a prescription for it. Mike has allergies, too, and Claritin is the only thing that really works for him.
What I really hate is that the new annual limit is $2500. Mike is on a ton of meds and also has to use two types of insulin. Not to mention his frequent office visits needed to monitor his various health issues. Even with insurance, the co-pays add up quickly. Add to that the testing supplies which are out-of-pocket (even the CVS brand of strips that he uses is not cheap), as well as anything that I need. Yes, it will go over $2500 next year, even factoring in not being able to get OTC meds with that money.
I also don’t agree with the mandate thing requiring everybody to buy insurance or be penalized. They passed that here in Massachusetts years before Obama’s bill was passed. I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it any better now. We do have insurance, so we don’t have to worry about this right now, but who knows what can happen in the future?
From what I understand, Congress and the Senate get excellent health care at no cost to them. How about they pay a portion of their insurance premiums, as we have to, and as anyone else has to? Then they could afford to give the tax cuts to all and health care assistance to those who can’t afford any insurance at all.
But I guess that would be asking too much.
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November 28th, 2010 at 2:08 am
The mandate is necessary if you want to require health insurance companies to cover everyone, including people with preexisting conditions. Without the mandate, insurance companies will be forced to increase their rates to account for the cost of all the new sick people they are required to cover. Another issue, without the mandates, people could just wait until they get sick and then buy insurance, which would totally screw over the insurance companies. Low income families are protected from this mandate however, because the maximum fine is limited as a percentage of household income, in addition families that make less than $88000 get tax credits to help pay for insurance.
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November 28th, 2010 at 9:29 am
You can still get the OTC meds covered if you have a prescription for them.
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Patrick D. Reply:
November 28th, 2010 at 8:59 pm
But then you end up with the same problem when Missouri’s idiot lawmakers wanted to require a prescription to get Sudafed. So, just to get an effective treatment, you have to pay a physician, with a copay and get a prescription that costs more than the over-the-counter cost of just buying it.
See http://www.patricksays.net/2009/02/16/more-bad-ideas-from-our-state-government/