THE SYSTEM THAT KILLS.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
“SKIN CANCER!” my parents and I cried together. “But I'm always so careful in the sun,” I concluded.
The doctor nodded. “Sometimes it can happen to those that are,” she said. “Fortunately, you're young and we've caught it early, so it's easily treatable.”
“Yeah,” I said with a bitter laugh. “If I had Health Insurance to pay for it.”
- - -
I had known I was 'different' from the day I became self aware. I had had trouble counting, reading, and doing other mental tasks in my early schooling that my classmates did with ease. Later schooling had been much the same, only the more difficult concepts had taken even longer to grasp. I gave up arguing with those who called me a 'retard' in about Third Grade, it did no good, made no difference and just used up energy I soon found that I did not have to spare.
Finally, at the end of Fifth Grade, I asked my parents, “Why am I 'different'?”
They both hesitated and the looks they gave each other told me this was a question they had expected and dreaded for a long time.
“Well, Samantha,” my mother finally said. “When you were born. . . there was a moment as you were coming down the birth canal, when your brain was robbed of oxygen by a tight place, and that caused you to be born with a brain with some . . .damage.”
“Why didn't my brain just heal, like my arm did when I broke it after falling off the monkey bars?”
“Well, dear”my father began. “The brain is a little different than the bones in your arm. When a part of someone's brain dies or is damaged, that deadness or damage is permanent. The brain can create new ways of performing tasks if one bit is unusable, but it cannot repair itself like bones can.”
At the time, it had seemed strange to my child's mind that something as simple as an arm bone COULD repair itself and yet something as complex as my brain could not, but I did not pursue this line of questions further.
“Is that why I always saw Uncle Johny when I needed a doctor, because other doctor's didn't want to see kids with damaged brains?” I asked years later, recalling that conversation at Uncle Johny's Funeral.
“In a way” my mother replied. “Before the 2010 Health Care Overhaul, Health Insurance Companies would not even cover minors with preexisting conditions, which your damaged brain was considered. Now they have to cover you at least until you are twenty-six through us, so we wanted to get you all the care we could during this brief window, since for the past year and a half Uncle Johny could not take care of you.”
She then explained that the window was brief because when I turn Twenty-Xix, which I will in just a few weeks, I will no longer be eligible to be covered through her and my father, and the insurance companies can still deny adults with preexisting conditions coverage for another two years. Fortunately, everything turned out good in my health evaluations, so I thought everything was fine.
My Twenty-Sixth Birthday came and went with only a small and quiet party, for I have never had very many close friends. A few days later, my parents got the letter from their Health Insurance saying that I was too old to still be covered through them and so was being dropped. This we had been expecting, and so had been searching for other options.
After receiving this letter, we sent for applications for many of these, filled them out and sent them in. Without fail, they all denied me coverage because of my preexisting condition, which now that I am an adult they can still do for two more years. So in 2012 I am without Health Insurance options for another two years, and. . .
- - -
“Yeah,” I said with a bitter laugh. “If I had Health Insurance to pay for it. Since I don't because of my preexisting condition and there's no way we can pay out of pocket, how long have I got?”
She stared at me for a long time. Clearly, she'd never had a patient decline treatment for this reason before. “A year maximum,” she finally said. “Probably more like six months, maybe less.”
My parents dissolved into tears. I was upset too, but I had always in a way suspected that I would not have a long lifespan, and since discovering the lump on my arm had been preparing myself for this news. What part of me was upset, though, was more angry at a system that allowed this and the people who defended it than a sad kind of upset.
The following weeks were not pleasant. The cancer burned and ate away at my skin and also moved inside my body, burning there too.
Then, one night, about two months after my diagnosis, I wake and feel like every inch of my body, outside and inside, is on fire. The pain is unbearable.
“Mommy! Daddy”” I scream in sheer anguish, and then, suddenly, excruciatingly, everything is gone and the world goes black.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
How CanSuch People Call Themselves Christians
Jesus said: "Not a sparrow falls to the ground that doesn't make a difference to God." How, then, can taking poor children off S-Chip and poor adults off Medicaid not make a difference to everyone who claims to be His Follower?
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
THE MARKETPLACE OF DEATH
'THE MARKET PLACE OF DEATH'.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
“The market is always best,” said Senator Don Coyote. “Of course having returned Health Care to a market based system is a positive step. Government run Health Care was always a bad idea.”
With a tired sigh, Monroe tried yet again to explain. “It was never Government Run Health Care. The Health Care Law merely said that Health Insurance Companies had to treat patients as people, not as simply numbers.”
“Well,,” said Senator Coyote. “A market based system would reduce costs to Insurance Companies, allow individuals to make their own Health Care Choices,, and make Health Care Decisions between patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats.”
“And the business bureaucrats that used to run it did so well for people like me,” said Mark Krindel.
Holding up his right arm, all saw the stump where his hand had once been. “When my hand got a gangrene infection, my insurance company refused to pay for treatment because they said it was caused by a wound I got from a dog bite as a child that never properly healed and so was caused by a 'preexisting condition' and so they would not cover it, and then they dropped me entirely. Fortunately, I had a doctor friend who cut my infected hand off for free before it spread to the rest of my body, but he couldn't fit me for any kind of replacement without insurance, his clinic wouldn't allow it. I'd just gotten coverage and gotten approved for a prosthetic when YOU undid Justice In Health Care and I was immediately dropped. Your 'Market Place' when it comes to Health Care is a Market Place of Death. My stump is infected and I can't even get it treated. So don't tell ME the market is always best. It has sentenced me to death for having been bitten by a dog on the hand when I was a child.”
Moments after sitting down, Mark stopped breathing.
“The infection had already reached his lungs,” his friend Matt explained. “So, Senator Coyote, you and your lot really did sentence him to death by returning our Health Care System to a Market Place of Death.”
“Well,” said Senator Coyote, as Mark's corpse was removed from the room. “He should have had the hand taken care of when he was a child and his parents' insurance would cover it.”
“He did,” said Matt. “But the market place of death just looked for any excuse it could find not to cover him and latched on to that.” Overcome with grief for his friend, Matt left the room, unable to say more.
But Monroe had more to say. “So, now you see one example of the wonders of the marketplace when dealing with matters of life and death. But. . .”
A woman stood up. “My brother had a very minor stroke as a child. He was almost completely functional, except for a slightly weaker than usual unfavored hand. Nevertheless, when he got brain cancer at age thirty-six, his insurance refused to pay for treatment because they said it stemmed from his preexisting brain condition.”
“And what is your brother's current status?” asked Senator Coyote.
The woman removed an urn from her coat pocket, unstopped it and hurled its contents at the senator.
“That's what your 'Market Based' Health Care did to him. He had started treatment during the brief time when people were put before profits in health care, but then you put profits first again, and The Market Place of Death lived, for lack of a more appropriate word, up to its name.”
After breathing hard a moment, she gasped, realizing what she had just done with her brother's ashes, then fainted, and was removed from the room.
Senator Coyote made as if to leave, but then one more person stood up.
With a sigh, Senator Coyote sat down once more. “Yes, what sob story do you have. And remove the hood, I wish to see people's faces when I hear from them.”
The figure remained very still for a moment, then shook its head. “You shall see my face at the proper time, but for you that is not this day.”
“What do you mean, 'For me it is not this day'? Speak, and do not waste my time. Who are you and what have you to say?”
“I would like to say that I applaud your efforts,” said the terrible, almost inhuman voice. “They have been of great service to me, I thank you.”
“You're...you're welcome,” said Senator Coyote uncertainly. “But what do you mean 'service to you'? Are you an insurance executive?”
The black hood shook. “No, not one of them, though their service I also appreciate. The Marketplace you have created for me is quite rich with harvest, and I have taken great pleasure in its advantages over the system that for a while robbed me of my due. Oh, I feel another harvest in need of reaping. MMMM. A young child with a stroke that could not be treated because of an earlier brain injury, delicious.”
The figure turned to leave, but Senator Coyote called it back. “I would at least know the names of those who testify before me.”
The figure turned, its posture seeming surprised. “Do you not know me. Can it be that you have provided me with a market pace rich with food and yet do not know me. Perhaps. Well, such a faithful and productive servant should know his master's name, and you are a wonderful agent. I am Death. I thank you for your service. Keep it up, and we shall meet again where I shall reward your service. But now, I must go feast on that child's soul. Well done, valued servant, and continue.”
Then in a sweep of black robes, the figure was gone, leaving all in a state of stunned silence and Senator Coyote whiter than a sheet.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
“The market is always best,” said Senator Don Coyote. “Of course having returned Health Care to a market based system is a positive step. Government run Health Care was always a bad idea.”
With a tired sigh, Monroe tried yet again to explain. “It was never Government Run Health Care. The Health Care Law merely said that Health Insurance Companies had to treat patients as people, not as simply numbers.”
“Well,,” said Senator Coyote. “A market based system would reduce costs to Insurance Companies, allow individuals to make their own Health Care Choices,, and make Health Care Decisions between patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats.”
“And the business bureaucrats that used to run it did so well for people like me,” said Mark Krindel.
Holding up his right arm, all saw the stump where his hand had once been. “When my hand got a gangrene infection, my insurance company refused to pay for treatment because they said it was caused by a wound I got from a dog bite as a child that never properly healed and so was caused by a 'preexisting condition' and so they would not cover it, and then they dropped me entirely. Fortunately, I had a doctor friend who cut my infected hand off for free before it spread to the rest of my body, but he couldn't fit me for any kind of replacement without insurance, his clinic wouldn't allow it. I'd just gotten coverage and gotten approved for a prosthetic when YOU undid Justice In Health Care and I was immediately dropped. Your 'Market Place' when it comes to Health Care is a Market Place of Death. My stump is infected and I can't even get it treated. So don't tell ME the market is always best. It has sentenced me to death for having been bitten by a dog on the hand when I was a child.”
Moments after sitting down, Mark stopped breathing.
“The infection had already reached his lungs,” his friend Matt explained. “So, Senator Coyote, you and your lot really did sentence him to death by returning our Health Care System to a Market Place of Death.”
“Well,” said Senator Coyote, as Mark's corpse was removed from the room. “He should have had the hand taken care of when he was a child and his parents' insurance would cover it.”
“He did,” said Matt. “But the market place of death just looked for any excuse it could find not to cover him and latched on to that.” Overcome with grief for his friend, Matt left the room, unable to say more.
But Monroe had more to say. “So, now you see one example of the wonders of the marketplace when dealing with matters of life and death. But. . .”
A woman stood up. “My brother had a very minor stroke as a child. He was almost completely functional, except for a slightly weaker than usual unfavored hand. Nevertheless, when he got brain cancer at age thirty-six, his insurance refused to pay for treatment because they said it stemmed from his preexisting brain condition.”
“And what is your brother's current status?” asked Senator Coyote.
The woman removed an urn from her coat pocket, unstopped it and hurled its contents at the senator.
“That's what your 'Market Based' Health Care did to him. He had started treatment during the brief time when people were put before profits in health care, but then you put profits first again, and The Market Place of Death lived, for lack of a more appropriate word, up to its name.”
After breathing hard a moment, she gasped, realizing what she had just done with her brother's ashes, then fainted, and was removed from the room.
Senator Coyote made as if to leave, but then one more person stood up.
With a sigh, Senator Coyote sat down once more. “Yes, what sob story do you have. And remove the hood, I wish to see people's faces when I hear from them.”
The figure remained very still for a moment, then shook its head. “You shall see my face at the proper time, but for you that is not this day.”
“What do you mean, 'For me it is not this day'? Speak, and do not waste my time. Who are you and what have you to say?”
“I would like to say that I applaud your efforts,” said the terrible, almost inhuman voice. “They have been of great service to me, I thank you.”
“You're...you're welcome,” said Senator Coyote uncertainly. “But what do you mean 'service to you'? Are you an insurance executive?”
The black hood shook. “No, not one of them, though their service I also appreciate. The Marketplace you have created for me is quite rich with harvest, and I have taken great pleasure in its advantages over the system that for a while robbed me of my due. Oh, I feel another harvest in need of reaping. MMMM. A young child with a stroke that could not be treated because of an earlier brain injury, delicious.”
The figure turned to leave, but Senator Coyote called it back. “I would at least know the names of those who testify before me.”
The figure turned, its posture seeming surprised. “Do you not know me. Can it be that you have provided me with a market pace rich with food and yet do not know me. Perhaps. Well, such a faithful and productive servant should know his master's name, and you are a wonderful agent. I am Death. I thank you for your service. Keep it up, and we shall meet again where I shall reward your service. But now, I must go feast on that child's soul. Well done, valued servant, and continue.”
Then in a sweep of black robes, the figure was gone, leaving all in a state of stunned silence and Senator Coyote whiter than a sheet.
Monday, March 26, 2012
The Price
'LIGHTNING DOES STRIKE TWICE IN THE SAME PLACE, AT LEAST IN THE HEARTS'.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
The day was bright and sunny in Washington D.C., which was quite appropriate or quite inappropriate, depending on whether you were a supporter or an opponent of Obamacare, as The Twenty-Six Attorneys General, with Greg Abbott at the head, marched purposefully towards The Supreme Court building.
“Today begins the end of Obamacare,” he began. “And the beginning of a return to Money Care, where coverage is only for the profitable. . .”
They all started to laugh as he opened is mouth to continue. Before he could say another word, however, a sudden bolt of lightning came out of the clear blue sky, directly hit and momentarily engulfed him. He screamed in agony and then a look of horrified recognition came over his face. He gave a terrified scream and then dropped dead within the fireball. The lightning bolt soon turned his corpse to ash, and then he was gone.
His colleagues paused, stunned. After a moment, though, they shook their heads and continued on. “Strange things sometimes happen with the weather,”one began. “It was just bad luck that. . .” Suddenly, she screamed as another freak lightning bolt struck, killed and incinerated her, and at the same moment four of her colleagues screamed as they met the same fate.
The remaining twenty were still for a long time, for six of their fellows dying so suddenly and in exactly the same manner and each with that horrified look of recognition on their faces was something to give them pause,for it was a quite abnormal turn of events. However, after a time they all agreed that, as one put it “There's nothing we can do about it, and the rest of us do still have a job to do,” and so they continued on towards their destination.
As they moved closer to the building, there was suddenly a crash from above. Two of the attorneys general looked up just in time to see a huge chunk of masonry falling from a nearby building and barely had time to scream before it flattened both of them to the ground, crushing both of their heads. The remaining eighteen were quite shaken by this unexpected turn of events, but still had a job to do and so continued on.
Suddenly, there was a crash right beside them.
“Help!” cried two more of the Attorneys General,, pinned under a large fallen tree. Before anything could be done, however, the weight of the tree pressed down on them and they screamed once more as life left them, each with the same horrified look of recognition on their face.
Shaken, the sixteen remaining Attorneys General continued on towards their destination, for they were nearly there.
Suddenly, another screamed and collapsed, a look of horrified recognition on his face and a huge and solid piece of bird poop cutting right through the bald top of his head.
The remaining fifteen quickened their pace towards the building they sought.
“At last, we're in the building,” said one Attorney General. “We only lost eleven on the journey here, and now we're sa...”
He trailed off at a creak from above. Looking up, too late, he saw part of the ceiling collapsing on him and two of his fellows. They all three screamed as the ceiling collapsed on top of them, and all three bore that horrified look of recognition upon their faces just before they died.
Shaken, the twelve remaining Attorneys General entered the actual Chamber of The Supreme Court when they were told that The Justices were ready for them.
“Honorable Justices of The Supreme Court,” one of them began. “The mandate to purchase Health Insurance in The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act violates The Constitution's guarantee of Liberty. . .”
“What about the liberty of those of us with preexisting Health Conditions?” shouted someone from the gallery. “Forced to buy Risk Pools required to always be twice the rate of comparable private coverage by state law and even at that rate the lowest deductible available being $1,000 and in other states having absolutely nothing?”
The person was removed by the guards.
The Attorney General had just opened his mouth to continue when the rumbling started. Instead he said “What's that?”
“It's an earthquake, you imbecile,” said The Attorney General from Utah. “I'd know that feeling anywhere.”
“But there are no fault lines around here. . .” someone began, but then the shaking intensified and parts of the ceiling began to fall. Huge chunks of masonry fell on Justices Scalia and Thomas and three more Attorneys General, killing all five instantly, although not before the same look of horrified recognition came over all five of their faces.
The remaining nine Attorneys General and seven Justices ran for the exits as the entire building shook. They all made it out just before the entire building collapsed, although the outside all was in such confusion it was hardly safer than the place they had just left. All were running every which way in chaotic confusion as the ground continued to rumble and shake.
Suddenly, there were three tremendous “BOOMS” in a row as three more freak lightning bolts struck, killed and incinerated three more Attorneys General. Then even the survivors of The Supreme Court building collapse, who had until then managed to maintain some level of calm, began to run in all directions, joining in the screaming as well.
Suddenly, a new sound joined the human screaming. A buzzing sound. It started off weak and indistinct, but slowly it grew into a sound with more definition. Suddenly. . .
From around a corner of the square came a swarm of tens if not hundreds of thousands of bees. They attacked everyone in the square, and children screamed and cried, and even the adults panicked. Most panicked of all, however, was one of the six remaining Attorneys General, who did not remember ever having been stung by a bee before, but realized with the fist sting that she was allergic. She looked everywhere for a means of escape, everything she had come there for forgotten, thinking only of self preservation. But the place was so packed with terrified people running in all directions, there was no hope of escape. And then the bees were upon her, hundreds of them, and at least she felt her airway close and collapsed to the ground, a look of horrified recognition on her face as she died.
Her colleagues watched in horror as she fell lifeless to the ground and her body was then trampled by the panicked people fleeing the earthquake and the bees.
Then a huge shadow fell across the whole mall, blocking out sun, star and moon. Looking up, everyone saw a huge asteroid headed straight for the mall. Everyone ran for it. However, Justices Aleto and Roberts along with three more Attorneys General were not fast enough and were all five crushed beneath the asteroid when it crashed into the mall itself, leaving just five of the Nine Justices and only two remaining suing Attorneys General.
Then the two turned their eyes towards The Heavens. “OK,” they cried. “All Right. We were wrong. Obamacare.. I mean, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is right in every way.” Then each pulled a Bible from their brief cases, placed their left hands below it and their right hands upon it, and said, as one,, “I swear upon Your Holy Word never to even think of a legal challenge to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act again, nor to allow any others to do so, for I now see that I was completely wrong and it is completely right, and I will henceforth stop fighting and fully support it in every way, So Help me GOD.”
After they had said this, a alight rainbow appeared in the sky, over the wreckage of The Supreme Court Building, and all present knew what that meant and resolved to work for it in all possible ways.
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT
The day was bright and sunny in Washington D.C., which was quite appropriate or quite inappropriate, depending on whether you were a supporter or an opponent of Obamacare, as The Twenty-Six Attorneys General, with Greg Abbott at the head, marched purposefully towards The Supreme Court building.
“Today begins the end of Obamacare,” he began. “And the beginning of a return to Money Care, where coverage is only for the profitable. . .”
They all started to laugh as he opened is mouth to continue. Before he could say another word, however, a sudden bolt of lightning came out of the clear blue sky, directly hit and momentarily engulfed him. He screamed in agony and then a look of horrified recognition came over his face. He gave a terrified scream and then dropped dead within the fireball. The lightning bolt soon turned his corpse to ash, and then he was gone.
His colleagues paused, stunned. After a moment, though, they shook their heads and continued on. “Strange things sometimes happen with the weather,”one began. “It was just bad luck that. . .” Suddenly, she screamed as another freak lightning bolt struck, killed and incinerated her, and at the same moment four of her colleagues screamed as they met the same fate.
The remaining twenty were still for a long time, for six of their fellows dying so suddenly and in exactly the same manner and each with that horrified look of recognition on their faces was something to give them pause,for it was a quite abnormal turn of events. However, after a time they all agreed that, as one put it “There's nothing we can do about it, and the rest of us do still have a job to do,” and so they continued on towards their destination.
As they moved closer to the building, there was suddenly a crash from above. Two of the attorneys general looked up just in time to see a huge chunk of masonry falling from a nearby building and barely had time to scream before it flattened both of them to the ground, crushing both of their heads. The remaining eighteen were quite shaken by this unexpected turn of events, but still had a job to do and so continued on.
Suddenly, there was a crash right beside them.
“Help!” cried two more of the Attorneys General,, pinned under a large fallen tree. Before anything could be done, however, the weight of the tree pressed down on them and they screamed once more as life left them, each with the same horrified look of recognition on their face.
Shaken, the sixteen remaining Attorneys General continued on towards their destination, for they were nearly there.
Suddenly, another screamed and collapsed, a look of horrified recognition on his face and a huge and solid piece of bird poop cutting right through the bald top of his head.
The remaining fifteen quickened their pace towards the building they sought.
“At last, we're in the building,” said one Attorney General. “We only lost eleven on the journey here, and now we're sa...”
He trailed off at a creak from above. Looking up, too late, he saw part of the ceiling collapsing on him and two of his fellows. They all three screamed as the ceiling collapsed on top of them, and all three bore that horrified look of recognition upon their faces just before they died.
Shaken, the twelve remaining Attorneys General entered the actual Chamber of The Supreme Court when they were told that The Justices were ready for them.
“Honorable Justices of The Supreme Court,” one of them began. “The mandate to purchase Health Insurance in The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act violates The Constitution's guarantee of Liberty. . .”
“What about the liberty of those of us with preexisting Health Conditions?” shouted someone from the gallery. “Forced to buy Risk Pools required to always be twice the rate of comparable private coverage by state law and even at that rate the lowest deductible available being $1,000 and in other states having absolutely nothing?”
The person was removed by the guards.
The Attorney General had just opened his mouth to continue when the rumbling started. Instead he said “What's that?”
“It's an earthquake, you imbecile,” said The Attorney General from Utah. “I'd know that feeling anywhere.”
“But there are no fault lines around here. . .” someone began, but then the shaking intensified and parts of the ceiling began to fall. Huge chunks of masonry fell on Justices Scalia and Thomas and three more Attorneys General, killing all five instantly, although not before the same look of horrified recognition came over all five of their faces.
The remaining nine Attorneys General and seven Justices ran for the exits as the entire building shook. They all made it out just before the entire building collapsed, although the outside all was in such confusion it was hardly safer than the place they had just left. All were running every which way in chaotic confusion as the ground continued to rumble and shake.
Suddenly, there were three tremendous “BOOMS” in a row as three more freak lightning bolts struck, killed and incinerated three more Attorneys General. Then even the survivors of The Supreme Court building collapse, who had until then managed to maintain some level of calm, began to run in all directions, joining in the screaming as well.
Suddenly, a new sound joined the human screaming. A buzzing sound. It started off weak and indistinct, but slowly it grew into a sound with more definition. Suddenly. . .
From around a corner of the square came a swarm of tens if not hundreds of thousands of bees. They attacked everyone in the square, and children screamed and cried, and even the adults panicked. Most panicked of all, however, was one of the six remaining Attorneys General, who did not remember ever having been stung by a bee before, but realized with the fist sting that she was allergic. She looked everywhere for a means of escape, everything she had come there for forgotten, thinking only of self preservation. But the place was so packed with terrified people running in all directions, there was no hope of escape. And then the bees were upon her, hundreds of them, and at least she felt her airway close and collapsed to the ground, a look of horrified recognition on her face as she died.
Her colleagues watched in horror as she fell lifeless to the ground and her body was then trampled by the panicked people fleeing the earthquake and the bees.
Then a huge shadow fell across the whole mall, blocking out sun, star and moon. Looking up, everyone saw a huge asteroid headed straight for the mall. Everyone ran for it. However, Justices Aleto and Roberts along with three more Attorneys General were not fast enough and were all five crushed beneath the asteroid when it crashed into the mall itself, leaving just five of the Nine Justices and only two remaining suing Attorneys General.
Then the two turned their eyes towards The Heavens. “OK,” they cried. “All Right. We were wrong. Obamacare.. I mean, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is right in every way.” Then each pulled a Bible from their brief cases, placed their left hands below it and their right hands upon it, and said, as one,, “I swear upon Your Holy Word never to even think of a legal challenge to The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act again, nor to allow any others to do so, for I now see that I was completely wrong and it is completely right, and I will henceforth stop fighting and fully support it in every way, So Help me GOD.”
After they had said this, a alight rainbow appeared in the sky, over the wreckage of The Supreme Court Building, and all present knew what that meant and resolved to work for it in all possible ways.
TheFirst Day I'll Dance
I'll Dance on The Day that all objections to The Restored Very Humanity of Those of Us A Profits Over People Health Care System deemed subhuman end.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Of Course The Healthy Have No Health Insurance Complaints or Issues
I am glad Rick Santorum has perfect Health Care and perfect Health Insurance coverage and does not need the government to give him The Right to either. Perhaps, though, he should consider the case of the following.
IS MY LIFE WORTH ABSOLUTELY ZERO?
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT.
Once, there was a boy. He was not a perfect boy, but neither was he an unusually bad boy. He liked playing with his action figures, his friends and his little sister, although he did also sometimes enjoy teasing her, but what big brother doesn't?
On a day in the summer of his eighth year, however, the course of his life changed forever. He was playing with some friends of his who lived across a fairly busy street from his home when the time came to go home. In crossing the street, for one moment, his focus lapsed. Unfortunately, so did the focus of the driver of an oncoming car. The boy got hit by the car, suffered a traumatic brain injury, a broken leg and numerous bumps, bruises and scratches, including a permanent street scrape on his left knee. He was in the hospital for about three months, six weeks in intensive care and the rest of the time in rehabilitation. After leaving the hospital, the boy attended roughly five years of outpatient physical and occupational therapy. Fortunately, the boy's parents had health insurance willing to help pay for all of this.
Naturally, the boy grew into a young man, although after spending the last three years of college away at school, he did move back in with his mom and dad. At some point after moving back in with his parents, the young man began to have a tripping problem and saw his family doctor about it, which eventually led to his having a leg brace added to his right shoe orthotic, which solved the problem in one blow, with no further action or costs necessary.
Eventually, of course, the young man turned twenty-five and so as things stood at that time became too old to be covered through his parents' health insurance any longer. So he searched a myriad of companies and eventually settled on one called Golden Rule (an ironic name as I shall get to later). On their application, they asked what major health issues the applicant had had within the past five years. Since when the young man was twenty-five when he was eight was obviously much more than five years back, he did not mention his car accident, and as the brace orthotic was a one time only expenditure that was already paid for and so would never cost Golden Rule anything, he also did not mention this. Everything was fine for about a year, but then he dared to actually file a claim. Then Golden Rule dug into his past and found the brace and then dug back eighteen years and found the car accident, including the traumatic brain injury. Then Golden Rule sent the young man a letter saying that his coverage had been canceled, in the front it said for neglecting to mention the one time only expenditure of the brace orthotic, even though it would never cost them anything, although inside the letter it also mentioned the preexisting condition of his Traumatic Brain Injury, and when he called the company for clarification the young woman on the phone only sited his car accident, and in particular the traumatic brain injury, and said that had they known about that they would not have issued the policy.
Sometime after this phone call, it did occur to the young man that since the end of his therapy the only medical expenditure he had had on a regular basis was an annual physical, he'd only been in a hospital to visit other sick family members, and the leg brace was not something that would ever cost Golden Rule a cent, and he had not had ongoing medical expenditures related to his traumatic brain injury, so covering him was not really any more likely to cost Golden Rule any more than covering someone with a spotless medical history. However, he concluded, having accepted their decision at the time because there had seemed no other option, it then seemed too late to question this particular company about this. He applied to two or three other companies after this, and disclosed his full medical history, and was turned down because of it by all of them.
Eventually he found that his state, Texas, had a Risk Pool for what were considered high risk patients, and signed up with them since that was all he could get, although the categorization still puzzled him since had a company looked at his overall medical history, rather than singling in on the car accident and the leg brace, two isolated moments in his medical history, they would not have seen an unusually expensive patient, since, as I said, his only regular expense the rest of the time was an annual physical, and again, his traumatic brain injury, the preexisting condition he eventually realized Golden Rule had been referring to since it was not an injury that would ever fully heal like his leg bone had, did not require any medical treatment on an ongoing basis. The man felt 'The Pool' as it identified itself, was certainly far better than nothing, his only other option, but state law did require (and still does) that it always be twice as expensive as comparable, private coverage, leading to yearly rate hikes, and every year he had to prove that he was still ineligible for private coverage, and the lowest deductible he could get at a rate no higher than that was $1,000, so he could tell the system was designed to try to get people off of it as quickly as possible. However, since he still had the preexisting health condition of the traumatic brain injury, even though it generated no regular expenditures whatsoever, there was nowhere else for him to go.
Then, in 2010, President Barak Obaa signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, which banned insurance companies from practicing the discrimination of the Preexisting Conditions Exclusion, for minors immediately and for people his age come 2014. He was very happy to no longer be labeled subhuman because of his traumatic brain injury. He was appalled, however, at the vitriol and lies put forward by the Republican Party about this new law, and that the American People rewarded them for their resistance to True Justice in Health Care in November 2010. It gave him the impression that his life, as someone with a preexisting health condition, was regarded as worth absolutely nothing, along with the lives of everyone else with a preexisting health condition, especially since none of the alternatives to the new law floated by Republicans even acknowledged that there was such a thing as a preexisting conditions exclusion or even mentioned the words preexisting conditions at all, and when he was at a panel discussion on health care and asked the Republican on the panel point blank if the new law is undone what will your party do as an alternative that will help those of us with preexisting conditions, forcing the man to at least acknowledge that those with preexisting conditions do in fact exist, the best answer he could give was that insurance companies should just charge everyone risk pool rates. On later reflection, the man realized that this would drive all those who considered themselves in good shape health wise to drop coverage, causing the companies to raise rates even more for those who did feel that they should have health insurance, so it would not do anything to solve the man's problem. In addition, in the fall of 2010, the man had some physical therapy for some tendonitous in his left arm, his severely favored hand since the right side of his body was the side actually struck by the car when he was eight, but as the $735 bill was less than $1,000, he and his parents had to pay it entirely out of pocket, so even when his tendonitous returned in early 2011, he refrained from mentioning it until it was unavoidable, since another bill of that size would obviously be a big cut from his family's finances. If the new law remains in effect, come 2014, he could shop around for a plan with a lower rate and or a lower deductible, but with all the political and legal efforts to undo it he worries he may never get that chance. To those that talk of the new law as an infringement on personal liberty, he wants to scream at the top of his lungs “Where's MY LIBERTY and the liberty of everyone else deemed 'unprofitable' to cover by the old system!?” Ever heard the phrase “majority rule” yes, but “with “minority rights”? protected, and where is his kinds' protection as a health minority without this new law? To those that question its Constitutionality, he asks, “Ever heard of The Commerce Claus” and specifically with regard to the mandate “The Coefficient Clause” ARTICLE I, Section 18 of THE CONSTITUTION OF THE United States OF AMRICA, which gives Congress the power “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.”which Chief Justice Marshall, in 1819, in The Case of McCulloch v. Maryland said meant: “Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional” and without getting to cover all of the none risky people, Insurance companies won't go for the potentially risky people, and to him giving everyone the right to shop around for the best plan is beyond doubt a legitimate end. Which brings him back to the belief that those who oppose the new law really do consider his life and the lives of everyone else with preexisting health conditions worth absolutely zero, and he wonders how to convince them otherwise, or maybe even just convince them that he is in fact a human being despite his having been hit by a car and sustaining a traumatic brain injury when he was eight years old, which he begins to think they may doubt, and that his traumatic brain injury does not in fact make him subhuman, as it seems to him they think it does, and, if the new law is undone, what will happen if he is forced to just stay on The Risk Pool until its rates grow to expensive to pay and then have absolutely nothing and what will happen then if he needs medical care?
As most of you have probably figured out, I was that boy, was that young man and am that man, and as someone with a preexisting health condition, I really do have the impression that those who oppose the ban on the discrimination of this exclusion regard my life and he lives of everyone else with a preexisting health condition, as worth absolutely nothing because, in my case, of the preexisting condition of my traumatic brain injury. So, if I'm wrong in that, I wish one of them would explain to me how so?
IS MY LIFE WORTH ABSOLUTELY ZERO?
BY MATTHEW LUCAS BECKETT.
Once, there was a boy. He was not a perfect boy, but neither was he an unusually bad boy. He liked playing with his action figures, his friends and his little sister, although he did also sometimes enjoy teasing her, but what big brother doesn't?
On a day in the summer of his eighth year, however, the course of his life changed forever. He was playing with some friends of his who lived across a fairly busy street from his home when the time came to go home. In crossing the street, for one moment, his focus lapsed. Unfortunately, so did the focus of the driver of an oncoming car. The boy got hit by the car, suffered a traumatic brain injury, a broken leg and numerous bumps, bruises and scratches, including a permanent street scrape on his left knee. He was in the hospital for about three months, six weeks in intensive care and the rest of the time in rehabilitation. After leaving the hospital, the boy attended roughly five years of outpatient physical and occupational therapy. Fortunately, the boy's parents had health insurance willing to help pay for all of this.
Naturally, the boy grew into a young man, although after spending the last three years of college away at school, he did move back in with his mom and dad. At some point after moving back in with his parents, the young man began to have a tripping problem and saw his family doctor about it, which eventually led to his having a leg brace added to his right shoe orthotic, which solved the problem in one blow, with no further action or costs necessary.
Eventually, of course, the young man turned twenty-five and so as things stood at that time became too old to be covered through his parents' health insurance any longer. So he searched a myriad of companies and eventually settled on one called Golden Rule (an ironic name as I shall get to later). On their application, they asked what major health issues the applicant had had within the past five years. Since when the young man was twenty-five when he was eight was obviously much more than five years back, he did not mention his car accident, and as the brace orthotic was a one time only expenditure that was already paid for and so would never cost Golden Rule anything, he also did not mention this. Everything was fine for about a year, but then he dared to actually file a claim. Then Golden Rule dug into his past and found the brace and then dug back eighteen years and found the car accident, including the traumatic brain injury. Then Golden Rule sent the young man a letter saying that his coverage had been canceled, in the front it said for neglecting to mention the one time only expenditure of the brace orthotic, even though it would never cost them anything, although inside the letter it also mentioned the preexisting condition of his Traumatic Brain Injury, and when he called the company for clarification the young woman on the phone only sited his car accident, and in particular the traumatic brain injury, and said that had they known about that they would not have issued the policy.
Sometime after this phone call, it did occur to the young man that since the end of his therapy the only medical expenditure he had had on a regular basis was an annual physical, he'd only been in a hospital to visit other sick family members, and the leg brace was not something that would ever cost Golden Rule a cent, and he had not had ongoing medical expenditures related to his traumatic brain injury, so covering him was not really any more likely to cost Golden Rule any more than covering someone with a spotless medical history. However, he concluded, having accepted their decision at the time because there had seemed no other option, it then seemed too late to question this particular company about this. He applied to two or three other companies after this, and disclosed his full medical history, and was turned down because of it by all of them.
Eventually he found that his state, Texas, had a Risk Pool for what were considered high risk patients, and signed up with them since that was all he could get, although the categorization still puzzled him since had a company looked at his overall medical history, rather than singling in on the car accident and the leg brace, two isolated moments in his medical history, they would not have seen an unusually expensive patient, since, as I said, his only regular expense the rest of the time was an annual physical, and again, his traumatic brain injury, the preexisting condition he eventually realized Golden Rule had been referring to since it was not an injury that would ever fully heal like his leg bone had, did not require any medical treatment on an ongoing basis. The man felt 'The Pool' as it identified itself, was certainly far better than nothing, his only other option, but state law did require (and still does) that it always be twice as expensive as comparable, private coverage, leading to yearly rate hikes, and every year he had to prove that he was still ineligible for private coverage, and the lowest deductible he could get at a rate no higher than that was $1,000, so he could tell the system was designed to try to get people off of it as quickly as possible. However, since he still had the preexisting health condition of the traumatic brain injury, even though it generated no regular expenditures whatsoever, there was nowhere else for him to go.
Then, in 2010, President Barak Obaa signed The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law, which banned insurance companies from practicing the discrimination of the Preexisting Conditions Exclusion, for minors immediately and for people his age come 2014. He was very happy to no longer be labeled subhuman because of his traumatic brain injury. He was appalled, however, at the vitriol and lies put forward by the Republican Party about this new law, and that the American People rewarded them for their resistance to True Justice in Health Care in November 2010. It gave him the impression that his life, as someone with a preexisting health condition, was regarded as worth absolutely nothing, along with the lives of everyone else with a preexisting health condition, especially since none of the alternatives to the new law floated by Republicans even acknowledged that there was such a thing as a preexisting conditions exclusion or even mentioned the words preexisting conditions at all, and when he was at a panel discussion on health care and asked the Republican on the panel point blank if the new law is undone what will your party do as an alternative that will help those of us with preexisting conditions, forcing the man to at least acknowledge that those with preexisting conditions do in fact exist, the best answer he could give was that insurance companies should just charge everyone risk pool rates. On later reflection, the man realized that this would drive all those who considered themselves in good shape health wise to drop coverage, causing the companies to raise rates even more for those who did feel that they should have health insurance, so it would not do anything to solve the man's problem. In addition, in the fall of 2010, the man had some physical therapy for some tendonitous in his left arm, his severely favored hand since the right side of his body was the side actually struck by the car when he was eight, but as the $735 bill was less than $1,000, he and his parents had to pay it entirely out of pocket, so even when his tendonitous returned in early 2011, he refrained from mentioning it until it was unavoidable, since another bill of that size would obviously be a big cut from his family's finances. If the new law remains in effect, come 2014, he could shop around for a plan with a lower rate and or a lower deductible, but with all the political and legal efforts to undo it he worries he may never get that chance. To those that talk of the new law as an infringement on personal liberty, he wants to scream at the top of his lungs “Where's MY LIBERTY and the liberty of everyone else deemed 'unprofitable' to cover by the old system!?” Ever heard the phrase “majority rule” yes, but “with “minority rights”? protected, and where is his kinds' protection as a health minority without this new law? To those that question its Constitutionality, he asks, “Ever heard of The Commerce Claus” and specifically with regard to the mandate “The Coefficient Clause” ARTICLE I, Section 18 of THE CONSTITUTION OF THE United States OF AMRICA, which gives Congress the power “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.”which Chief Justice Marshall, in 1819, in The Case of McCulloch v. Maryland said meant: “Let the end be legitimate, let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consist with the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional” and without getting to cover all of the none risky people, Insurance companies won't go for the potentially risky people, and to him giving everyone the right to shop around for the best plan is beyond doubt a legitimate end. Which brings him back to the belief that those who oppose the new law really do consider his life and the lives of everyone else with preexisting health conditions worth absolutely zero, and he wonders how to convince them otherwise, or maybe even just convince them that he is in fact a human being despite his having been hit by a car and sustaining a traumatic brain injury when he was eight years old, which he begins to think they may doubt, and that his traumatic brain injury does not in fact make him subhuman, as it seems to him they think it does, and, if the new law is undone, what will happen if he is forced to just stay on The Risk Pool until its rates grow to expensive to pay and then have absolutely nothing and what will happen then if he needs medical care?
As most of you have probably figured out, I was that boy, was that young man and am that man, and as someone with a preexisting health condition, I really do have the impression that those who oppose the ban on the discrimination of this exclusion regard my life and he lives of everyone else with a preexisting health condition, as worth absolutely nothing because, in my case, of the preexisting condition of my traumatic brain injury. So, if I'm wrong in that, I wish one of them would explain to me how so?
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