I try to keep this blog about Bud and my progress thru this pregnancy but today I have to talk about politics, specifically health care. Why health care? Well first it is in the news but also I'm pregnant and now that I need my health insurance more than ever it's time to think about it.
A few weeks back, I got a statement of benefits from my insurance company stating that since I had not met my deductible yet, they would be not be covering any pre-natal care until I met the $5000 deductible! Folks, for a split-second I totally freaked out. It honestly crossed my mind that I could not keep this baby. Where would I come up with $5000 dollars plus the money for the birth! I was really lucky. When Ray got his new job he added me to his insurance so I'm covered by his. With his health insurance I'm only paying $15 for all of my prenatal care!
So what's the difference? Well he works for a major corporation and I work for a small school district which means I pay way more for crappier health insurance! So because I have chosen to work with kids instead of making the big buck in the private sector, I get punished. It's not fair!
Baby Bud deserves prenatal care. Every baby and pregnant woman in this country deserves prenatal care. But more than that every person deserves health care. I work my ass off everyday and my health insurance doesn't cover anything! What if I didn't work and had no health insurance? I know that without Ray's health insurance I would be in a major financial hole right now. I know that there are working people in this country that are one major disease away from being homeless. It's not about Democrat or Republican, its about working Americans getting fair coverage.
I keep hearing people saying that they don't want the government to run their health insurance. They should get to choose their doctors. I guess these people have great insurance to begin with. With my old health insurance (I've dropped my work coverage for Ray's), they choose my doctor. I could go to people in-network or pay the super high price. Sure I have a choice, between Dr. A or Dr. B but what about the wonderful doctors in North Carolina. Nope those were off limits, they are out of network. Some people are saying that they don't want the government to pick what procedures they can have. Well my doctor ordered a CAT scan but the health insurance would only pay for an MRI. So who picked my procedure? In the end, I choose to do neither because I would have to meet my $5000 deductible before they would cover anything.
I know the health care debate is so much bigger than me and Baby Bud. All I can do is share my ups and downs with health insurance. I don't have a solution but I know that sitting on our hands is not going to help. I hope there are some people out there with good solutions because there are too many people dying from preventable diseases for "freedom" of health care choice.
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