I got this e-mail rant, I agree with most of it

A rant in 4 parts.

Part 1: I don't have Health Insurance.

Don't get me wrong, I pay for coverage. I pay nearly $1000 a month in premiums for a healthy family of four. As of the end of this month, I face a 21% increase in those premiums. But what I get for that outrageous monthly fee is not really, "insurance."

"Insurance" is something that is there when you need it. You pay your premiums every month, and then IF something happens, you're insured. So no, what I have isn't insurance.

Because I buy my coverage through the poorly regulated individual market, what I have is "insurance" only as long as no member of my family is ill. But if anyone becomes ill and the illness becomes expensive, my insurance company will work very hard to find a pretext to deny or cancel my coverage.

So I don't really have insurance. It's more like a weather report -- I have a 20% chance of insurance if I really need it. So, to recap, next year, paying more than $1000 a month will buy me an 80% (or greater) chance of getting nothing in return.

Part 2: I don't need Health Insurance

But here's the thing, I don't need health insurance. I don't need insurance at all.

Insurance is the wrong model. Insurance is something I get in case I need it. I insure my car, though I've never been in an accident and hope not to be. I insure my home knowing that it will probably never burn down. I insure my life through term insurance which is essentially a bet between me and the company -- they're betting I won't die before the term expires, and while I hope they're right, just in case, I want to be sure that my family would have that protection if I did. In all of these cases, I pay my premiums and I may never use my coverage. The insurance company makes a profit by spreading the risk around a large number of customers, knowing that only a relatively small percentage of them will ever need to be paid the benefit.

But when it comes to health, the question isn't IF I will need it, it's WHEN. Sooner or later every one of us will need health care. And sooner or later, it will be expensive care.

Currently, the industry is making a bet: they cover only the young and employed betting that by the time health care gets expensive they will not have to pay. Either the customer gets old enough to become eligible for Medicare, or looses the ability to work and looses work-based coverage. In any case, no longer the industry's problem. It's a good bet for them and the house usually wins.

But for consumers, it is a system that sucks money out of the economy. It's a system that fails to provide care. It is a system that is morally unconscionable. Or, to put it plainly, it's not simply a stupid investment, it is wrong.

So I don't need Health Insurance. I don't want Health Insurance. I need HealthCARE.

Part 3: I don't need more choices

I have choices right now, but they're all bad. I can pay too much for unreliable coverage from Company A, or I can pay too much for unreliable coverage from Company B, or I can take my chances and go without.

I have read proposed plans that would allow me to choose a level of coverage based on my needs, paying more for more coverage and less for bare-bones plans that provide less.

But here's the question, how do I know what I need? I'm healthy, so at the moment I don't need a plan that would cover certain reoccurring costs that for example someone with a chronic condition might need. I don't take any prescriptions, so I don't need a drug benefit.

But I have seen, sadly, how in a moment all of that can change. Young, healthy people get cancer, even with no known risk factors. I have no assurance that when I least expect it, I might be hit by a car, or struck by lightening, or eat cookie dough tainted with E. Coli and suddenly need a level of care that I didn't plan on when I signed a contract.

I know what I need now, but I can't know what I might need tomorrow, so I don't need choices.

Part 4: What I need ...

I need a system that spreads the risk around, including the young and the healthy as well as the aged and the ill. I need a system that doesn't just cover me and my family, because we don't live in a universe unto ourselves, we live in a community. My community suffers when my neighbors are forced into bankruptcy by medical bills. My community suffers when my neighbors are too sick to work. My community suffers when my neighbors die because they lack access to care they can afford. I need a system that covers everyone.

I need a system that doesn't suck money out of my pockets and put it in the hands of lobbyists who work against my interest. (Believe me, I have other places to spend that money -- my local economy, for example.) I need a system that doesn't put healthcare choices in the hands of MBAs, but leaves them in the hands of my MD.

I need a system that covers a minor illness or a major illness, an acute illness or a chronic illness, and doesn't rely on my ability to predict the unknown. I need a system that covers my kids as well as it covers their grand-parents. A system that covers my day-care provider every bit as well as it covers the CEO of my company, but charges them based what they can afford to pay.

What I need is affordable, reliable, universal healthcare.

It's called MEDICARE FOR ALL.

I am employed myself and cover my family, but to those who think they have it great you are just a job layoff a way for not having any coverage and the coverage you have you may have to fight tooth and nail my 3rd child who is special needs does not get perfect coverage we have to fight tooth and nail to make sure we get her needs met, I agree with the above I need health care not health insurance, Medicare for all.

En mis hojos
Xavier the Marine