Get Your Hands Off of My Healthcare

I'm going to tell a story about my family. When I conclude, I want you as the reader to ask yourself a question. "Should I still say, GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY HEALTHCARE?"

I am a 27 year old, educated, upper lower class female. I am a non smoker, married, and I have no children. I have private health insurance through my employer. My bi-weekly payment for said healthcare is $120.85. That equals $241.70 a month and that equals $2900.40 per year to cover my husband and me for basic preventative doctor visits. Preventative is the key. In the event that my doctor finds something abnormal and wants to further explore what's going on, it costs me a yearly $500 deductible. Now don't forget that I am already paying almost $3000 a year for this service. Add the $500 on top of that and you have cut my income by an eighth. My husband needs work done on his teeth due to no insurance coverage for the majority of his adult life. We can't get him to the doctor because we don't have the money up front to pay for the deductible.

My father is a 55 year old, GED graduate, upper lower class male. He hasn't smoked in 19 years, and has suffered a heart attack. He has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 Diabetes. He has been getting insurance through his employer, which he pays 2/3 of the price, until June of this year. It was not cost effective for the company to offer insurance, so they discontinued his coverage. He was barely making it financially before this, but now if he pays the total amount for his own insurance; it is about $500 every two weeks. How is he going to be able to get to the doctor without insurance?

My sister is a 25 year old, mentally handicapped special needs person. She receives Supplemental Support Income from the United States Government. She lives off of $8088.00 per year. She also receives Medicaid. Her co pay per visit is $3.00. What her monthly check and Medicaid don't cover, I cover. Now remember the amount of money that I make. Still, I try to help her as much as I can.

Now, the average person I have heard yelling, "Keep your hands off of my healthcare," I ask you this. Your tax dollars are already supporting every single inmate incarcerated in the United States, every illegal immigrant that goes to the local hospital for treatment, and every person that is taking advantage of our health system already in place. So, why do you turn your back on the Americans that are working and trying to survive that would like to have the option of going to the doctor to get that mole checked out or get that gum infection taken care of before it kills them?

Does the phrase socialized healthcare scare you? Well ponder this, public school, public police officers, public fire departments, public prisons, and public libraries are all socialized forms of help. They are paid for by the whole of America that pays taxes. They are for the whole of America. And they are made up of the whole of America. So, why do you fear of a public health option?

Now ask yourself if you should still say, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF MY HEALTHCARE?"