National Healthcare Could Help Me

I don't usually go all political on you all. However, because I went from full-time to part-time employment on August 1st, I lost my health insurance. Technically I can inact COBRA before the end of September or get a new plan before then. The problem is, I'm not getting paid a full salary anymore and COBRA is really expensive! Not only is COBRA expensive, but to use it I have to pay for August and September right away. However, I don't want to have my insurance lapse. So, I'm hunting around for insurance options today and it only reinforces to me how badly we need a nationalized health care option.

As I was looking around at the different options, I thought maybe I should see if I qualify for medicare. So, I looked it up and found myself at Washington Basic Health. It turns out I might qualify if I applied. However, I found this on the front page:

Basic Health has a Wait List

To stay within the appropriated budget, Basic Health is no longer processing incoming applications to determine eligibility and has officially implemented a waiting list. New applicants will be placed on a list behind those already waiting. When space becomes available in the future, Basic Health will release names from the list in date-received order and notify applicants.

I want to know how long that wait list is. What are these families on this wait list doing for health coverage? Most likely they don't have any. These families should have access to affordable healthcare. The other developed nations (England, France, Switzerland, etc.) offer national health plans. We need to stop freaking out about socialism and realize that by helping each other we'll be helping ourselves.

National health coverage is actually good for everyone. It actually helps us all and not just the poor. For one thing the private insurance industry is inefficient at best. Thousands and probably millions of our dollars are wasted on administrative and other expenses. And even if you have health care you may loose it at any time. Because you are buying from a private company, they can decide you are no longer a good investment. If you get sick and can no longer work full-time, you may loose your insurance through your job.

Here are a couple of op-eds I thought were interesting: why national health care can work and information on the number and socioeconomic status of the uninsured.

I wish I was better at explaining these types of issues. It's obviously more complicated than this little piece. But we need to wake up and realize the system we have doesn't work.