Your Money Or Your Life

April 6, 2023

Apr 06, 2023

Good Morning Healthcare Advocates

I’m very thankful for your advocacy for healthcare reform. Let me take a moment to point out some resources for you. At the bottom of every newsletter are links to additional sources. The first is a link to the League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit. It is a rich source of material on healthcare reform, especially single payer.

The second link is our collection or resources. As we find new important sources I save them there for you. There are links to lists of healthcare reform groups, reproductive health sources (where to get medication, for instance), US government and other healthcare data sources and more.

I’ve left the links in place regarding claims appeals and denials of claims in the resource section.

If there are sites that you think are useful, please send them to me in the comments (which we all can see) and I will include them in our resource list.

Good News - We Win When We Continue to Act

Yesterday Michigan Governor, Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation that eliminated the state’s 1931 ban on abortion. (Link). That law would have come into force when Roe v. Wade was struck down by the ethically challenged Supreme Court last year.

This is just one step. Those that favor making women second class citizens by restricting reproductive health are really what the American Taliban is.

They have worked for years to gerrymander state districts to unfairly control legislatures and impose their misguided will on the majority of Americans, of course, aided by a US Supreme Court that refuses to support voting rights legislation that prevented such activities.

Small victories are great but we need to continue to push back against those that would oppress so many of us. That means contacting legislators, whether they want to hear from you or not, and making sure to vote in every election for candidates that will actively protect our freedoms. We have to make protecting democracy a regular habit. In the resources below and (here) I’ve included a link to a daily blog, by Jessica Cravens that provides quick daily actions that help to protect democracy. We win by continuing to take action.

Your Money Or Your Life

We usually hear that phrase in cheesy detective stories when there is a hold up in progress. Well, that’s what is really going on in the US. You either buy a health insurance policy and pay all the copays and deductibles to get needed health care or you can face early death.

I want to recommend a book to you by Nocole Chung called “Living Remedy”. Here is a link to the book This is not a happy story. Her parents worked hard their whole lives but could not always afford to have health insurance.

By the time her father went to a low cost clinic for help, he was told that he had lost 90% of his kidney’s functions. Her mother died shortly after her father from cancer. When her cancer was diagnosed she had social security and disability, but it didn’t help. Earlier in life her mother had a severe case of endometriosis and no insurance. By the time she made it to the ER it had progressed too far and the doctors could not remove all of it and that’s where the cancer started.

Her parents died in their mid 60’s. Most of their lives they delayed medical care because of the expense. Earlier diagnosis and treatment would likely have saved them and we wouldn’t have this discussion.

This story is incredibly sad, but not unique. In a recent Gallup poll 38% of the respondents reported that they or a family member delayed medical treatment because they couldn’t afford it. Let’s remember that 27 million Americans can’t afford to have health insurance and about 40 million have high deductible policies that get used for emergencies but not too much for preventive care because of the cost.

There is an ugly name for what we are seeing; it is financial eugenics. I did not make this up, I heard this years ago from my Congressman and he was appalled that some constituents thought that’s the way life should be. If you can’t afford health care, you just die.

That’s not who we are or should be as Americans. The lack of a Universal Healthcare System kills many early, destroys families and creates incredible hardships that are all avoidable, and for less than we pay now. The industrialized world has figured this out but we choose not to.

You know what to do. We will not let up and we will let our elected officials know they need to act on this now.

TAKE ACTION

RESISTBOT Text SIGN PPKEUE to 50409 to tell your Federal Officials

You know that preventive medical care saves lives. You know that access to health care saves lives. That’s why there is an ACA. But that’s not enough. 27 million Americans can’t afford health insurance and another 40 million are underinsured. That’s about 20% of the US that can’t afford healthcare. They will get sicker and die earlier. The industrialized world has figured this out and you can too. Representative Jayapal will introduce Universal Single Payer Health care in Mid May. I need you to actively support this and get it passed. Too many of us get too sick too often and die too early and it is in your hands to fix.