my views on health care

This status line has come up on Facebook recently:

“(person’s name) thinks that no one should die because they cannot afford health care, no one should go broke because they get sick, and no one’s child should miss a doctors appointment because it costs to much. If you agree, join us in posting this as your status.”

I want to respond to this statement.

First of all, I would like to see some numbers on this whole dying thing – I’ve never heard of someone dying because they could not afford health care. The hospital cannot refuse to help you based on your ability to pay (granted, that is for emergency care, but still). Now, I have heard of people in countries like England & Sweden dying because they didn’t receive care …

Secondly, why shouldn’t someone go broke because they get sick? Life happens. Do you want everyone else to pay for your car when you get in an accident? How about everyone else paying for you to go to college? I’m still broke because of college. But I don’t think that it is anyone else’s responsibility to pay for that but me. This is one of the biggest reasons in all our years of being unable to pay, we haven’t defaulted on our student loans. If person A doesn’t want person B to go broke because they are sick, person A has the opportunity to help pay for person B’s medical bills. Why do we have to make it a universal thing?? I hate those bumper stickers that say “Health care for Everyone NOW!” I want to ask the person, “so, you wanna give me some money so I can get health insurance?” I’m pretty sure they would say no. It’s really easy to give away someone else’s money.

Thirdly, I totally don’t get the whole children’s health care thing. When Mrs. Clinton was pushing the immunizations for all children back ten years ago, I didn’t understand the problem then. I had doctors and other people telling me, “if you can’t afford to get your baby immunized, there is a clinic (gave me the address) that will do it for FREE (emphasis added).” Now people are saying kids can’t go to the doctor because it is too expensive.
Here are some numbers I found on the DSHS website:
If your family size is one, you can make up to $1,805/mo. or up to $21,660 annually, and your children will qualify for FREE health care.
If your family size is 5, you can make up to $4,299/mo. or $51,580 annually and STILL qualify for FREE health care.
(For each additional family member (after 5), add $624/mo. or $7, 480/year.)
If your family size is one, and you make up to $2,257/mo. or $27,075/year, you qualify for insurance coverage with a $20/mo. premium for each child. Even if your family size is 5, and you make up to $5,373/mo. or $64,475/year, you will still qualify and pay no more than $40/mo.
So, say you still don’t fit into the parameters here. There’s another one – if your family size is one, and you make up to $2,708/mo. or $32,490/annually, your child would qualify. You would have a monthly premium of $30/mo. If you have a bigger family, say, of 5 people, and you made up to $6,448/mo. or $77,370/year … your children would still qualify and you would pay no more than $60/mo.

According to the American Census Bureau, the median income of American families in 2007 was $50,740. So tell me, who can’t afford doctor’s visits for their kids?

I’ll end on a lighter note. On the DSHS website, in the instructions for figuring out if you are eligible for aid, they state, “remember that a pregnant woman counts as two people when determining household size.” :o)

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Update

Holy cow! It’s been a while since I blogged!!
Sorry to have been gone so long. Summer has been busy and while I have had thoughts ruminating in my head, I haven’t been able to get them on paper.
So what has been going on? We had a busy summer. Now we are back to school! While we didn’t really stop over the summer, we didn’t do school every day like we are doing now.
Daniel is doing his final test in his Gamma book (Math U See)! He will be able to move on to Delta next week!
Nicholas is flying through his Alpha book. I am almost ready to just let him do the tests and see how he does.
Jonathan is in the Zeta book. He is learning about the metric system. FUN!
All the boys enjoy handwriting. I got the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for them. They are all doing well with it.
This year, Nicholas gets to do history. I am very excited about learning with him. 🙂
On Friday, we will have our first day of homeschool co-op. We’ll be learning some Bible verses, and studying electricity. We’re going to get to go see one of the power plants in the city and tour one of the dams that provides electricity for Tacoma and the surrounding area. Very exciting stuff! Jeff will be teaching about electricity. I think we might be doing art with Michelle again, too, which the kids absolutely loved.
I’m looking into getting the boys into piano lessons. There is a teacher covered by CVA, so I don’t think it means any out-of-pocket money for me.
On Monday, Nicholas fell while rollerskating and broke his right arm. 🙁 He was a trooper, though, and is still doing fine. They had to put a cast on, which is blue, but they didn’t have to reset his arm or sedate him at all. 🙂 God is good.
What else? I went to Sequim for the lavender festival in July. That was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed hanging out with the ladies from church. Michelle let me hold Micah a lot, so I got a good baby fix in there, too! 🙂
Our garden is growing and producing a lot of cherry tomatoes and green beans. Something happened to the big tomatoes, though, they do not taste right. And our cucumbers are growing, but we keep missing some when we harvest, so we keep getting these great big ones!! We were hoping to do pickles, but I think we’ve enjoyed eating the cukes too much to pick them when they are small.
I am hoping to do some canning this year. We have friends who will give us plums, and someone else said they had peaches … was thinking, perhaps, making the big tomatoes into sauce would help their funny taste. And I really need to can the beans!!
What else is new? The boys missed about a month of swimming and jujutsu because they were sick. It was mostly Jonathan – he had some weird lumps on his neck. They said it was a virus that attacked his lymph nodes – just the ones on his neck. When Nicholas broke his arm, the pediatrician’s office was NOT helpful (should have just advised us to go to the emergency room, not tell me they didn’t have any openings for our regular doctor, and no other openings until 2:45 [it was 12:30]!!), so I am going to change our pediatrician. Was really mad about that, and am now wondering if they misdiagnosed Jonathan. So, when we switch drs., all three boys will get a physical, just to be on top of things. 🙂
Think that is all for now.

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You Are a Passionate Red Car


You are a wild and dramatic soul. You need a lot of freedom in your life.

You are special and singular. You have a unique take on life, and you’re proud to be different.

You feel and love deeply. You experience every emotion vividly.

You have a lot of ups and downs in your life, but you find that exciting. You can’t help but love the drama.

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Book Reviews

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. Not for want of things to say, but more because I can’t seem to make my thoughts coherent (they just sound like yelling).

Anyways, been reading this week – three books so far – Eve’s Daughters, Homemakers of America & London is the Best Town in America.

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Day-trip to the coast

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Balloon Art


Today the boys found a kit that Daniel had received for his birthday last year. It had balloons to decorate. Here are the characters they created. From l-r Jonathan’s, Daniel’s & Nicholas’ balloon people. 🙂

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chalk drawings II


the whole gang with their artist, Nicholas!

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Chalk Drawings

By Nicholas

Shadow, Espio, Tails

Chalk bucket, Shadow & Espio

Nicholas with Silver & half of Sonic

Sonic & Silver

more to come …

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cold day

Our weather out here has been wierd. It’s been unseasonably cold, and dry. We’re on a record for the amount of rain we haven’t had. One morning Nicholas got up and he was so cold he needed TWO blankets! I took a picture of him trying to stay warm.
He has the shawl my friend Sue made for me under the blanket I made for Jeff. 🙂
It is still cool here. The boys were complaining that they were cold today! I am not cold, I am actually a bit warm. 🙂

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wierd tie-in

Was catching up on some reading today and read this blog post at Searching for Bright Light. I found what she had to say about Mahmoud Ahmadinejab very interesting. Jeff and I have been watching all that is happening in Iran. I am worried, because I think we need a strong president at this time, and I don’t see President Obama being that. The world tends to take its cues from America, to some extent. Right now, it seems they are receiving a shaky, wavering cue.

That aside, I found the comment made to be similar to something Jeff & I have been talking about. In Christian circles, one only has to claim the Scriptures as reference and say, “this is what God says …” and no one can argue with them. People tend to nod and follow instead of seeking the truth on their own (which in this case would be through prayer and reading the Word). The Bright Light blogger notes this is the case for Ahmadinejab, too. (emphasis mine)
“From Ahmadinejab’s blog, I learn one thing. He claims, if not believes, that this is all about what Allah wants. And religious conviction can be the most dangerous of motivators. I only hope that world response allows the Iranian people to prevail, and that Pres. Obama gets over his fear of “meddling” and shows some courage to take a stand.”

I think, just like in my life, people need to seek the truth and find out which way is right for Iran. America needs to stand up for those who are being beaten down and not allowed to voice their argument.

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