So you like your siituation?

I know that I'm not going to change people's minds. I'm usually one who has my political opinion and keeps it to myself (close friends usually know what I'm thinking). I don't write political opinions--until now. I am moved to write my feelings on this subject. I'm going to start by asking a series of questions.

1. Have you ever had an emergency and laid there worrying whether or not the doctor who has been assigned to you is listed as a provider under your current insurance plan?
2. Has your employer changed insurance plans and it became questionable whether or not they would cover pre-existing conditions?
3. Have you ever been denied health-care insurance because of pre-existing conditions?
4. Has your health-care provider stopped covering you because your health situation is costing too much?

• I have had to scurry about to check to see if a doctor was in my plan and at a time when I should have been more worried about the situation of life.
• EPISD has changed insurance plan administrators and one of the first questions asked at an orientation meeting was, "Will you cover pre-existing conditions?"
• I had a friend whose son had a rare disease. The insurance they had discontinued coverage because it had become too costly. Then they could not get another insurance to cover him because it was then pre-existing condition. He died. Five years after their son's death, the parents were still paying for medical expenses incurred.

Charley and I are now retired, but we had to wait until he was old enough so we would be able to afford the medical insurance. I know other people who would like to retire but say they cannot do so because medical insurance would eat up whatever retirement pay they would have.

So you may be worried about universal health care, I've seen the vote go around Facebook. But what is being proposed is not universal health care or socialized medicine. If you like your insurance, you'll keep your insurance. Your insurance will have to accept pre-existing conditions, however. If you lose your job, your health will not suffer because you will still be able to get medical treatment at the same cost that your congressman pays, be he or she Republican or Democrat. If you change jobs, you will no longer have to worry whether your new insurance provider will accept pre-existing conditions.

We are already paying for people who are not insured. The way we are paying actually costs more than if we had a plan that would cover them. I taught high school in a poor section of the city. Students would come and announce that fainted the night before and their mother took them to the emergency room. They went to the emergency room because they did not have health insurance and emergency rooms cannot deny them. Did they pay the bill? No, because they were poor. Who paid the bill? We did, maybe not through taxes but through our insurance premiums. Someone had to pay.

One of the scare tactics out there is that socialized medicine is poor quality. I've been to Canada, the Canadians are afraid of getting sick in the United States and of the high medical costs. I've been to Europe where people are relaxed about their health. Doctors can diagnose and not worry about all the required insurance paperwork needed and hiring a staff that is dedicated, not to providing better health care service, but to managing insurance company claim forms. I had to get a prescription filled while in Germany, while the Germans would pay less than I did (if anything) the cost was cheaper than my co-pay at home. The pharmacist was diligent and took time to make sure my prescription was filled properly.

As for the death-panel stuff, here's was a Republican had to say about what the well-informed (ha-hem) Sarah Palin who stands by her 'death-panel' claim, her "posting came one day after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said that Palin and other critics were not helping the GOP by tossing out false claims. Portions of the Democratic health care bills "are bad enough that we don't need to be making things up," Murkowski said, invoking a phrase that Palin used in her resignation speech, when she asked the news media to "quit making things up." Murkowski said she was offended at the "death panel" terminology. "There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill," she said." (Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.)

Think about it, who has the most to lose? It's not you or me, it is the insurance companies and the health care administrators. It is those people who are goading all the myths and lies of the health-care bill.

Alright, enough is enough from me. If you want to check out what I'm touting, here are some links:

• Jim Jaffe is a former congressional staffer and current contributor to HuffingtonPost.com and Centeredpolitics.com wrote this article found at AARP "Secret’s Out—We Already Ration Medical Care: For decades, our crafty government has been imposing rules that determine who gets what care.
• AARP reports on Health Care Reform: The Assault on Truth
• And, last but not least: The Whitehouse Reality Check

Story One: The Girl (3)

Where was she? This place was so dusty, almost like it had been years since someone had been in. She finally stood up and ended up coughing from the dustdevil stirred up by her movement. There was no need to be silent since 'he' knew she was in here. She squeezed past the boxes in front of her. It was like a maze and she didn't want to get physically lost although she felt emotionally lost and physically drained. Her hands were shaking and knees were suffering from the post effects of the adrenaline surge. What were all these boxes? It was too dark to read the labels. With what light there was, she could tell they were piled nearly to the ceiling. She saw light! She pushed herself through the cracks of more boxes. Yes! Light! It was a window. It was so dirty that she couldn't see outside. She tore a dangling remnant of her torn, and now dirty white blouse and tried to clean the window enough to see outside. She was looking at the busy street she had been chased down. Life just went on as normal. No one cared that moments before she was running for her life. Where was he? This man who had chased her, who had torn her blouse?

Story One: The Girl (2)

She could never get a good look at him. He just lingered in shadows, waiting. She first noticed him by a tree in the park where she jogged early in the morning. Then, she noticed that he was there every day. It was a coincidence; at least that is what she kept telling herself. Then she saw him other places. She called the police but they were too busy, besides, he hadn't done anything and she couldn't identify him. She tried to approach him one day, but a woman bumped into her. By the time she got her bearings, he was not to be seen. Although she knew that he was there, somewhere.

There! A door ajar. She pushed it open, closed it behind her and fumbled in the dark to lock it. Exhausted, out of breath, heart pounding out of her chest, sweat pouring down her face, she slid to the dusty floor. He never came to try the door. She never heard anything from the other side. She knew he saw her escape into the cracked door. Her eyes began to focus to the lack of light, her brain began to slow and take in her surroundings. There were boxes piled high, all around her.

Story One: The Girl (1)

The girl raced down the alley, her heart was pounding as she gasped for breath. No time to stop and rest. The man who had been following her for a month had changed his tactics. Up until today, he had kept consistent distance; but today, he closed in--he grabbed at her and caught the sleeve of her blouse as she came out of the grocery store. She, literally, tore away, the sleeve ripping from the seams and down the back as she ran to save her life. Why had he been following her? Why is he now chasing her?

To be continued . . .