I've been absent-ish for a few days because of work and travel but decided to check in because I need a vent. I've always been an Obama supporter. Well, actually I was rooting for Hilary to win the nomination back in 2008. It seemed a better idea for someone with more experience to take the reigns as President and then he takes over after her eight years are up. But I'd planned to support whoever won the nomination and that was Obama and the rest is history. That first term in office was decent. The second one, thus far, can only be described as a hot mess. I was looking forward to healthcare reform, it's something this country has been in dire need of for quite some time. Once the details began to emerge last year about just what that reform would be, I was confused. There were too many, "if this, then do that" type of caveats involved. For that reason, I paid very little attention to getting on a plan and even considered just paying the fine so I didn't have to deal with it all. At the eleventh hour, I did get on a plan but I still don't know the details of it. I never got anything in the mail explaining what my coverage is and, to this point, I haven't needed it anyway. Prior to the law going into effect, we heard all kinds of fantastic promises about how companies who tried to get away with not providing health insurance by cutting employees hours would be fined. We heard that companies would no longer be able to get away with providing bare bones coverage for their employees. We heard that this law would make it possible for everyone to have access to healthcare when they needed it, thus making people less likely to wait until things got dire and visit an emergency room, thus racking up a bill they cannot pay. Well...none of that has turned out to be true, has it? I've heard many, many complaints from people who were already insured but were forced to switch plans because their old plans were supposedly not comprehensive enough for the new law. Yet these new plans that are "more comprehensive" are removing coverage for things like chemotherapy and other potentially life saving procedures. E's chemo used to be covered by his insurance, now he'll have to pay almost completely out of pocket for treatment.
No company, to my knowledge, has been fined for cutting their employees hours in order to avoiding paying for health coverage. Target (who is not having a good year) and Home Depot have both slashed hours for some employees. And then there's the whole bare bones coverage thing. My mom's company has always had bare bones, crappy insurance and that still has not changed. Looking at the plan she and almost all of her co-workers are on, I don't see how it could qualify as decent coverage. She still has to go to a clinic, rather than an actual doctor's office, because it is all that the plan will pay for. And she still has to pay $10 to see that doctor, plus medication costs. One of the meds she's on used to be $10 for a ninety day supply and, under this new plan, has gone up to $39 for a thirty day supply (fortunately she can still get it for $10 by going through the clinic). How is that "better" coverage? She's been sick the last few days, coughing and tightness in her chest, and decided to break down and call the doctor today. There were no appointments available so she has to sit in the waiting room, breathing in Fonz knows what kinda germs, and hope that a doctor uses one of their spare moments to see her. If they can't see her by lunchtime, she has to go home for an hour and then return when they re-open and sit there again, this time for four hours, in the hopes that she can see someone. Yep. That whole healthcare reform is working out real well. Obama's presidency will be defined by it, especially after the website debacle.
