Neighborhood Fund Raisers to Pay for Cancer Treatment
Dear Speaker Boehner:
I am a musician, a member of a symphony orchestra that belongs to a national group known as the Regional Orchestra Players’ Assoc. Most of the musicians who perform in these orchestras are not covered by insurance carried by their employer, even though I believe most of the office staff do have such coverage.
When one of our members gets sick, even if they have insurance which costs MORE because they must get individual coverage (as is my case), it would be unusual indeed for such a person to be able to pay the out of pocket expenses. Thus you will find neighborhood fund raisers being held to help these people. This was the case for the timpanist in the Erie Philharmonic who was diagnosed with cancer.
It happens over and over in this country. Not so in Canada where their citizens are treated with respect and their health needs addressed regardless of income. I have very personal experience with the Canadian system and have nothing but praise for it. My family all live in Canada and my parents have had the good fortune to be cared for within that system, by competent, caring doctors and hospitals who respond quickly to all needs and I have been closely involved in the care my parents have received.
Don’t think that because you have a superior plan supplied to you by virtue of your position that the rest of the citizens of this country have access to anything like this. My husband and I have insurance, but I know that if we should go to a doctor, the insurance company will deny payment, the doctor’s office will be overworked by unnecessary paperwork, and we will be billed for insurance and the doctor’s visits, any tests and by the hospital. And when a citizen has health issues they are then overwhelmed by claims and paperwork at a time when they are most vulnerable and unable to cope. THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN IN CANADA. I THANK GOD EVERY DAY THAT MY PARENTS HAD CANADIAN HEALTHCARE – NOT THE INSURANCE RUN NON-CARE (scheme) THAT WE GET IN THE U.S.
Sincerely,
Anonymous
Cortland, OH
This letter is part of the “Will You Cry for Me, John Boehner?” campaign. We will deliver hundreds of stories like this to Speaker of the House John Boehner. We ask everyone to share your story or sign on to this letter to the Speaker.
We have run into the latest “trick” of insurance companies. Here in Florida, blue Cross Blue Shield with whom we have been insured (individual plan) for years is “no longer offering our plan.” We can choose another plan without underwriting (my wife has some pre-existings). HOWEVER, they will not let us see the contract until after we purchase. This is according to Florida law allowed. We can cancel within ten days, at which pint we become uninsured. This is not capitalism. After years of paying over $1000 per month for a high deductible we must buy a pig in a poke. No one will answer our specific questions. Time for medicare for all. Cheaper, easier, no trickery. Shame on the state of Florida and shame on Blue Cross.
Boehner can care less about you… He follows his right wing ideology that say’s any government help is bad… If he had it his way there would be no Medicare or Medicaid… Our elderly will be left hopeless … People with no money will be turned away even from the ER with no medicaid… PEOPLE will die… And Boehner will continue to follow his ideology regardless … OH BUT IF IT WAS HIM in trouble…OH man then he would accept any help he can get… That’s what were up against people with the right wing ideology… accept it.. THEY don’t care about you… They care about money and profit and themselves… They’ll cry socialism and Hitler at any attempt at single payer… OH and they have the nerve to use GOD as there backbone… PLEASE
It is so true that the Republicans don’t care at all about the ordinary American citizen. If you don’t have the money to pay for care the Republicans do believe that you should just die. However, just as Boehner and the others believe this is their country, I believe it is mine. I’m getting tired of asking for what I believe that as an American citizen, I have a right to. I want Universal Healthcare for all American citizens. Let’s insist in whatever issue that is next up for debate that Boehner and the other government employees give up their health care plans and let’s insist on salary cuts to balance the budget. We’ve got to take to the streets as they are doing in Europe and in the Middle East. I don’t think blogging and commenting on the web is going to accomplish much. Mr. Moore I’m following your lead, time and place, time and place!
Folks, you must remember that Obama and these Dems (a majority, anyway) also do not give a damn. If they did then we would have had Single-Payer or maybe something akin to Germany. Do you know how they got single-payer in Canada? It was tried by a “socialist” provincial government first and was successful. Then Prime-Minister Trudeau of the Liberal Party pushed it through in Ottawa. This was in the early 1970’s and the entire country has had single-payer since Trudeau. However, the system is currently underfunded and in Ontario relies heavily on sales taxes. This is why Canadians sometimes do complain about the system they have. But at least, the Canadians are a far-cry better off than the US. But do not neglect how they got. The Democrats in the US are not innovators and will cut the social safety net. Unlike the Roosevelt era or even during LBJ’ era, Democrats are afraid of big business and the Republicans and will only promise ordinary folks they will do something (“Change You Can Believe In”). It is time for a new party that will take up healthcare reform.