Today I listened to Glenn Beck like I do most mornings but today was a different kind of show. Today he asked if there was anything he could do to help. He took phone calls from people all over the country who had different problems but the one that came up the most was health insurance. So many called in and/or wrote on his Facebook page complaining about their health insurance, how much it has gone up along with the deductible, and how little it actually pays for. It made me realize how blessed we are as a family. Because Jon is retired from the military, we have Tricare Prime as our health insurance. Our insurance runs us around $650.00 per year....yes per YEAR. Most families pay double or triple that a month. Tricare Prime is really good insurance. We pay $12.00 for a doctor visit and between $25.00 and $30.00 for emergency room visits or any kind of procedures we need done and we have no deductible. Jon deserves the benefits he has. He put in almost 30 years in the military. That meant a lot of time away from his family and time spent in places that put him in danger. We lived apart over 3 years while he was in Japan and I was in Louisiana. He spent almost six months stuck in Oman and he spent time in Kuwait. He earned his benefits.
Listening to these people call in and tell about how high their insurance premiums were, how high their deductibles were and how they are having to work 2 and sometimes 3 jobs just to keep above water makes me sad but also thankful. It makes me sad to see so many people that are fearful of getting sick. Fearful of losing their jobs and fearful of losing their homes. I have family members that are in the same situation. Not able to afford health insurance and scared that something will happen to them that will make them unable to work. I've been in those shoes. In my former life, I lived paycheck to paycheck not really sure if I would be able to pay the bills and still put food on the table but I was young and healthy. I didn't think about buying health insurance. I rarely went to the doctor but I was lucky enough to work in a pharmacy and had access to medication if I did get sick. So many out there don't have anything to fall back on if something happens to them. If they lose their job, have an accident or become seriously ill. So what is the answer? Is there a solution to this problem? I think, if the free market were allowed to prosper, the cost of medical care and health insurance would not be as costly but I don't see that changing. The government is too entrenched in our lives. They tell us we HAVE to buy health insurance and then, because of regulations, make the insurance almost impossible to buy. It is not possible to buy health insurance across state lines and that gives most insurance companies a monopoly on the market it their state. If we were able to buy any insurance, the companies would become more competitive and that would lower the premiums....but that won't happen. Health insurance companies and their executives are becoming filthy rich on the backs of average Americans and then they hire lobbyists to go to our elected officials and persuade them to not change the laws so they can keep getting richer.
Government intervention is the reason for our health care crisis plain and simple.
So why do we continue to re-elect the same people who do the same things, day in and day out? Who keep getting richer while average Americans keep getting poorer. I'm not sure why but we do. The people of Arizona keep re-electing John McCain who has been a politician for 35 years. Kentucky keeps re-electing Mitch McConnell. He has been a senator there since 1984. South Carolina keeps re-electing Lindsey Graham. He was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1995 and then went on to become a Senator. Nancy Pelosi has represented California's 12th district since 1987. Barbara Boxer has been a Senator since 1992. Charlie Rangel has been in office since 1971!!
These are just a few examples of politicians that keep getting re-elected even though they are doing a terrible job of representing their constituents, well maybe not Pelosi , Boxer and Rangel. The do represent California and New York soooooo.
I keep hearing from Glenn and others like him that we need to call our representatives and let them know how we feel about the issues that affect us. I gotta wonder if they are even listening anymore. If we don't get people in office that ACTUALLY care about those they represent then nothing is going to change. If we keep re-electing those that are getting richer while Americans keep getting poorer nothing we have no one to blame but ourselves.
End of Rant.
