When I started teaching, educator insurance was pretty great. I remember feeling that I didn’t care how much I got paid as long as I had that insurance. Since that time, it has been changed and chopped into little bits so much that teachers get the short end of the stick for both pay and insurance. I would definitely support healthcare for all, no matter how rocky the road is to get there.
Aug 1, 2022·edited Aug 1, 2022Liked by Christine Greenwald
So, I'm going to figure out some insurance stuff this week. I'm still on my parents' insurance because it's really good, but their insurance plan is specific to VA and so it doesn't work the same way in Washington state. Apparently there's something called "guesting" where certain doctors are contractors who will take my insurance, and I've thankfully found one, but I'll also need to figure out getting a referral to an endocrinologist and a psychiatrist....it's probably going to be a bad time. I'm probably going to make a lot of phone calls, which I hate.
Jul 30, 2022·edited Jul 30, 2022Liked by Christine Greenwald
I love that comment!! Yes about the inadequacy of basing insurance on employment and eye roll about COBRA. So glad the O-Care subsidies have improved and you two and kiddos qualify. Medical bankruptcy remains the cruelest issue of all. Some choose death instead of treatment so the surviving spouse is not left destitute. We need a comprehensive solution not a series of bandaids. Unfortunately US solutions are almost always bandaids and camels instead of well-designed comprehensive systems. I don’t know how we ever got Medicare and Social Security, which are great systems despite some issues. Maybe we will get lucky on healthcare for all someday.
Thanks for the expose’ Christine. I have been in the scramble to cover healthcare several times in my lifetime. The trouble with employer plans, which are usually pretty good, is you lose your coverage if you get laid off. Sure you can keep coverage under COBRA, but the cost is exorbitant at a time when you can least afford it. Obamacare is a possibility if laid off or self-employed, but if your income the previous year as shown on tax returns is middle class (around the national median or above), you are SOL—no subsidy for you! And again the cost of unsubsidized insurance is out of reach. Finally, there are the Christian plans, and you’ve done an excelkent job of explaining all the reasons why they are a poor option. I don’t know how many millions are left uncovered, but my guess is just about every sole proprietor, independent worker, or worker not covered by their employer who earns a middle income is uninsured. It’s a tale of a healthcare system that is utterly broken for many people. And that doesn’t even get into the issue that we pay twice as much for healthcare as most other countries with worse outcomes or that many people are still going bankrupt because of inadequate or no coverage for catastrophic illnesses. This is a huge issue that must be addressed by finally passing free healthcare for all!
When I started teaching, educator insurance was pretty great. I remember feeling that I didn’t care how much I got paid as long as I had that insurance. Since that time, it has been changed and chopped into little bits so much that teachers get the short end of the stick for both pay and insurance. I would definitely support healthcare for all, no matter how rocky the road is to get there.
So, I'm going to figure out some insurance stuff this week. I'm still on my parents' insurance because it's really good, but their insurance plan is specific to VA and so it doesn't work the same way in Washington state. Apparently there's something called "guesting" where certain doctors are contractors who will take my insurance, and I've thankfully found one, but I'll also need to figure out getting a referral to an endocrinologist and a psychiatrist....it's probably going to be a bad time. I'm probably going to make a lot of phone calls, which I hate.
I love that comment!! Yes about the inadequacy of basing insurance on employment and eye roll about COBRA. So glad the O-Care subsidies have improved and you two and kiddos qualify. Medical bankruptcy remains the cruelest issue of all. Some choose death instead of treatment so the surviving spouse is not left destitute. We need a comprehensive solution not a series of bandaids. Unfortunately US solutions are almost always bandaids and camels instead of well-designed comprehensive systems. I don’t know how we ever got Medicare and Social Security, which are great systems despite some issues. Maybe we will get lucky on healthcare for all someday.
Thanks for the expose’ Christine. I have been in the scramble to cover healthcare several times in my lifetime. The trouble with employer plans, which are usually pretty good, is you lose your coverage if you get laid off. Sure you can keep coverage under COBRA, but the cost is exorbitant at a time when you can least afford it. Obamacare is a possibility if laid off or self-employed, but if your income the previous year as shown on tax returns is middle class (around the national median or above), you are SOL—no subsidy for you! And again the cost of unsubsidized insurance is out of reach. Finally, there are the Christian plans, and you’ve done an excelkent job of explaining all the reasons why they are a poor option. I don’t know how many millions are left uncovered, but my guess is just about every sole proprietor, independent worker, or worker not covered by their employer who earns a middle income is uninsured. It’s a tale of a healthcare system that is utterly broken for many people. And that doesn’t even get into the issue that we pay twice as much for healthcare as most other countries with worse outcomes or that many people are still going bankrupt because of inadequate or no coverage for catastrophic illnesses. This is a huge issue that must be addressed by finally passing free healthcare for all!
Do you happen to follow Diane Butler Bass? I found this a good balance, together with the entire Langston poem.
https://tinyurl.com/2kbvwrns