Have you been keeping up with everything happening with President Obama’s Healthcare Initiative? I have found it confusing especially since I started watching the cable channel devoted to the goings on in the Senate. Of course, the Democrats want one thing and keep going on and on about how the Republicans are trying to stop any reform that will benefit the country. Meanwhile the Republicans are complaining that the package that the Democrats in both the Congress and Senate will bankrupt the country while limiting all the choices that Mr Obama promised.
Who is right? I don’t think any of the politicians are. And they won’t be right until they start listening to their constituents. I recently came across a series of videos that attempts to put our current healthcare situation into some perspective. There are 14 and are only 50 seconds to 8 minutes long (note, some videos have several parts to them). None are slickly packaged; each is about someone like you and me who has had issues (good and bad) with our current healthcare system and what changes, if any, they would like to see.
All are worth watching but since they are all homegrown some are better than others. This is the first one:
“When I first brought up this video I was afraid it was going to try to sell me a position (pro or con) on government healthcare. But like the rest of us Ms Keenan has only voiced her concerns about what the final outcome may be.”
Each video covers a different aspect, some talk about their insurance coverage, others tell stories of their harrowing experiences with the current health care system, and still others don’t even have insurance. All would like to know what the future of healthcare is and what they would like to see included.
Most of them like the idea of a single payer system but they regret that it is not even part of the government discussion right now. And of course there are those that argue along party lines, that is, why the Republicans are wrong and why the Democrats are on the right track. But aside from that we can learn something from what each person has to say. And for me it was a great start in understanding all the issues without having to listen to the politicians’ versions.
After seeing this video you can watch the rest of them and then think about your situation. What experiences have you had with healthcare and what would you like to see happen. If you are from Massachusetts what do you think of their healthcare plan.
For those of you who don’t know, besides the standard insurance company plans, Massachusetts has two of their own. The first one is called MassHealth. It is for people who are under 19, over 65, or are disabled. The second program, Commonwealth Care, is for those people between the ages of 19 and 65 and are in good health. Costs for these are based on your income level. In this state everyone must have insurance so these were made available for people that can’t afford regular health insurance.
