This is just sick

(And kitty's coverage isn't any cheaper either)

I won't bore you with more details of the Affordable Health Care Act for now but I caught the clip of Mint Raw Money on Jay Leno the other night and had to comment. Here's a guy with over $200 million in cash in the banks and he has the nerve to say if somebody doesn't have insurance they can just drop dead to put it bluntly. What Mittens doesn't seem to realize is that there are a bunch of us out here who would like nothing better than to be covered and would be more than willing to pay for it but as the price of premiums has shot through the roof in just the last few years a person has the choice between food on the table and a roof overhead or medical coverage. Those plans by the way are the cheapest offered covering only catastrophic events. You may be able to pay the premium but you'd better not use the coverage lest you find yourself bankrupt. At 150% or even 200% of minimum wage it would take nearly all the income just to pay for the coverage. That's not even taking into account deductibles and co- pays.
The average basic plan the last time I checked was over $1300 per month for the premiums. Let's see somebody try and live with that when rents for the cheapest apartment around here is $750. Tack on another $400 for food and the math just won't cut it even for a family of 3.

The other issue Mitt doesn't seem to get is that the system isn't going to somehow magically cure itself if this bill is defeated. In fact, as I pointed out earlier, it will remove many people from the system who had no coverage before. Think about a person who was finally able to get their cancer treatment only to be told "you're on your own now". As Alan Grayson on the floor of the senate so aptly pointed out, the republican plan was: "If you get sick - die quickly!" Then this brings up another issue that I'm sure isn't being reported. What is the insurers response to all this? On the one hand they won't be forced to cover pre existing conditions if the bill goes down but on the other they won't be getting that nice new pool of fresh money from people who never had coverage before because they were healthy. I'm sure they have run the numbers but we're not hearing anything from their side of the issue.

And let me point out the psychotic thinking of Mitt. He'd like nothing better to shut down Planned Parenthood while at the same time telling everyone they can just get their treatment elsewhere. That'll fly well in small town America where the only place to get low income help is from Planned Parenthood. And the free clinics are few and far between. Good luck getting on their waiting list for help.

I repeat, if something isn't stabilized soon the system will melt down by the weight of an aging population and 55 million without coverage. We have seen the extent of the problem that's getting worse with the free clinic expos on 60 minutes and the Ed Shultz show. Hundreds being turned away after a few thousand were treated. And this was last year. This problem is second only to the housing melt down and may be worse if you look closer at the numbers.