thoughts on healthcare reform and ME/CFS

[ethermom]

Hello to all, this is my first posting,so here it goes: I am not very politically active, but my child has CFIDS x 8 years, and I am a health care professional; both of these issues make me very attuned to the current movement toward nationalization of health care. I urge you to let your voice be heard AGAINST nationalized healthcare by replying to the online petition at freeourhealthcarenow.org
Our family has tapped into ME/CFS message boards which contain postings from people in other countries who are not able to afford the medical care/prescription Rx that we have access to. Currently, our son is seeing a wonderful specialist who has prescribed one Rx that is over $3,000 per month, which we never could afford without our health insurance. There have been postings from persons in Canada about this specific Rx being unavailable due to their health care system, or that specialists are unavailable/require several years wait. We will see this same situation in our country unless we each take the time to speak out.
I am employed in the kidney dialysis community, which is almost a test site for nationalized healthcare, as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid provide the only reimbursement for the vast, vast majority of our patients; I have seen firsthand how adept (ahem) this arrangement is, with almost no increase in reimbursement since the early 80's, which causes many excellent healthcare professionals to go elsewhere for competitive salaries. I know that this board is the product of Cort's and others' grassroots initiative and that you are not afraid to be politically incorrect when warranted (-: .
There is also a YouTubepresentation/an ActionPac Resource page at http://www.ncpa.org/petition-resources.
I realize that some people will have a different opinion on this, but please read the information on the above site and think about what this government policy will mean to you.
Thank you very much for your time! A Concerned Parent

 

[Cort]

Interesting, interesting points ethermom. What a question this is. I imagine many people are thinking - national health insurance - my only chance for insurance! Then again there's the possibility of dumbed down, limited care.

No care or limited care for financially challenged patients? Is that the choice? Somehow we've got to cut down medical costs before only the wealthy and healthy can afford it while keeping at the same time keeping the innovative aspects of the system intact.

Knotty, knotty questions that's for sure.

Good luck with your son! If that pricey drug works and you feel comfortable tell us about it.

 

[*GG*]

Do CFIDS sufferer's want a public option?

Just curious how people feel about a public option when the governmnet has dropped th ball so much with our condition?

 

[Dreambirdie]

public option is a joke

The public option has become more or less of a joke. It is a totally watered down version of the single payer system that we need. And then there's the usual problem of finding doctors who aren't completely clueless and useless regarding CFS. For now, it seems we are screwed.