About my dental hygienist and the issue of health care coverage
Twice a year I go and get my teeth cleaned by a dental hygienist. She is a lovely person whom I always enjoy seeing and talking with before and after she works on my teeth. I will refer to her as Susan which is not her real name. Susan is excellent at what she does, doing an efficient job with a minimum of discomfort to her patients. My husband, after too many years of avoiding the dentist office due to his fear and dislike of pain, now goes to her as well. He complains much less than if someone else there cleaned his teeth.
Susan has been cleaning my teeth for more than ten years. I can't remember what year it was that she first cleaned my teeth. I don't make appointments with anyone else there for my teeth cleaning. The cost now is somewhere around $135 including $35 to have the dentist take a quick look after Susan finishes. The price is more if x-rays are done. The appointment generally takes about an hour although I haven't timed it. I enjoy seeing Susan even though when I see her I am at the dentist having my teeth cleaned which is not my idea of the most fun way to spend an hour. I had always assumed that anyone who works in a field involving the health of others had health insurance coverage.
In my conversations with Susan I learned that she loves to play the piano. She loves birdwatching and has several birdfeeders set out in her yard at home as well as outside the window of the room where she cleans people's teeth. She is married, has one son who has gone to college and gotten a job and another son who died at 19, and she is religious. She has shared with me a considerable amount of personal information, especially considering that she only knows me from my coming in to have my teeth cleaned. I share a fair amount of personal information with her as well. We both share some similar experiences and interests. We both have had problems getting the right type and level of medication for our different but similar thyroid problems.
During my last appointment with Susan she shared with me that her 55 year old husband has been diagnosed with a very serious illness, one which has a terrible prognosis. Due to the symptoms of the illness he has had to quit his job where he had health insurance coverage for himself and her. The specific illness that he has allows him to get Medicare even though he is only 55. But Susan is going to lose coverage for herself. Currently they are under COBRA for a little while. They have gone from their both being employed and having health insurance to only her having a job and soon to having no health insurance for her. Due to the recession many people are not going in to have their teeth cleaned regularly as they had in the past. Thus Susan's income has dropped so much that she needed to find other ways to supplement her income. The only job she could find was as a grocery store clerk for minimum wage.
She has been looking around at health insurance policies and she cannot find a policy that she can afford. She does need health insurance but she certainly has preexisting conditions. She is 55 years old. Her husband has been diagnosed with a terminal illness which will cause him to become chronically ill requiring intensive medical care within a few years. She will be losing coverage for herself. She will be responsible for making a living for both of them. She does not make enough money to pay the health insurance premiums that are being quoted to her and even if she did, it is likely that they won't cover her preexisting conditions for at least a few years meaning that on top of the premiums that she can't afford, she'd have to pay the full rate of the cost of treatment for herself.
This is a person who is a Christian, who prays, who has lived a decent and good life, who works hard, who is a good kind spiritual person. She is now in circumstances that I am sure that she did not expect to occur. Why, on top of the stress of her husband having become ill, must she be without healthcare coverage for herself? The government will provide Medicare for her husband but how can the only other caregiver in the family do it all? How can she find a way to make an adequate living for them both plus be faced with the problem of getting healthcare for herself and being a caregiver for her husband?
What can someone who is against providing health care for all going to tell Susan about why they are against the government getting involved in health care? Why does she deserve the fate that is being dished up to her? She is already fearful of what is going to happen in the next few years because of her husband's illness. Why must the anxiety of what else can happen due to the lack of health coverage for herself be added to substantial stress that she is experiencing? Why, why, why? No one can explain this to me adequately.
No one can explain to me adequately why some people who call themselves Christians would be against providing affordable health care coverage to people like Susan. No one can explain to me adequately why some people who call themselves Christians and bang that Christian drum loudly also proclaim that they don't want government involved in coverage for health care. No one can explain to me adequately why some Christians want to have the words "under God" remain in the Pledge of Allegiance while that is a government Pledge, and yet they aren't as passionate about providing the basic right of human beings to being helped when they are ill no matter what their financial status because that would mean that the government is involved. They want to be involved in the government but they don't want the government to be involved with them! They will fight over two words in a national Pledge of Allegiance that is not and was never meant to be a religious prayer but they won't support a decision that affects the quality of life of millions of people. I am having a hard time recognizing some people who call themselves Christians as Christian.
No one can explain to me adequately why some people who call themselves Christians want government involvement when it comes to words but not government involvement when it comes to actions that provide comfort and assistance to all. It seems now that there are different sorts of Christians in the world: those who want to do things that lift people up out of their misery and those who want to do things that keep people miserable.
In the church where I grew up, I was not taught that it was a Christian thing to keep people miserable. I was taught that helping people was a good thing. How is it that some people now who bang their allegedly Christian drums very loudly against decisions that can raise people up out of the mire of health problems and misery have the nerve to call what they are doing Christian? I don't hear Christian in the sound of those drums.
Ginny
Susan has been cleaning my teeth for more than ten years. I can't remember what year it was that she first cleaned my teeth. I don't make appointments with anyone else there for my teeth cleaning. The cost now is somewhere around $135 including $35 to have the dentist take a quick look after Susan finishes. The price is more if x-rays are done. The appointment generally takes about an hour although I haven't timed it. I enjoy seeing Susan even though when I see her I am at the dentist having my teeth cleaned which is not my idea of the most fun way to spend an hour. I had always assumed that anyone who works in a field involving the health of others had health insurance coverage.
In my conversations with Susan I learned that she loves to play the piano. She loves birdwatching and has several birdfeeders set out in her yard at home as well as outside the window of the room where she cleans people's teeth. She is married, has one son who has gone to college and gotten a job and another son who died at 19, and she is religious. She has shared with me a considerable amount of personal information, especially considering that she only knows me from my coming in to have my teeth cleaned. I share a fair amount of personal information with her as well. We both share some similar experiences and interests. We both have had problems getting the right type and level of medication for our different but similar thyroid problems.
During my last appointment with Susan she shared with me that her 55 year old husband has been diagnosed with a very serious illness, one which has a terrible prognosis. Due to the symptoms of the illness he has had to quit his job where he had health insurance coverage for himself and her. The specific illness that he has allows him to get Medicare even though he is only 55. But Susan is going to lose coverage for herself. Currently they are under COBRA for a little while. They have gone from their both being employed and having health insurance to only her having a job and soon to having no health insurance for her. Due to the recession many people are not going in to have their teeth cleaned regularly as they had in the past. Thus Susan's income has dropped so much that she needed to find other ways to supplement her income. The only job she could find was as a grocery store clerk for minimum wage.
She has been looking around at health insurance policies and she cannot find a policy that she can afford. She does need health insurance but she certainly has preexisting conditions. She is 55 years old. Her husband has been diagnosed with a terminal illness which will cause him to become chronically ill requiring intensive medical care within a few years. She will be losing coverage for herself. She will be responsible for making a living for both of them. She does not make enough money to pay the health insurance premiums that are being quoted to her and even if she did, it is likely that they won't cover her preexisting conditions for at least a few years meaning that on top of the premiums that she can't afford, she'd have to pay the full rate of the cost of treatment for herself.
This is a person who is a Christian, who prays, who has lived a decent and good life, who works hard, who is a good kind spiritual person. She is now in circumstances that I am sure that she did not expect to occur. Why, on top of the stress of her husband having become ill, must she be without healthcare coverage for herself? The government will provide Medicare for her husband but how can the only other caregiver in the family do it all? How can she find a way to make an adequate living for them both plus be faced with the problem of getting healthcare for herself and being a caregiver for her husband?
What can someone who is against providing health care for all going to tell Susan about why they are against the government getting involved in health care? Why does she deserve the fate that is being dished up to her? She is already fearful of what is going to happen in the next few years because of her husband's illness. Why must the anxiety of what else can happen due to the lack of health coverage for herself be added to substantial stress that she is experiencing? Why, why, why? No one can explain this to me adequately.
No one can explain to me adequately why some people who call themselves Christians would be against providing affordable health care coverage to people like Susan. No one can explain to me adequately why some people who call themselves Christians and bang that Christian drum loudly also proclaim that they don't want government involved in coverage for health care. No one can explain to me adequately why some Christians want to have the words "under God" remain in the Pledge of Allegiance while that is a government Pledge, and yet they aren't as passionate about providing the basic right of human beings to being helped when they are ill no matter what their financial status because that would mean that the government is involved. They want to be involved in the government but they don't want the government to be involved with them! They will fight over two words in a national Pledge of Allegiance that is not and was never meant to be a religious prayer but they won't support a decision that affects the quality of life of millions of people. I am having a hard time recognizing some people who call themselves Christians as Christian.
No one can explain to me adequately why some people who call themselves Christians want government involvement when it comes to words but not government involvement when it comes to actions that provide comfort and assistance to all. It seems now that there are different sorts of Christians in the world: those who want to do things that lift people up out of their misery and those who want to do things that keep people miserable.
In the church where I grew up, I was not taught that it was a Christian thing to keep people miserable. I was taught that helping people was a good thing. How is it that some people now who bang their allegedly Christian drums very loudly against decisions that can raise people up out of the mire of health problems and misery have the nerve to call what they are doing Christian? I don't hear Christian in the sound of those drums.
Ginny
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