Charles Rice Learning Center in South Dallas – An inner-city school–with an enrollment that is 99 percent
African- American, 83 percent eligible for subsidized lunches, and nearly 70 percent living with one or neither parent–has students who consistently win city-wide math and computer contests, a choir group
that has performed nationally, and achievement records that have attracted the attention of the federal Department of Education.
Full Text of Speech:
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As time passes I become more and more frustrated with the health care system in the U.S.
Recently I found out that my 18 year old pregnant daughter is facing open heart surgery. On top of the emotional shock and drain this is causing on her and me, the amount of “stuff” she is going through with doctors and insurance is unbelievable. Because she is 18 and not in school, she was just informed the other day that she would not be covered on her dad’s insurance. She turned 18 in December and was told (again just the other day) that not only would she not be covered, but all doctor’s bills that this insurance company had paid would be billed to her to have to pay. This will amount to thousands of dollars.
She is pregnant with no job and now newly diagnosed heart disease.
We are going to see if her state insurance (which served as her secondary insurance as a pregnant teen) will cover those bills, but who knows……
To put it bluntly: Health Care in the U.S. sucks.
One of the many reasons I am a member of the Green Party is because of its position on health care, particularly the section on Universal Health Care. I strongly advocate this position which promotes a single payer health care system and where everyone receives health care, a basic human right.
I have joined a LJ support community which I hope will help further my understanding of heart disease and what others with similar issues endure in the treatment process.
As time passes I become more and more frustrated with the health care system in the U.S.
Recently I found out that my 18 year old pregnant daughter is facing open heart surgery. On top of the emotional shock and drain this is causing on her and me, the amount of “stuff” she is going through with doctors and insurance is unbelievable. Because she is 18 and not in school, she was just informed the other day that she would not be covered on her dad’s insurance. She turned 18 in December and was told (again just the other day) that not only would she not be covered, but all doctor’s bills that this insurance company had paid would be billed to her to have to pay. This will amount to thousands of dollars.
She is pregnant with no job and now newly diagnosed heart disease.
We are going to see if her state insurance (which served as her secondary insurance as a pregnant teen) will cover those bills, but who knows……
To put it bluntly: Health Care in the U.S. sucks.
One of the many reasons I am a member of the Green Party is because of its position on health care, particularly the section on Universal Health Care:
The United States is the only industrialized nation in the world without a national health care system. The current system’s high costs and widely recognized failures demand that bold steps be taken. The Green Party supports a universal, comprehensive, national single-payer health insurance program as the only solution to the current disastrous for-profit system.
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The Bushites will not stop at elevating privatization of healthcare:
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children’s Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.
Administration officials outlined the new standards in a letter sent to state health officials on Friday evening, in the middle of a month-long Congressional recess. In interviews, they said the changes were aimed at returning the Children’s Health Insurance Program to its original focus on low-income children and to make sure the program did not become a substitute for private health coverage.
A “substitute for private health coverage”? I think what they mean is that they don’t want the profits of private health companies being compromised by more and more folks becoming eligible for the CHIP program.
If thehealth care system in this country wasn’t so focused on greed and profit-making at the expense of the health care needs of very single person living in America, there would not be a need for programs like CHIP and there would be no competition for insurance companies because there would be NO insurance companies. Imagine, EVERYONE receiving the health care they need, regardless of income. What a concept.
The Bush Administration has left our children behind in many ways. This is yet another example of how Americans are continuing to be screwed.
Just got the word – my grandson is making his way out into our world! I’ll post here when it’s official.
According to an article in today’s Salt Lake Tribune, more and more children in the U.S. are uninsured. The Deseret News, in its article today on the same issue, has a chart on the statistics.
More than half of America’s 9 million uninsured children live in two-parent families, a new analysis of 2005 U.S. census data show. And in most of these two-parent families, both parents work. In Utah, a whopping 91 percent of an estimated 88,458 uninsured kids have at least one working parent.
Low-income families – those with incomes at twice the federal poverty level, or up to $33,200 for a family of three – are still most at risk. In Utah, 65 percent of uninsured kids fall in this category, the report shows. But “increasingly, this is a problem for the middle-class,” said Judi Hilman, executive director of the Utah Health Policy Project.
The Governor of Utah is proposing a mandate that all children in Utah have health insurance.
Under the plan, parents would be required to enroll their kids in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) if they qualify. This would take a big bite out of Utah’s uninsured, at least 52,000 youth.
But mandated coverage won’t work for everyone until private insurers offer affordable plans for middle-income families, says Hilman. “How can you mandate something that’s not affordable?”
My point exactly. Having been in uninsured situations before (with small children) I can attest first hand at how discriminatory and sometimes unattainable our current system is with regards to health care. Families either go without insurance or go in debt if health care is needed.
What’s wrong with this picture? Health care is a basic need. As are food, water, and education. When these needs are not provided or made unattainable a dominoe effect occurs. Lack of health care and food affect young people’s ability to concentrate in school. And we know what happens then (see my article below on No Child Left Behind and Utah’s schools). The “greatest country on earth” is failing to provide these basic human needs to a siginicantly large portion of our population.
Carmen was in Maryland the same time we were last month. She is back in Utah now and she and my son have decided to have her move there with him. I think it’s for the best, actually, but I will miss her and miss going to doctor’s visits. The bright side is now I will still get to go visit my family for Christmas and hopefully be there when the baby is born (due date is December 24).
My daughter had to be rushed to the ER last night – for the third time in about 3-4 months – with another burst ovarian cyst.
She is only 16. I am so worried about her. If anyone knows what the long-term prognosis is, generally, for women with this problem, please offer information.
The really sad thing for us is that I am 2,000 miles away from her. She lives with her father. He refuses to take her to the ER each time and she has to call my son or another family member.
She is strong and getting through it ok, but this is a very negative situation for her.
last Thursday I accompanied Carmen to Fetal Photos, a place that takes ultrasound photos of your fetus and also creates a DVD of the movement of the fetus. Amazing. We found out we are going to have a baby boy (no doubt about it) and gosh did he move around! He did flips and just plain wiggled. Here is a photo:
I pledge allegiance to all life
in its interdependent diversity;
and to the Planet upon which it exists;
one World, under the sky, undividable
with harmony and balance for all.
~ Tom King, 2001
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Me
This is my personal website which contains links and information to all aspects about me. My active posts can be viewed at my blog page and the social media links on the right side bar.
Dee’s Dotes is my personal blog (click tab above). I write about my activist activities, including the peace movement, the Green Party, politics in general and other progressive issues ; and other topics in Utah and beyond.
My original Dee’s ‘Dotes blog is here: 
Much of the content from the original blog has been incorporated in this site.
I am not a political analyst. I provide my opinions, experiences and perspectives straight from the heart.
NOTE: There was a hiatus of about 5 1/2 years (with a gap between 2012 and 2017 in the archives).
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 