Steamd

Last week, Rush Limbaugh said some really ignorant things about health care legislation:

Ok, first off, Obama has been doing his fair share to help fix the current banking and credit crisis. However, he’s not a magician. He can’t just wave a magic wand and come up with a solution over night. Plus, he has to have the backing of Congress to pass any kind of legislation that will aid in fixing the mess. It’s a multi-layered issue and no one really knows how big the problem really is other than it’s really big. 

Also, I don’t expect Obama to focus his attention exclusively on the banking and credit issues we face. That would be incredibly irresponsible given that there are myriad of other issues that our country faces that require his attention as well. Not only that but to say that the buck stops with just Obama isn’t realistic. It’ll require the efforts of everyone in Congress; not just Obama and his cabinet.

To say that all he can do is shift people’s attitudes about it is pretty ignorant. This isn’t about ideology. It’s about facing the raw facts. You can preach ideology all you want but at the end of the day if what you are preaching isn’t contributing anything to the solution then your ideology doesn’t matter for squat.

The Ted Kennedy Memorial Health Care Bill?! Seriously, Rush?! That is by far one of the most insensitive things I’ve heard anyone say in quite a while! The guy is dying of brain cancer and you’re making a statement like that?! You may have a difference in ideology and opinion with Ted Kennedy but don’t joke around about his health. It’s rude and downright insensitive and, quite frankly, deserves an apology.

Questions for Rush: What would you do? What solutions to these problems would you propose? Given that you’re so eager to criticize Obama and just about every other Democrat and Republican who doesn’t agree with you, what would the great Rush Limbaugh do if he were in the White House? Would you focus exclusively on each problem till each one is solved? Would you say that’s a good strategy? Or would you get the ball rolling on each of these issues and focus your attention as it is needed?

What the hell does Rush Limbaugh know about any of this stuff? For all he knows, the problems with the health care industry are as big and complex as the banking and credit crisis. I should know because I’ve gone through some health care issues myself recently.

For those who really want to understand one of the bigger issues with health care in this country, I suggest you read a recent Time magazine article entitled The Health-Care Crisis Hits Home. After reading it, I quickly realized just how inadequate my own health care insurance really is.

Just like Patrick Tumulty, I’m on a temporary insurance plan. I switched jobs and, since my wife was still in school, we weren’t sure whether she would end up with a full-time job with benefits. As such, we decided to stick with a temporary insurance plan till we knew more.  Big mistake! There were a number of discrepancies with my insurance plan within the six month duration I had it.

First, after having hernia surgery, my insurance company did not pay the anesthesiologist for some reason. Why? No clue. Guess they figured I didn’t need it. Or maybe it was because the anesthesiologist is out of network? So basically the insurance company is telling me that I have to keep up with whether or not if my doctor, the hospital, the anesthesiologist, the labs, and anyone else who is providing me with medical services is covered under my insurance plan. I literally had to jump through hoops to make sure that each and every thing was covered. In my opinion, it’s ridiculous and does nothing but cost more time and money for everyone involved…including the insurance company due to the number of bogus claims they have to process, including mine!

Second, I recently was diagnosed with colitis. I first went to a general physician (who is covered under my plan), who referred me to a specialist. The office for this doctor told me that I was covered under my insurance so, after seeing the doctor, I scheduled a colonoscopy. It wasn’t until about a week before my colonoscopy that I get a call from the doctor’s office telling me that I wasn’t covered through my insurance after all and that I’ll likely have to pay over $500 out of pocket for the colonoscopy. Great. 

Fortunately the folks that the doctor’s office were great and found me another doctor who can do the colonoscopy under my insurance. However, this doctor wanted me to come in for an unnecessary doctor’s visit, something my insurance company doesn’t like. My wife thought it was ridiculous to have to pay more money just to have a doctor ask the same questions and say the exact same thing: “You need a colonoscopy!”. So I called back to the original doctor’s office and asked them to find someone who would do the colonoscopy without any questions asked. Good news is that they found someone and I got the colonoscopy done and was diagnosed with colitis. Goody!

Lastly, I have confirmed what I have always know: that pharmaceutical and health insurance companies suck. My doctor prescribed to me two main medications, one oral and one (cough!) fun one. My wife nearly passed out after hearing what a 1 month supply of one and a 3 month supply of another would cost us: $600! And that’s after insurance deductions! Are these people out of their mind? Who the hell pays $600 for prescriptions!? That’s highway robbery!

The problem is that there are no generics of the medications I was prescribed. I either have to take something different or simply not take them at all. I can’t very well afford to keep paying for these medications since I’ll likely have to take them for the rest of my life. It’s a known fact that many medications won’t have generics available unless it’s been on the market for at least three years. In the meantime, pharmaceutical companies are gouging everyone due to the patents they hold on medications that don’t qualify for generic production yet. And being that there is little to no regulation on this, the gouging will continue and American insurance companies and individuals will continue to pay a premium on name brand drugs. It’s ridiculous.

Last question for Rush: What would you have me and millions of Americans like me do about our health care problems? If you don’t have an answer then quit complaining. Sorry but I don’t see how anyone can complain unless they are able to offer an alternative.

Tags: healthcare, limbaugh
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Politics, Rants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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