Health Care in America

At the risk of jumping on the bandwagon, I'm going to discuss health care in the US, specifically as it pertains to me:

Since September I have been attempting to get Leigh on my work's health care plan. Because our marriage is not recognized in the US I had to show 5 items of proof that we are, in fact, a couple. Our Canadian marriage certificate was NOT a valid form of proof. Go figure. Anyway, I successfully completed this process and was told that, because I cannot claim her as my dependent on my federal taxes (Alaska doesn't have income tax), I would have to pay taxes as thought I earned an additional $560 per month, taxed at about 25%. This morning I found that my semi-monthly paycheck was missing nearly $150! That's more like a 56% taxation!

To make a long story short, it turns out that I'm only taxed on one paycheck per month, so the calculations are correct but it is still completely unfair that I have to pay these taxes. If I were married to a man, my husband's coverage would be completely free because we could file our taxes jointly or I could count him as my dependent if I wanted to. Because Leigh is a working adult I cannot count her as my dependent under any circumstances. Luckily Leigh's new job will offer her a health insurance plan and we can sit down and decide if it's cheaper to pay the $150 per month through my job or for her new company to insure her. Until then, we now have another monthly bill to worry about.

This brings me to the issue at large: I was so excited about Obama's new health care plan. I imagined the US having something similar to NHS in the UK or the French system. But no, Americans can't even look the tiniset bit socialist. We can't even expand Medicare and Medicaid to cover everyone, not just the elderly and destitute. In the eyes of the American public, it would be unacceptable to provide even the most dismal level of care to the population at large, lest we be called "socialists."

Instead we have a plan that requires all Americans to secure some form of health care by 2012. In our privatized health care system this means even the single mom who works 38 hours per week at McDonalds (because at 40 hours per week your employer has to provide you with benefits, so employers refuse to let some types of employees work 40 hours) has to purchase a health care plan for herself and her children. This could cost her hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars per month, depending on her health and her income. Some people don't have that kind of money.

Today a Federal Judge in Virginia ruled this aspect of the health care plan to be unconstitutional. I tend to agree. Since when can the United States require a citizen to purchase something? It's true that a person is legally required to purchase car insurance, but nobody is legally required to purchase a car or even have a driver's license. Meanwhile, we all have bodies and all of our bodies require care. Why can't our government (and our populace) see that everyone needs access to basic, preventative care?

In case anyone cares, here is my wish list for the US Health Care System:
1. EVERYONE gets basic care for FREE (via taxes, of course): this includes an annual check-up, vaccinations (by choice), teeth cleanings, emergent care (accidents, etc), and child birth.
2. If you want to purchase additional insurance privately or through work, you may
3. Incentives to quit smoking, lose weight, etc
4. Preventative measures for children to combat obesity, diabetes, smoking, and eating junk food while promoting sports (obviously the parents aren't doing this sufficiently on their own, so schools and public services should pick up the slack until the country has a change in outlook).

That's all. I would imagine we could find the money for at least some of this amongst our other costs if the American people could get a clear answer as to where our money goes every year. At any rate, I suspect the ObamaCare program will die before it goes into effect in 2012 and we'll be stuck with our old plan, left to fight this battle another day.