On July 4, 1776 congress signed The Declaration of Independence, and it stated:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I believe that health insurance should be included as a right! Without health insurance we are not equal, and without health insurance we have to make choices that could affect our life! In a document from the 2008 US Census Bureau reported that “46.3 million people in the US were uninsured.” I believe the number Americans without health insurance will increase in this current census. Because my family and I will be part of that percentage.
My husband and I, both born and raised in the United States of America, have worked full time for the past 15 years with wonderful health coverage. Other than co-pays we were very lucky not to have any large medical bills, even with the birth of two beautiful girls. Then my husband lost his job due to the downward spiral of the US economy and to manufacturing job being sent overseas to China. He went back to school and got a degree as an electrician. Jobs were still scarce in our rural community and we were forced to relocate our family. My husband was fortunate to get a job with his Dad’s small company, but there are no health insurance benefits available. As the wife and mother of two healthy girls, knowing we cannot go without some type of health insurance I started panicking. I checked with several companies and couldn’t believe the cost of having private health insurance and with not qualifying for public health insurance; I had to make a decision. Against my better judgment, we have to take a huge risk. The cost of relocating and starting over is overwhelming so we have to go without health insurance!
So yes, I believe my family and I have a right to be covered by some type of health insurance. It is not a choice that we made for my husband to lose his job and not be able to make a living to support our family and not be able to afford health insurance. So our right to life and pursuit of happiness is at a huge risk!
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I'm going to play a little devil's advocate here. Health insurance is one thing that makes man unequal here in America. For true equality, do you want everyone to make the same wage, have all land, homes, cars, etc... cost the same? Which other parts of the rights are unequal?
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand where you're coming from, it's such a tough line! I've always been a well-insured person. From my parents', to my employment, to my ex-husband's government insurance. At this moment, I don't have any, like I've stated before. After I divorced, I lost all my military dependent benefits and my employer isn't large enough to rate a group plan. So he does give us a small allowance every month. It doesn't cover the plan I'm looking at, but it helps. Individual insurance is outrageous! And trying to find decent coverage on a budget is a tough job!
I'm sorry to hear about your family and hope things start looking up for y'all!
-Courtney
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that we should not all be equal,and our country was built on the idea of freedom and choices. but it wasn't our choice for my husband to lose his job. It was the government allowing our jobs to be sent over to China. We are not looking for handouts and free health insurance. I just believe that something needs to be done to lower the cost! So small companies and middle class families can afford insurance!
~Beth