I was overjoyed to see my good friend and co-leader in Girl Scouts, Mary Thompson, quoted in the NY Times article on Wednesday this week about pending mandatory healthcare coverage for kids with pre-existing conditions. In the article and on Facebook, Mary had still expressed some reservations regarding the dotting of the i's and the crossing of the t's on this whole thing. Well, it appears that her concerns were well founded.
Humana has told her that the new law pertaining to covering children with pre-existing conditions pertains only to children 10 and under. Since Mary's two children with pre-existing conditions are both over the age of 10, apparently, they still don't have to be covered until 2014. Well, gee, isn't that convenient for Humana - and all of the other big, fat insurance agencies? Where are these families supposed to turn for assistance?
Mary's husband owns his own business and therefore, the family is among the 14 million Americans who get their insurance on the individual market rather than via an employer. Two of the Thompson's three children have lived without insurance coverage pretty much their entire lives. No insurance. This is unfathomable to me. Working families, contributing members of the community, a mom who gives back more than just about anyone I know, in fact...and an insurance industry who can choose not to cover their children because they have significant medical needs (one with Attention Deficit Disorder and one who was born with spina bifida and later also diagnosed with very mild autism).
This is sick. I have to admit that on a daily basis, I sit back and tell myself that it makes me uncomfortable to "get involved" or "speak out". We live in an area of the country and even the metropolitan area where it is unpopular to believe in what President Obama is trying to do with the Healthcare Act. But no matter what you believe...whether you believe in what the President is doing or not, isn't it time to work together to insure the 72,000 uninsured children currently affected? And shouldn't we do what we can to help the 50.7 million people who are now uninsured in all? This number rose by 10% in 2009 alone.
What can we do to speak out, raise our voices and help people like the Thompsons get coverage now? These are children without healthcare coverage? Are you OK with that? And for those of you who say, "Hey, I pay my taxes, pull my weight, etc." and go with that argument, so do the Thompsons!
What say you, America?
Balanced Babe (Molly Wendland)
