America's uninsured have not shown collective power

That is the title of a story that posted today on AOL. I have been uninsured for about 18 months now, since having to choose between having a full time job with health insurance and being a homeless person. I chose a place to live. National health care of a sort is an issue that I care deeply about. While I am not a lobbyist, I know how the process works. I have lobbied about various causes on several occasions, immigration, women's issues, homeless issues, gay rights, payday lenders and the like.

It is unfortunate that those of us who are not insured do not have the time, means and wherewithal to lobby effectively - we are simply too busy living life, holding one, two or three part time jobs in order to make ends meet.

Here is an excerpt from the article: "The number of uninsured has grown to an estimated 50 million people because of the recession. Even so, advocates in the halls of Congress are rarely the uninsured themselves. The most visible are groups that represent people who have insurance, usually union members and older people. In the last election, only 10 percent of registered voters said they were uninsured.

The grass-roots group Health Care for America Now plans to bring as many as 15,000 people to Washington this year to lobby Congress for guaranteed coverage. Campaign director Richard Kirsch expects most to have health insurance.

"We would never want to organize the uninsured by themselves because Americans see the problem as affordability, and that is the key thing," he said.

Besides, added Kirsch, the uninsured are too busy scrambling to make ends meet. Many are self-employed; others are holding two or three part-time jobs. "They may not have a lot of time to be activists," he said.

If you want to get involved with this issue such as I am going to now after reading this article, here are links to the White House, agencies and groups that might be helpful:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/health_care/
Health Care for America Now: http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/
Commonwealth Fund: http://www.commonwealthfund.org/
Institute of Medicine: http://tinyurl.com/dm8gnn

Here is the link to the story: http://money.aol.com/article/americas-uninsured-havent-shown/394319

We are clearly in need of health care reform in this country - those who have jobs that offer healthcare can stay insured and the over 50 million of us without insurance could "buy" into a cheap group plan. That way we would not have exhorbitant copays and we would not have to wait months to see a specialist. That is, of course, one person's opinion.

E.R. patients often left confused after visits

For the last two years, I have been with and without health insurance, mostly due to the prohibitive costs of COBRA.

The headline is from a NY Times story this morning.

Here is an excerpt:"A vast majority of emergency room patients are discharged without understanding the treatment they received or how to care for themselves once they get home, researchers say. And that can lead to medication errors and serious complications that can send them right back to the hospital.

In a new study, researchers followed 140 English-speaking patients discharged from emergency departments in two Michigan hospitals and measured their understanding in four areas — their diagnosis, their E.R. treatment, instructions for their at-home care and warning signs of when to return to the hospital.

The study, published online in July by the Annals of Emergency Medicine, found that 78 percent of patients did not understand at least one area and about half did not understand two or more areas. The greatest confusion surrounded home care — instructions about things like medications, rest, wound care and when to have a follow-up visit with a doctor. "

I find this study to be disturbing on many levels. As an individual who speaks 3 languages, English happens to be my first language. I am fairly comfortable conversing with physicians and have long since given up the notion that they are to be revered, treated like deity and have sonme omniprescent power over me. I have become a truly engaged patient, an advocate - then again, I have a chronic illness and have to be.

Imagine that you are on vacation and do not speak the language of the country that you are visiting. I keep hearing of how full our E.R's are of the some 65 million people without health insurance. Is this supposed to make us feel better? If I understand correctly, could it be that even when people speak the language, they are confused about what follow up/after care is needed?

We need to address healthcare options from a comprehensive standpoint in this country or we are doomed to even more failure and massive lawsuits.