Like Millions of Americans, I Can Never Leave My Spouse. I'll Lose My Healthcare.

[appalachiablue]

'Like millions of Americans, I can never leave my spouse. I’ll lose my healthcare.' By Jessa Crispin, The Guardian, July 23, 2021. - EXCERPTS, ED:

- My access to doctors is tied to my husband – and his access is tied to his employer. Land of the free indeed. -

It was around the second dose of fentanyl going into my IV bag that I stopped trying to control how much all of this was going to cost. I had been arguing with every decision the caregivers at the emergency room were making – “Is this Cat scan actually necessary or is there another diagnostic tool?” “Is there a cheaper version of this drug you’re giving me?” – and reminding them repeatedly that I was uninsured.. I walked out of there 4 years ago alive, yes. And, as the doctors and nurses kept reminding me, if I had waited another 48 hours I might have gone septic. I was also walking home to a $12,000 bill, which was approximately half of my annual income as a single woman. It took me several years of hardship, contributions from my friends and the assistance of the hospital’s charity program to pay off the $12,000. Then, last month, it started again..

As a freelance writer who has tried and failed for years now to get a real job with real benefits, the costs of the surgeries and hearing aids and other treatments the doctor sketched out as part of my future would be suffocating. But almost all of it is covered by my husband’s insurance, making my health and ability to access healthcare dependent on his presence in my life. The coercions built into American social welfare programs limit freedom, not preserve it. People who are not financially independent are forced to maintain ties with family members who might be abusive or violent unless they want to relinquish their housing, healthcare or other forms of support..

And as outlined by Melinda Cooper’s Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism, the dismantling of protections like food and financial aid in the 80s and 90s had the express purpose of increasing familial obligations in the name of “duty” and “responsibility”. Single parents seeking public support for their children’s wellbeing now had to first seek assistance through their partners, no matter how fraught or harmful those relationships might be. While politicians spoke of “strengthening families” and repairing the social fabric, one of the consequences of these policy changes was to limit the ability for people to make the basic decisions required to live the lives of their choosing, unless they had the money that in this country is our substitute for freedom.

It’s not just unhealthy families we are stuck in: a Gallup poll revealed that one in 6 Americans stay in jobs they want to leave because they can’t afford to lose their health benefits. Politicians on both sides claim to support innovation and entrepreneurship, but the cost of healthcare is a huge barrier for many, and something that could be easily resolved with a public option. It’s almost as if we believe people who are sick, unlucky or not blessed by inherited resources deserve to have their choices constrained and stay trapped in perilous circumstances. (That last part is a joke. We Americans definitely believe this.)...

Read The Full Article,
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/23/americans-healthcare-insurance-spouse

[exboyfil]

1. I am surprised that conservative economists

haven't been banging this drum. It is an obvious market inefficiency.

[appalachiablue]

3. That aspect has surely been explored, but

financial interest like Big Pharma and corporate driven- profits from medical and healthcare override the practical side and human costs. It's a nightmare bureaucratically as well, the patchwork for profit 'heath care' system in the US is a wreck.

[Nay]

6. Many conservatives of all kinds are men who wish to enforce the second-class status

of women and POC by keeping them in bad marriages and low-paying jobs. Conservatives usually have underlying prejudices that they wish to express through 'conservative economics' and 'conservative religion,' etc. They've managed to seed their bullshit into every last thing that people do.

[Phoenix61]

2. Think of how many put off retirement until they

are eligible for Medicare. The part about entrepreneurship is especially valid. The owners can’t get health insurance and neither can their employees.

[Tadpole Raisin]

5. Just looking at most employer health insurance plans

and for the moment removing any allowances (e.g., ACA, FMLA, COBRA - and TG Democrats that those exist!) that might negate anything below, cuz not everybody in all states, or working for small companies or self employed have options

You have to think twice about making changes in your life because of insurance concerns - coverage, cost, availability if you

1. Want to go back to school
2. Need to care for someone for an extended period of time.
3. Move
4. Want to travel
5. Want to go to a doctor or to another state not covered by your insurance
6. Need to leave a bad marriage where your insurance is tied to your spouse

I’m sure there are other examples. Now I am specifically not giving this a name because some people shut down and won’t listen the minute you do that but

Wouldn’t it be nice to not panic if you lost your job because your insurance was not linked to that?

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to care for someone else, move, travel, etc., if none of these events/activities required you to stop and think of the consequences?

Wouldn’t it be great if you wanted to branch out and start your own business, be an independent contractor, spend time inventing things because NONE OF these things impacted your healthcare?

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had an asshole for a boss and could go to another job knowing your healthcare would not be impacted?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the cost of insurance wouldn’t be higher working for a small company.

We all pay for insurance one way or the other. Change the method by which we pay and none of the above examples would get in the way of living our lives


Americans don’t know what freedom means in healthcare but this would be freedom for me.

As always, follow the money.

[appalachiablue]

7. All good points, many impt. aspects

of life here are lost because of our dysfunctional, costly, for- profit healthcare system. Leave the workforce for the experience and education of travel, to help a loved one who might be ill or in distress, or move to another location for better prospects and you'll lose health coverage.

From what I understand, employers initiated taking on health insurance for workers back in the days of of prosperity and unionization in the 1950s, 60s as an added attraction and benefit. How things have changed since then.

I've watched a number of women, the traditional caregivers struggle with the need to care for children, parents and relatives, some who are out of town and at the same time maintain their job, for the benefits.

It's grossly unfair to employees and their co- workers who often have to take up the slack if they're out because of inadequate resources and planning for medical and family leave.