If it weren't for Gov. Chiles, Democrat in Florida in 1994, I would have continued paying $10,000 a year for insurance because Illinois Blue Cross made me pay that much for health insurance when Len retired in 1985. Carol was refused insurance totally.
Think about it; we paid $10,000.00 a year for my health insurance for nine years. That's $90, 000,000! Even in today's recessed economy, that's a lot of money! I was never sick!
When we moved to Florida in 1994 I heard that Gov. Chiles established a healthcare program for "mom and pop" home businesses; there were so many retired people who went into business from their homes when they retired to Florida. There was: 1. no discrimination for pre-existing conditions. 2. no dropping of coverage for the seriously ill. 3. no gender discrimination. 4. no annual or lifetime caps on coverage. 5. no cancellation as long as the bills were paid. I established a home business until I was eligible for Medicare. It was fantastic insurance!
That sure sounds like what this bill is proposing.
Now, for drugs, I have to pay $2500. a year, plus my co-pay for each prescription, plus the first $250. for drugs. My anti-cancer pill, Arimidex, costs $1000. a month and I run out of Humana's financial drug support every August. Last year my oncologist helped me out with pills during the last five months of 2008. This year, I'm going to order from Canada where the drugs are cheaper.
We DO need a health care reform. I'm willing to trust President Obama to set up a good one. I hear the word, socialism, touted all over. I don't know if Gov. Chiles' program was socialistic, but it sure was a gift to Len and me. I don't think the Democrats are going to withhold medicine or health care from us old folks and just let us die and save the young. (I've heard that before from those who oppose this health care reform). Be careful what you hear and believe.
Len, my husband, took me to Ruby Tuesday's for lunch today. I really love their salad bar. When we got home, he turned on the TV to see what was going on with the stock market. They were talking about the bill passing concerning credit cards. (Thanks, President Obama et al.) I was so happy to hear that although we pay our bills every month.
Two women on there were chatting and, of course, had to find something negative about it. One said, ...but won't that hurt the people who live right and pay their bills on time?
Ye gods and little fish; couldn't they be happy for those who can't pay their bills on time every month? It reminded me about how different some of us feel about things. I don't feel disadvantaged at all and I'm happy for those that this bill will help. Too, I think its only right that people know when their rates go up. I'm blessed and grateful that I'm able to pay my bills on time; certainly not "right" because of it and, to partially quote an old saying:
Paying on time is its own reward!
Wow, today is the Wesak full Moon from Central Daylight Time to points West. I have just read an amazing article on President Obama that needs to be shared. I am impressed! Here is the URL:
http://www.visionarylead.org/articles/Obama.htm
Enjoy and don't forget to pray for our President and Government.
Captain Phillips has been rescued. Happy Easter America and thank you, President Obama, for giving the order to rescue. Wow, what a Navy we have and what eagle eye snipers. Blessings to all of you.
Blessings to you, Captain Phillips; you are truly a hero!
This is a goooooood day!
This was another e-mail from one of my ladyfriends. I love my ladyfriends.
We elected the coolest president in the world By Garrison Keillor, Syndicated Columnist (and narrator of Praire Home Companion on NPR) Published Thursday, November 13, 2008 8:13 PM Be happy, dear hearts, and allow yourselves a few more weeks of quiet exultation. It isn't gloating, it's satisfaction at a job well done. He was a superb candidate, serious, professorial but with a flashing grin and a buoyancy that comes from working out in the gym every morning. He spoke in a genuine voice, not senatorial at all. He accepted adulation gracefully. He brandished his sword against his opponents without mocking or belittling them. He was elegant, unaffected, utterly American, and now (Wow) suddenly America is cool. Chicago is cool. Chicago !!! We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy with a Harvard degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor — he said, "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." The French junior minister for human rights said, "On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes." When was the last time you heard someone from France say they wanted to be American and take a bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment. The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back. He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters. He looks good in the kitchen. He can cook Indian or Chinese but for his girls he will do mac and cheese. At the same time, he knows pop music, American lit and constitutional law. I just can't imagine anybody cooler. Look at a photo of the latest pooh-bah conference — the hausfrau Merkel, the big glum Scotsman, that goofball Berlusconi, Putin with his B-movie bad-boy scowl, and Sarkozy, who looks like a district manager for Avis — you put Barack in that bunch and he will shine. It feels good to be cool and all of us can share i n that, even sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads. Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the badge, he's going to see " United States of America " and look up and grin. Even if you worship in the church of Fox , everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama and you may as well say you voted for him because he is your line of credit over there. And the coolest thing about him is the fact that back in the early '90s, given a book contract after the hoo-ha about his becoming the First Black Editor of the Harvard Law Review, instead of writing the basic exploitation book he could've written, he put his head down and worked hard and wrote a good book, an honest one, which, since his rise in politics, has earned the Obamas enough to buy a nice house and put money in the bank. A successful American entrepreneur. Our hero who galloped to victory has inherited a gigantic mess. The country is sunk in debt. The Treasury announced it must borr ow $550-billion to get the government through the fourth quarter, more than the entire deficit for 2008, so he will have to raise taxes and not only on bankers and lumber barons. His promise never to raise the retirement age is not a good idea. Whatever he promised the Iowa farmers about subsidizing ethanol is best forgotten at this point. We may not be getting our National Health Service cards anytime soon. And so on. So enjoy the afterglow of the election awhile longer. We all walk taller this fall. People in Copenhagen and Stockholm are sending congratulatory e-mails — imagine! We are being admired by Danes and Swedes! And Chicago becomes The First City. Step aside, San Francisco . Shut up, New York . The Midwest is cool now. The mind reels. Have a good day.
