Health Care Reform...I want to believe...

The debate is heating up. Every night there is news of some congressman or woman getting jeered and booed over the health care debate. I'm not sure where I fall but here's what I learned over the last year and a half.

I have read many stories about amputees denied C-legs. In nearly every case that dealt with private insurance companies, the amputee was ultimately provided a C-leg. Usually the amputee had to provide proof of need, proof of ability, scientific evidence that the C-leg performed better than the alternative and sometimes they had to drag in a Congressman or State Insurance Commissioner, but in most cases with private insurance, the amputee finally won their case.

My case is different because I'm not dealing with private insurance. I'm dealing with government at the state level. In other words, I see the future and it ain't pretty! I already have government run insurance. A Health Care Commission appointed by the governor decides my fate. They have no obligation to respond to my letters, my requests, my evidence, my Doctor, my proof. They pawn this off on the insurance company that manages the state contract. The neutered insurance company conveys the one syllable communication (NO) but they're powerless puppets of the HCC and they admit as much by saying, "The state calls the shots. They control the purse strings."

The State Insurance Commissioner, the only person with the courtesy to reply, said that they have no jurisdiction over the government run Health Care Commission, and besides, the Insurance Commissioner is also a member of the Health Care Commission. Uh-oh! Fox in the henhouse!

Another State government committee decides that providing coverage for my health care needs will cost the government too much money, so it will not be covered this year or next or the next year unless something gives.

So...How do I feel about government run health care? At the moment, not good. Not good at all. I have ample evidence that they don't provide and they don't respond to need or to evidence based logic.

Still, the "government" provides C-legs for war veterans, Medicare and Medicaid recipients. The State provides for Medicaid recipients too. State Employees just fall between the cracks.

On the flip side, I also don't understand why a computerised knee with a plastic and carbon fiber socket costs more than a car. Why does a bilateral above knee amputee have to come up with $120,000 to walk? A familiar cry is, "Arms and legs are not a luxury!" Then why are prosthetics priced like luxury items? Why are prosthetics priced out of the reach of the very people who need them? Are the materials, the technology really that expensive? I'm sure it cost a lot to research and develop the C-leg, but it's been on the market for nearly 10 years. The R&D costs haven't been recovered yet?

Does the market need more competition? A resounding YES is the obvious answer. Functional, affordable high quality prosthetics. What a novel idea.

Lots to think about...