I'd like this to be a no bullshit zone, if at all possible. Try to keep the partisan sniping to other diaries. Lord knows there's plenty to choose from.
I'm just posing a simple question -- whose healthcare plan would be better for a lower middle-class family with kids on the way, like my family?
Read the scenario after the fold, and be prepared to speak to me as though I'm a person of below-average intelligence. Also, English is my 3rd language. Also, I'm from Mars and barely understand what a doctor is.
My wife and I both have health care through our jobs. I work for a newspaper publishing company, and she works for an independent school district. We have both spent years without any health care at all, however.
We're mostly happy with our coverage, however there are a few problems.
- The monthly payments are a bit high, and we'd appreciate it if they could be lowered.
- The cost of prescription drugs is high until we meet the deductible. Then it's less of a problem.
- Some drugs -- especially those having to do with preventative medicine -- are not covered at all. For example, smoking cessation drugs aren't covered at all by my plan.
The other factor is that our first baby will be coming in about a month and a half. So there's a whole slew of doctor's visits and inoculations and other medical needs to be considered.
Of course I'm also very concerned, as are the rest of you, about the millions of people who don't have health insurance in this country. This is a factor for me in whose plan I think is best. If the candidate has a viable plan to cover these people, then that will be considered.
So I hope we can have a good, clean discussion here.
Please remember that my head begins spinning very quickly whenever I try to talk about health insurance. There's a lot of it that I don't understand. So talk slowly and use very small words, please.