President Snowe, I have a question about the "trigger" option for a public plan.
You see, I'm one of the uninsurable--I've got diabetes, high blood pressure and depression. No for-profit insurance company wants to touch me with a ten-foot pole. Currently I'm working a job that is three months behind on paying me, and I don't dare quit because then I'd have no way to afford my medication. So as long as they keep insuring me, I have to stay.
So, I'm left wondering. Just whose death will it take to fire your trigger?
45,000people die each year due to lack of insurance. You've made it clear you have no interest in preventing all of those. Just enough that it doesn't threaten the profits of private insurers.
I have no idea how many people would die if, say, Blue Cross's profits dropped to under 3%. It must be a lot, I guess, seeing how carefully everyone is trying to balance things out.
So, how many is it necessary to have die? Who's death will it take in 2013 or 2014 in order to prove that this has failed. Would my death help?
I just want to know, because I've lost track of the arguments here. I had hoped for affordable health care. Then suddenly it became about affordable insurance. (Even with insurance, I'm going bankrupt due to increases in premiums and decreased coverage of prescription drugs. Utah has a law that will let small employers opt to drop coverage of conditions like diabetes with their plans. Affordable for me, but not really usefull.)
And now we've come to deciding how bad it has to be before we think about triggering a fix. Not the fix I want, mind you, I'm all for single payer. But just to trigger a compromise that may or may not work, if the current wattered down compromise doesn't work in a few years--assuming Democrats are still in control.
Obama, you can take a shot at answering this, too. Cause I'm a little sad and dissapointed. And a lot sick.
Sincerely,
DJ Adequate