Wow...

So, here's the final talley:

Our doctor sent a bill for $657.50, which, we discovered, was originally $3,420.40, but our insurance covered it...

Then we found out why:

The Hospital obviously got to the insurance company first; charging $3,650 for our stay. Insurance hit the cap at some point and paid $800 of it, but we still have $2,700 in bills to pay.

So, we will pay $3,000 out of pocket for this.

Let me note something: total, having a baby in America cost us $5,500 out of pocket for 9 months, or about $620 a month (All things considered). We paid $320 a month for insurance that stopped it from being $1,230 a month... but you add that back in and it was still an (Average) of $950 a month to have a healthy, normal child.

When the health care package goes through, we would have gotten a payment of $5,300 from the government to cover any costs above our bills.

Which means that now, in a recession, when one of us can't work (Because she's taking care of the baby), and I'm worried about losing my job, we wouldn't have to worry about this baby costing us every spare penny we have...

Which, by the way, is exactly what we ARE worried about; I simply don't make enough money to cover all of these bills... so we are going to have to take from our savings.

So... okay, people HATE this bill... Why? For 100 years we left it in the hands of the "private sector" and they have made it impossible for the average joe to get any help... 100 years.... how long do we have to wait?!? 1,000?!? 10,000 years? I mean, really! There comes a time where someone has to do something. Waiting another 50 years won't change anything, except more of the working class will die of needless things...

People, we need to stop. The bill is through; it won't kill babies, it give us middle class people a chance to survive. We can fix the rest of it...

But guys, worrying about petty politics is not worth my life or my child's life...

And without this, I won't ever get medical attention if I need it... and I'm worried I do need it (But I can't be sure, because I can't afford to be sick)

Well, it passed

That major health care bill passed...

And for the life of me, I can't tell what that means.

For librals and Democrats, it means we are all going to get health insurance, we can all go to the doctor whenever we want, it'll be cheaper (Not free just yet, but soon), and by 2014 all will be fine.

For Conservatives and Republicans, we just flushed the whole mess down the tubes and not only will people suffer, but we will suffer with great sufferyness. No one will benefit, it is simply a trillion dollar boondoggle that is going to have to be paid for by Kai...

So, I really still don't know what any of this means...

So, I decided to look into it.

1) This is simply Obama trying to look good: True, we've been working on public health care since Roosevelt was president... TEDDY Roosevelt (1915, people? World War ONE?). Is that the reason he did it? Maybe, but that's not a reason NOT to do it. This argument is misinformation and trying to grasp at straws.

2) This bill does not address problems with Malpractice Insurance: Also True. The bill allots only $50 mill to this issue, and that was a compromise for the Democrats. Originally, it did not address it at all.

But, and this is the very, very important points here: You can't put an ammendment on something that doesn't exist. You need a law in place in order to add stuff to it. And, the biggest problem in our health care system today is that the insurance agencies are making a killing (literally) on us. Those Agencies don't have anything to do with malpractice insurance (Though those agencies are also making a killing... ). If you compare the number of doctors that are being taken for a ride by malpractice insurance, then compare it to the number of Americans that are being taken by insurance agencies (Indeed and the number of people who are not insured at all because of this), then it does seem disproportionate. I looked it up, and there are some 900,000 doctors in the United States (Does that seem low to you?), let's just say 1 million doctors in the US. there are 309 million people in the US. 75% are working class or middle class, so about 230 million people are being taken for a ride by insurance. This means that though it is a problem, it is 0.5% the SCALE of the bigger issue.

3) This does not address the problem with a dwindling medical work force, and Doctors will be payed less: True. It has no provision for the fact that it is more lucrative to go into private practice here in America than go into General Practice and work for the public health.

But... that's capitalism. And it's like saying "This bill does not address terrorism issues", no, it doesn't... but that's a whole different problem that needs another bill passed through congress.

3) This isn't what the people wanted: False. It's been a war of soundbites on this issue, no one wants to read the 2,000 page bill, and to be honest, I don't even think the lawmakers read the 2,000 page bill... "Death Squads" anyone? Really, I think if I actually believed that this bill meant my father would be denied coverage because he's old, I'd be against it, too... of course, that's not even in the bill... nor is there anything LIKE that in the bill...but there were people who said that was in the bill...

People wanted health care. It's started. That's the key point.

4)We are going to pay more in taxes: True, where else would you think the money comes from? In the end, however, I think we'll actually pay less. Our taxes are much more than Japan, and they have completely socialized Health Care. Our Tax boondoggle isn't health care, it's defense (That's not to say we don't NEED defense, just put the blame where it belongs).

One of the Conservitives spat out in disgust that by 2014 19 Million Americans will only get $6,000 in subsidies to help with health insurance...

Did anyone notice that our deductable was $5,000? I don't know if this fits or not, but if the government gave us $6,000 per year to subsidize that, we could wipe out our deductable and cover $2000 worth of medical bills (They pay 50% after the deductable)!... Then we could go to the doctor anytime we wanted and it would cost us $375 a month! I would happily pay that! Happily! That's all we really need to make this family healthy.

This would put an end to people like my mother dying because she couldn't afford to go to the doctor. This would put an end to "We can't afford to be sick" (A mantra I grew up with)...

The last big thing I heard was that before (Since Teddy Roosevelt) Health Care had a far greater approval rating than it did this time , Thus, it stands to reason that we aren't doing the right thing:... well, I'll pose this as well: Maybe the reason was because it never went this far... It got killed early every other time because of politics looong before anyone could vote on it.

Here's what I do know: it will cost America's corporations, they will have to cover their employees or pay a VERY stiff fine.

So... whose interests are we REALLY worried about?

Perfect? If America EVER makes perfect legislation, then someone has drugged the Congress and House... we aren't designed to make perfect legislation.

I remember sleep

Okay, Kai is now 1 month old... he poops regularly, he has acne like any good infant should...

And....

He starts at about 10PM crying and doesn't let up until 4AM...

But...

At first I thought he had colic... now I'm thinking he might not, his parents are slightly clueless... We didn't catch on about the diaper thing until recently (Yes, it is entirely plausable that he wet a diaper and then 5 minutes later wet ANOTHER one- Oddly enough, this is something we must learn)....

and burping... even breast-feeding, Kai does indeed need to burp and 30 seconds of light tapping on Kai's back may not actually solve the problem...

Yes, we need to learn that.

So, in all the advice that we got (Hahaha... get used to not sleeping! Hahaha Get used to dirty diapers... etc), this was advice that we coulda used...

Thus begins the new life for this Blog; Kai's life. Someday... not as far down the line as you might think, I'm hoping Kai will be posting here.

For now, it's Daddy's turn.

This is Kai at one month: healthy, not yet happy (He's alternating from "Content" to "Lobster-Baby-Mad" and not much else), but stable :)

And... he's ticklish... a little. :)

---Daddy

Are you listening Mr. Obama?

So, here's the deal;

I pay $370 a month for my health insurance.

It has a $5,000 deductable, meaning they won't even touch a medical issue until we reach $5,000 out of our pocket FIRST.

Then it's 50% after that... so from $5,001 to, say $10,000 I still have to pay $2,500

For our hospital visit, where my son was born, we just got a bill for $2,045... my insurance -To whom I have paid $4,000 so far (And continue to pay $370 a month)-, paid $900 of the $3,000 bill. Not even half of what I have paid in... and it doesn't cover the new pediatrician visits (Since that is a seperate thing)... so we start all over again chipping away at that massive deductible. With a deductible that high, it is likely that a healthy person will NEVER get help from Insurance... all of our trips will have to be out of pocket... which means I will never go to see the doctor until I am REALLY, REALLY sick (Because my son and wife will go before I ever do and we simply do not make enough for all three of us to go). Probably, like my mother, the next time I see a medical professional it will be a coroner.

Now I'm hearing that this new health care will require me to have health care... that's fine, but it better not be like my current plan... Which, I might add, is the BEST I could get (My company is simply too small to have it's own insurance-this is with a seperate company)... If it is, then I will no longer support you. Forcing people to pay for a screwed up system isn't helping, it hurts.

When we talk about Auto Insurance -which we have lost all respect for because there is rarely help from the companies when you need them- we often say that Auto insurance is simply "paying for permission to drive".

Please, PLEASE, don't make this Health Care bill be nothing more than paying for permission to live.

---Me