Who would have thought one day Tom and I would drive to our local high school and listen to the President of the United States speak? I sure didn’t. So you can imagine my surprise, first, when I found out he was coming; and second, when Tom called to tell me his name was drawn and he could bring a special friend. This all happened on Tuesday. Yesterday we sat there with around 2,000 others listening to the President Obama as he discussed his plans for health care. We were thrilled to be there.
I voted for Barack Obama. Perhaps I have been swayed by his political charm and smooth intellectualism, but I trust the man. I believe he is truly trying to create a new feeling in the white house, a feeling of collaboration and honesty. I admire his openness with the public. I’m impressed by his dedication to his family. I respect his intellect. Listening to him speak yesterday I couldn’t help but feel that this was a good, true, down-to-earth person. Sure, our view points don’t line up exactly. There are several areas where I disagree with his politics. However, I don’t get the same feeling of disappointment that I remember feeling after watching parts of the Bush – Kerry debates four years ago.
President Obama came to Cleveland mainly to visit the Cleveland Clinic. He wants to base his health care plan off of the Clinic’s practice of paying doctors salary, rather than basing their pay off of procedures. He also wants to see that the health care system is able to reduce the cost of care while maintaining quality, another success of the Cleveland Clinic
(and Mayo clinic). He pronounced that he felt health care must be changed to curb three main things:
1. People being dropped from their insurance when their coverage becomes too costly.
2. People being unable to be insured because they have pre-exsisting conditons.
3. People loosing health care coverage if they loose their jobs.
He also spoke of the need to secure coverage for those in the 25-30 year age bracket, the highest uninsured population. To reduce the cost of prescriptions, especially for seniors. To establish of system of reimbursements for preventative care.
I thought of my brother and sister who are entrepreneurs when Pres. Obama made the comment that often this country looses potential entrepreneurs because men and women are forced to leave their innovative dreams to get a more stable job so they can have health care- and therefore properly take care of their families. There must be another way. 
I know little about our current health care plan, except that I have always been provided the care I needed. I think often it is hard for people like me to understand why a change needs to be made. So Tom and I talked about several things as we left the event. First, why would it be better for doctor’s to be paid salaries instead of by procedure? Being paid by procedure means simply this. Doctor’s encourage procedures, are less likely to spend their time doing anything but procedure, meaning ignoring preventive care, and they are less likely to take patients that are insured by the likes of Medicare, because they don’t pay as well.
I understand the evil of not insuring those who have pre-existing conditions, and of not paying out when someone, who has been paying co-pays and premiums all their life, suddenly becomes incredibly ill and requires more money than their insurance company wants to fork out. Tough, that’s the deal you make! 
I have a certain hesitancy in posting this because I know my knowledge isn’t as complete as I would like. However, I feel there is a need for change. I’m excited to watch the progress of these new developments. I’m sure there will be many things that will need to be fixed and altered, I think that is a guarantee anytime you want to make large change. I agree with the idea that people can choose to keep their private insurance if they want, but I believe there should be an option. What are your feelings, experiences, concerns?
6 responses to “Yesterday, Tom and I saw the President, live.”
I’m so excited that you two got that opportunity! When I heard the President was going to Shaker Heights, I thought, “how cool would it be if the Foutzes got to see him!”
I don’t know as much as I’d like to about health care reform. I feel like you’d need an MD, an MPH, and a JD to really get your head around it.
But I know I’m not as afraid of a single-payer system as the GOP wants me to be. I attribute that attitude to my family’s experience in Canada: we have always had good care and been happy with the experience. Are there waiting lists? Sure. But not for emergency procedures. And an economist would tell you that waiting lists and money both perform the same function: they ration goods and services.
The Canadian (and other European systems) can’t be so bad. After all, they have higher life expectancies, lower rates of infant mortality, etc. than we do, and pay a much lower percentage of GDP toward health care.
Lucky! Ben and I entered the raffle, but our names didn’t get drawn. I’m jealous.
I agree that change is needed. My concern is that such a large and complex change will be pushed through too quickly and consequently result in unnecessary oversights. I say, let’s take the time required to do it right. As Dad used to say: “If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, you’d better have time to do it right the second.”
Who is that? I swear I’ve seen that guy before. Hm…
I have had horrible experiences with health insurance. I’m in that bracket of 21-30 where there is a high level of uninsured. I bought very expensive care out of pocket and when I needed coverage it was denied. I should never have bought it. My sister, Emily, has been hit hard by health insurance as well. If I had not been recently married, I would have to choose between buying expensive care that would likely not step in when I needed it, or go completely uninsured. This was a risk I’ve been willing to take. However, it can be extremely dangerous as I’ve become too aware by my younger sister’s recent battle with cancer. Also, I was speaking with my eldest sister, Melissa. She is married and both are uninsured by their employers, and because of their occupations this is likely to be the status quo. They want to have a baby so they’ve been looking for insurance coverage for maternity. The smallest deductible they’ve been able to find is $5000. That, plus the cost of the insurance is over half her yearly income. It’s outrageous and something must be done! How is that for ranting? So jealous. Love you guys!
First, you shouldn’t trust Obama. There are many people out there who used to have sentiments similar to yours, and ended up changing their views.
You might be interested in this video that I made:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQBTRBzTQ0w
Often, the cures that political leaders offer are worse than the disease. This is the case with Obama’s health care plan. I’ll spare you my opinions on what needs to happen with our health care system. But I think it’s worthwhile for everyone to do a lot of research, compare opposing views, and make an informed decision.