My husband & I live in Canada but are in Arizona for 3 months this winter. We took out Blue Cross travel insurance. I have had 2 medical emergencies...the first one Blue Cross paid but I had to pay the second one.
When I paid the $125 to see a doctor I thought "for some families this would be like making a decision to go to the doctor when you needed medical attention or putting food on the table for your family."
In Canada, I would simply call and make and appointment to see my Dr. If it was an emergency, I'd be in the same day - otherwise it would be a case of waiting till the next day. Then I would receive care, a prescription or whatever. We never see a bill or know the cost involved. 18 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I had surgery within 2 weeks of my diagnosis and then had radiation, took Tamoxifin for 5 years. I picked up a 3 month supply at our local cancer clinic and went on my way.
No bills, no stress or wondering if I would be covered. And EVERYONE has care...it's worth the extra we pay in taxes for such piece of mind!!
Anonymous
Arizona
Cross posted from http://healthcare.democratsabroad.ca/
Friday, February 12, 2010
Write a letter to your Congressperson
This post is from Bob Haiducek, who is responsible for the website www.medicareforall.org and who runs the Million Letters for Health Care campaign. Bob's website allows you to do what he calls "sign up to stand up for single-payer, Medicare for All", so I recommend that you sign up to be counted as a supporter in whatever your U.S. Congressional District is in the U.S. Bob sends 1 helpful e-mail each month with a fresh set of suggestions that you can use directly or for an idea to personalize your letter.
Any American in any country can participate. If you don't want to pay for the overseas postage to actually send the monthly letter, you could do a copy and past each month of your letter to your U.S. Representative into an e-mail and do a cc: or bcc: to bob@medicareforall.org. Bob will get your letter to your U.S. Representative ... in an envelope in the U.S. Mail if the donations to his website allow him to be able to handle that expense.
Following are excerpts of one of Bob's monthly helpful reminders. You can use ideas from the list below, write your own letter, or go to www.medicareforall.org to download a sample letter.
==== SUGGESTION: select one of these to write or use as an idea for what you write ====
September 2009
People in other free-market countries wonder why we have not implemented low-cost high-quality health care for all like they did. It's time for us to act!
We know from President Obama's position in 2003 that he will sign if people communicate in every Congressional District. We are now communicating!
People need to automatically have full health care for their entire lives to improve the quality of life and help people have good preventive care.
People need to automatically have full health care for their entire lives to improve the quality of life without having any major medical bills.
We want this one action that will save families up to $8,000 per year in addition to possibly saving up to $2,500 per year with additional actions.
==============================
For Your Reference in Conversations --------
If you are among fellow activists, please consider bringing up the subject of the contents of this "Help Get Care" document:
http://www.medicareforall.org/files/helpgetcare.pdf
or its corresponding web page.
If you are among people who are supportive of single-payer and would like to know more, please consider these documents:
http://www.medicareforall.org/files/benefits.pdf
or its corresponding web page
and
http://www.medicareforall.org/files/twochoices.pdf
or its corresponding web page.
Any American in any country can participate. If you don't want to pay for the overseas postage to actually send the monthly letter, you could do a copy and past each month of your letter to your U.S. Representative into an e-mail and do a cc: or bcc: to bob@medicareforall.org. Bob will get your letter to your U.S. Representative ... in an envelope in the U.S. Mail if the donations to his website allow him to be able to handle that expense.
Following are excerpts of one of Bob's monthly helpful reminders. You can use ideas from the list below, write your own letter, or go to www.medicareforall.org to download a sample letter.
==== SUGGESTION: select one of these to write or use as an idea for what you write ====
September 2009
People in other free-market countries wonder why we have not implemented low-cost high-quality health care for all like they did. It's time for us to act!
We know from President Obama's position in 2003 that he will sign if people communicate in every Congressional District. We are now communicating!
People need to automatically have full health care for their entire lives to improve the quality of life and help people have good preventive care.
People need to automatically have full health care for their entire lives to improve the quality of life without having any major medical bills.
We want this one action that will save families up to $8,000 per year in addition to possibly saving up to $2,500 per year with additional actions.
==============================
For Your Reference in Conversations --------
If you are among fellow activists, please consider bringing up the subject of the contents of this "Help Get Care" document:
http://www.medicareforall.org/files/helpgetcare.pdf
or its corresponding web page.
If you are among people who are supportive of single-payer and would like to know more, please consider these documents:
http://www.medicareforall.org/files/benefits.pdf
or its corresponding web page
and
http://www.medicareforall.org/files/twochoices.pdf
or its corresponding web page.
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