Why we need a health care fix!!!!

[retiredhappy]

My medicare insurance just raised its premium from $172 to $215 a month. It will now cost me $4.00 a prescription for generic drugs (I take 5 meds) which used to cost me nothing IF I ordered a 90 day supply by mail. Now all of this doesn't sound like much BUT my income certainly didn't go up - as a matter of fact it went down slightly because the income tax taken out is higher than it was. Now I could maybe understand these raises IF, IF, IF the insurance companies weren't making such HUGE profits. In my opinion, we need to vote OUT everyone in the congress and senate and put some people in there who will get the job done and stop playing politics. The people in office don't have a clue what is going on with the general public that they are supposed to be representing. Obama's bill may not be the perfect solution but he is trying to DO SOMETHING. When I told the drug company "Why should I pay you a premium PLUS a $4 per drug copay when I could just go to Walmart and buy my generics at $4.00" I was told I would be fined a penalty if I didn't HAVE a drug plan. Maybe I'll just go to Mexico and get my drugs - does anyone know what the rules are about bringing prescription drugs over the border?

[sharon]

My medicare insurance just raised its premium from $172 to $215 a month. It will now cost me $4.00 a prescription for generic drugs (I take 5 meds) which used to cost me nothing IF I ordered a 90 day supply by mail. Now all of this doesn't sound like much BUT my income certainly didn't go up - as a matter of fact it went down slightly because the income tax taken out is higher than it was. Now I could maybe understand these raises IF, IF, IF the insurance companies weren't making such HUGE profits. In my opinion, we need to vote OUT everyone in the congress and senate and put some people in there who will get the job done and stop playing politics. The people in office don't have a clue what is going on with the general public that they are supposed to be representing. Obama's bill may not be the perfect solution but he is trying to DO SOMETHING. When I told the drug company "Why should I pay you a premium PLUS a $4 per drug copay when I could just go to Walmart and buy my generics at $4.00" I was told I would be fined a penalty if I didn't HAVE a drug plan. Maybe I'll just go to Mexico and get my drugs - does anyone know what the rules are about bringing prescription drugs over the border?

As long as it's not a Class 1 drug, you can bring it over the border. There are a few exceptions.....I take a muscle relaxant once in a while for my back called Soma, generic is Carisopropal....can't take that across the border, but Mexico has a combo of naproxin and Soma called Blocacid that you can bring across. Same amount of Soma that I take mixed with Naproxin. Go figure. There must be a web site somewhere that tells you if what you're taking is legal. The pharmicists in Algodones will also tell you whether you're legal or not. I got some ativan there which is illegal, but I just put them in my pocket and carried them across. In Algodones they check your packages but not your person, specially if you look like and innocent little old lady.

[Acadianmom]

You have to watch those little old ladies.

They have to do something or we are all going to go broke over health care. The republicans are being jackasses. Instead of trying to work something out they just say no to everything. I'm sure the government will make a mess out of what ever they try to do. When the senators and congress men have to have the same health care we have then they will be interested in doing something.

Martha

[Bethers]

I just bought another 8 months of my Fosamax - get the generic down there - for 1/2 what I had to pay for it with insurance in the states (my copay was $30 a month - paid $15 a month down there). I have pain pills and muscle relaxants and purchased some penicillin just to have on hand. I say my copay WAS because I dropped my health insurance last May - actually - another problem with the health insurance in the US - I HAD to drop it because I changed residency from one state to another. Had to get a new plan when I changed from WI to AL - that cost me money. Now changing to SD was going to cost me more money - only because I had to have a NEW policy written and they don't write the old ones anymore. Insurance varies from state to state, etc. So I'm taking a chance - but have the meds I need when I go to MX - and hoping I don't get sick. Might see about picking up a major medical again later - but for now - hoping for the best. And I WANT to have insurance.

[rvgrammy1953]

Oh, don't get me started here .....WE, the people, should vote everyone out of the Congress, both Houses, and put folks in there that will really work for us....not the insurance companys, not the UNIONS, not the folks who make the pills...but ones who will listen to the folks they represent......and start all over on this health care issue....slowly, step by step....and quit spending money we don't have .....All for "pay as you go"....for the whole nation.....and yep, the economy and jobs are more important....Okay, I'm done....

[OutandAbout]

Why can't they open up the insurance to be purchased from another state? If not, then give it to the state to get the reform. Each state is different and has different needs and populations. It will end up costing billions less. What a total waste of a year on both sides. Linda

[Redetotry]

I think it is too late, I give up both sides are so far from the real world they can't see the forest for the trees so to speak.

This is the type of medical issues that makes me mad, this will be of special interest to anyone who takes medication for osteoporsis or the new disease ostopenia they created when they developed the medicine. Yes, first came the medicine, then they came up with the disease,
oh and then they made these special (read poor quality) xray machines to detect this new malady.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =121609815

[Bethers]

I didn't decide to take the pills because of osteopenia (which I had 20 years ago) but because my Aunt was doubled over and my Mom lost inches off her height and had bones in her back breaking when she did nothing. So it is a real concern for me - but I sure enjoyed the article. It's been that way for meds forever - well, for all of our lifetimes. Hallmark made greeting card holidays and doctors and pharmaceutical companies make us all sick needing the "med of the day" - remember when most housewives were on Valium?

That said - thank goodness I can get my meds for it in MX - finishing off what I got a year ago - and have enough for almost another year. Another good reason to visit MX - at least for me. And one reason why all the border towns near the Winter Texan and snowbird southern locations are filled with pharmacies.

I agree that both sides don't have a clue what we need. Maybe they would if they had to use the same insurance. I went over plan after plan when I changed residency - and had to give up benefits and pay more - because they don't have plans with my benefits anymore unless you double the premium - or more - I think that's another gimmick they have by not letting you keep the insurance if you move to another state. And with the government wanting to force me to buy a plan - it only helps the insurance companies, cuz the plan I'd buy wouldn't cover anything that would help me unless it was catastrophic - which means I would hopefully never use it- which is what they want. I was never one for nationalized health care - but the more years pass, the more advantages I see for it, even while I still see disadvantages.

In Mexico the government owns the gas stations. If the price goes up or down - it does at all of them. And the price was around $2.60 a gallon the last time I figured it out. A lot better than trying to find the station with the lowest price here - and how rediculous the prices get in some states. Yes, that's not health care, but a sign of how it doesn't have to cost what it does. Then again, living in a country where we can (and too many do) sue for everything - we have to pay to have that luxury of the frivolous lawsuits. Oh, how I'd like to see those done with, also. Now I'm on a tangent!