Healthcare Coverage, Monday November 9, 2009

This past Saturday made history in the United States of America with the House approval of President Obama's scary-slightly intimidating-controversial-new health care bill. After the count, the bill passed in the House of Representatives with a vote ratio of 220 to 215. Jesus that was a close one.

There are many, many, many different views on this subject matter which can and should be explored before taking the appropriate side but that is a different, very extensive news post waiting to happen, as well as the consumption of much coffee. The victory made history because it has been the "furthest any proposed health care overhaul has gotten since Medicare was created in 1965" says the RedEye. And it's not like this is over, the Senate is much harder to impress, or so I hear.

Obama called it a, "courageous vote for many members of Congress" (RedEye). But from a different perspective, one that may touch home a bit more than distant alien health care bills, the RedEye also

ran a story on young adults, their lack of health care coverage, and its detrimental effects.

You may have a friend, relative, or someone close to you that may have been in a similar situation, a deadly one at that. Louisa Ferrer, a 26 year old nanny formally living in Chicago, has not had health care since she left college five years ago. Being a nanny, like some people I know, her employer does not offer a health care plan. On top of that she was turned down by individual health insurance as being too "high risk" due to previous health issues. Well there's an uncrackable nut in a steel nutcracker.

She has not seen a doctor in three years, until recently she started cough up blood after three weeks of flu like symptoms. Like many other young adults, she basically waited till death was knocking on her door before getting treated, which in other cases might be too late. Young adults are the highest group of individuals likely to be uninsured in the modern world.

The RedEye reported that seventeen percent of ages 18-29 revealed needing but not receiving medical attention in the past year because their could not afford it, let alone seeing a dentist. Gross. Around fifteen percent suffer from chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, and cancer. Not to mention twenty four percent of us are obese. In 2007 twenty nine percent of young adults were uninsured, or approximately 13.2 million people.

This bill would change that, and I'm not saying it would make life in America easier or fairer. It would basically say all employers have to provide insurance among a very very long list of other things. The one this I exceptionally like about this bill, which if passed would not go into affect until 2013 (after most of us graduate) is that it would allow young adults to stay under their parents coverage until reaching the age of twenty seven. That would most certainly make me feel better.

Realizing that young adults are the largest group of uninsured Americans might change your opinion on the health care bill, it might not. The point is, there are millions of people just like you and me, who don't have health insurance and it is extremely detrimental to your overall health in the long run (especially the tooth thing!). Also realize, that if you don't have a more than decent job directly after graduation, you too will be on the insurance-out scrounging the shelves of CVS and boggling your brain with too many drug labels. This is not a call to support Obama's health care plan, it is a call to plan, plan a healthy future so you don't end up sneezing blood all over your employer and subsequently getting the boot to the streets.

In other news, a new alternative for marijuana, mary jane, canibis, weed, green, whatever you call it, has shown up on the consumer market. In health related issues, this may calm your stomach, or really just sooth the pain as you fight H1N1 and may come in handy, legally.

It's called K2, and it consists of dried herbs, resembling oregano and/or marijuana, that are laced with "chemicals" (the RedEye does not go into further detail). It looks like the real thing, it smokes like the real thing, it has the same effects. And it's legal, right now.

Why you ask? Because modern "weed-laws" don't cover the synthetic stuff. I'm sure sometime, sooner than the health care bill, it will become legally out of reach but until then you can visit this site. So if you're uninsured and in a rut, try the legal alternatives to marijuana (I don't actually recommend that, the whole synthetic-ized oregano thing freaks me out), to ease your pain.

Moral of the day: Plan your future, enlighten yourself with the pros and cons of the new health care bill, vote for it if it ever becomes possible, stay healthy, and "smoke weed er'ry day".