Monday, January 11, 2010

On Football and Health Care

I take great pride in watching the Packers fail. Part of me, growing up in a de facto Chicago Bears household for years has taught me to hate one thing, and that is the unstoppable Pack. My lifetime is relatively short compared to the Rivalry that has withstood generations, but, I know with my heart that fighting tooth and nail against the Packers in the mid-90's... the Brett Favre generation of Chicago Cheeseheads as I prefer to call them are nothing more than bandwagoneers.

That said, I was just enamoured with the game yesterday, a shootout to the highest caliber, that, interestingly enough, ended on a defensive touchdown.

I respect the Packers from a positively professional point of view. Aaron Rodgers is a great player, Donald Driver is one of the best receivers the Packers have ever had, Dom Capers seems to get the most out of their secondary, where Al Harris and Charles Woodson have just such a fantastic synergy and quality play over the years (my brother says that 2/3rds of the planet is covered by water, the other thirds is by charles woodson)... Really, when I look at the Packers, I see them for what a true fan should, not as a bunch of lonely-northwoods-cheese curd loving morons... but, as a team to respect. They're good. I gloat at their losses, but, admire their wins. They're a team with history, soul, and identity. And those are all things I enjoy when we face the Packers twice a year.

This game though, pitted me with two feelings I couldn't shake. One was an overwhelming amount of respect for Kurt Warner and his career. I look at him and say, man, he has years left in him with this level of play... and then I say, Do we need ESPN covering this story like they have with Brett for years? Is he gonna retire? Is he not? Will he come back? And this entire process of great quarterbacks retiring at the top of their game will cause controversy, when, in fact, they should do what they want to do. And then, I look at Brian Westbrook, obviously his last game as an eagle this weekend, with a great career with them, a great player in his prime, but, now, has a few injuries under his belt, surgically repaired knees, and concussions. I beg and plead for a day where concussions in both NCAA and NFL get recognized for exactly what they are. A dangerous, life threatening condition that can impact a players life for years. I do not wish to see players succumb to such conditions later in life with the inability for nfl retired players to properly get the medical care they may need and for people who handle money to determine what the best medical course of action for people are.

Oh man. I feel like I might have struck an internal chord.

I don't think many of your realize how expensive it is, if, you are like many of my friends, who have jobs, who make a good sum of money, you don't even realize it, mostly because it's just a swipe of the card, a tip of the pen on the check, it's nothing.

I might have money, I might rarely struggle to pay bills, but, that doesn't mean I don't have any sensitivity towards these basic human rights into having enough health care to attempt to have a normal life. I have paid for my own insurance for almost 8 months now, and on top of being ridiculously expensive a month (considering i'm 29, I'm very fit (hell, i can run a sub-6 minute mile), I have been to the hospital 3 times in the past 10 years, I have hypoglycemia and allergies, I was diagnosed with a mental illness 10 years ago, and all of those count against me since I still have a prescription for Ativan for triggered panic attacks and the ilk). I'm lucky to have insurance. I'm lucky I have prescription drug coverage. I'm lucky, because the costs are so exorbitantly high otherwise.

I don't like lucky. Its not safe. But, that's what I'm being told is okay because of certain people saying, if you have sub-standard insurance, you best be lucky, because if you get hurt, you're gonna spend a lot of money. OR. You better spend a lot of money, because if you don't, you're going to have bad insurance for if you are unlucky.

I chose the latter. Why? Because there is no comprehensive coverage for me when I'm not being provided coverage by my employer. There's no safety net. There's no one to turn to when the only two companies offering health insurance are either a 100 dollar a month plan or a 500 dollar a month plan, with very little in-between. There's no options. There's no choices. And that's why I've supported the government run option. Medicare works. Medicare is good. Medicare is generally accepted by most people as being a vital part of their retirement savings. On the other hand. I'm 29. Not 62. What am I to do until then if I'm unable to secure a job that offers healthcare? Nothing but the aformentioned. The government choice isn't as unattractive to some as it's ever been portrayed. For some, including former players who are unable to get necessary comprehensive coverage, this might be an option for them too if they cover the millions of americans without health insurance.

Hell. For all I care, please, make a single payer system with private providers. If we talk about distributing risk, the easiest, and most cost effective way to do it is to cover everyone. Reduce overhead by having one system that doctors use to submit claims. Now, coming from my background into developing systems that are built to reduce cost, effort, and increase productivity, one thing that we've always strove for was making things as simple for the end users as possible. One training course, one platform, one system, cuts down in costs and increase productivity. These are things that we're looking for.