Parenting Advice From Joy Berry: The Debate About Universal Health Care

It took weeks to pack everything up and move my entire family to New York, and during that time, a lot was lost in the shuffle. One loss was my health insurance. A missed payment and non-response to several crucial notifications gave my insurance company the out they were looking for, and they dropped me like a hot rock.

Finding an insurance company willing to insure a 60-year old woman with several health issues was almost impossible. But when, after a couple of very stressful years, I was finally able to find a carrier, my monthly health insurance premiums were astronomical. Even so, that didn’t guarantee that I was going to receive quality coverage—which I never did.

So it’s understandable, that when I turned 65, it was such a relief to qualify for Medicare. In fact, I was so relieved, I didn’t have time to lament the fact that I was growing older!

My mother, a staunch Conservative, was adamantly against anything that smacked of Socialism. So, badmouthing government-sponsored health care was a constant mantra of hers. Nonetheless, that certainly didn’t stop her from taking full advantage of Medicare the minute she qualified.

Before Medicare, Mom, along with all of her Depression-era cronies, was loath to go to the doctor, and even more resistant to what seemed to her to be “high-priced, unnecessary medical tests.” But her waste-not-want-not approach to spending money on medical care went out the window after she qualified for Medicare. She availed herself of every single benefit whether she needed it or not. And, you can bet your bottom dollar that her more liberal kids were all over her like white on rice for her complete about-face on this matter. (Smile.)

As for me, I was thrilled about Medicare long before anyone in my family could take advantage of it. Senior citizens have always been a positive part of my life, and I was so glad that they were being taken care of. I was especially glad that as a person who had been paying taxes since 16 years of age, I was contributing to this government-sponsored program.

There were so many things that I absolutely adored about my mother. But there were a few things that drove me crazy. One thing was an attitude shared by a lot of people who say, “As long as my family and I am okay, everything is okay.”

Everything is never going to be okay until every American has access to a health-care program at least as good at the one that currently allows me to sleep better at night. This is not a Republican or Democrat matter. It is a human rights matter. And until everyone, including the politicians, take the quest for universal health care out of the Republican vs. Democrat arena, shame on all of us.