Both my grandfather and my father died of cancer. My grandfather died in 1947. Cancer treatment was basically, “open up, cut it out, and hope for the best.” My grandfather had no insurance, no Medicare, no Social Security. He had been a tenant farmer for over 50 years. Two operations took all his savings and after the second, the doctor told the family that there was nothing more to be done.
My father was diagnosed with cancer in 1986. He was retired from a chemical plant and had a company pension, savings, Social Security, Medicare, and an AARP insurance policy. He had two operations, two chemotherapy treatments, and later died in the hospital. He had the advantage of up-to-date cancer treatment and well-qualified surgeons and oncologists.
Under the federal budget passed recently by the House of Representatives, Medicare becomes a voucher system whereby seniors in the future will go to private companies for their health care insurance. They become the profit line of companies rather than a federal minimum guarantee that Medicare currently gives us seniors.
I would not want my health care to depend upon whether profits were large enough to keep a company’s stock increasing. This is what will be determined in the election of 2012.
