How is Dental Care not Health Care?
I'm not sure if I'm on the left or the right anymore.
But, the truth is, I just don't like the "we's" or the "them's" anymore and I sure don't feel inclined to associate with either team. Not after this week.
On the one hand, too much was left out of the bill that should have been in there, and on the other hand, too many people stood in it's way for ALL the wrong reasons.
The process of how we got here to "our victory" was so downright ugly that I seriously worry that all those little things that got brushed under the carpet to get the bill passed will end up being quite dangerous.
Unless the bill, I mean, law, can really be fixed.
Look, I love Obama, I do. And I wanted this to pass, but done the way it was meant to be done.
This issue is so very close to my heart that all party affiliations are off the table right now until I see it becomes truly the bill it was meant to be.
Don't get me wrong, I still despise the insane "Baby Killer!" shouting Republicans who stooped at nothing to kill any idea of Health Care Reform.
I'm also deeply disturbed by the Democrats who caved in at the last moment without sticking to their demands about the bill so that it really could have been sweeping and inclusive.
For instance. There is no dental coverage in the bill.
None. Our mouth is in our body, right? Since when did that cease to be a medical issue? 1560?
Do you know how many diseases and medical issues technically not considered dental? If you have poor dental health it can kill you. It's a fact, and yet the ADA got left out of these "sweeping changes."
It's been proven that gum disease can give you heart disease. The new Health Care Reform Bill scrapped pediatric dental health care. So, when a little kid is born with a cleft palate, who covers getting that fixed? Nobody? This is the tip of the iceberg, on this topic.
It's not fair and it's not right.
I want Health Care Reform to work, but it has to function so that people are there to provide quality health care and I worry that we are not thinking inside the box.
The new sweeping changes need to be a good thing for our medical profession, too. It can't work if it isn't.
Right now, it's not so great for my child's pediatric dentist who has spent countless of his own hours and dollars helping bring needed children's dental health to children -- all over the world.
On his dime. Because he cares that much about this subject.
He flies to D.C. to get his allotted 20 minutes with our good senators and they made all sorts of promises to the ADA that they just scrapped and deserted just prior to the final stages of it. Naturally, right after the ADA and the Pediatric ADA finally agreed to support the bill.
That stinks.
From what he's said, the ADA is very upset right now. And I can't say that I blame them. It's a massive injustice.
It's personal to me because my child was born with a few health issues which I have not discussed here in my blog (because it was simply not the right place for that till now) but I will share that it affected the enamel on her teeth, among other dire, costly things.
And if we didn't have good medical and good dental insurance (from my husband's job) then I just don't know how we'd have handled it all. This is on top of several other medical issues which we also juggle on a daily basis.
Decent quality comprehensive medical and dental insurance is a subject that matters to me.
This is a very personal issue for me. I want to be very clear that I just can't dance that victory jig just yet. Not the way things stand. I don't like what I've heard about the way deals were struck regarding the passage of this bill.
Great doctors and dentists are our heroes. They're the ones who save our life. Who save our children's lives. This bill really does need to put their needs at the top of the list, or there won't be people there to save our life anymore: They can't afford to be there. Most kids getting out of medical school have $300,000+ medical school bills. How are they supposed to pay for this right now?
So, we need to invest in quality health care professionals. Find some way to forgive medical school bills, or, I don't know -- I'm not PAID TO FIGURE IT OUT. The pros in our nation's capitol are.
We elected them, and frankly, they have a job to do.
I want them to roll their sleeves up and listen to the ADA and Pediatric ADA and find a way to make this right again.
We need to see that we attract and nurture medical and dental champions and I just don't see where that's happening in the bill as it stands. I am just going to hope that even more sweeping changes take place that put this law into place the way it needs to be.
Doctors, dentists, medical care specialists are the true heroes who keep us alive and well.
Without our health we are nothing. And I worry this bill may not be enough to keep talented medical and dental professionals in business. I hope I'm wrong. I really do.
Am I still "Louise on the left?" I don't even know anymore. Maybe I'm not. I suppose this is odd time to question this.
There's so much room for improvement on both sides of the debate and I've always been perversely inclined to think upstream, so perhaps that's all I'm doing.
Perhaps, in the end, all good things will happen, after all.
I guess I'm just running low on partisan trust these days.
Return Dental Health Care to the Health Care Reform bill, I mean, the law, and then I'll start to feel better.
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Follow up: On a repost of this post at REDDIT some readers commented:
Comments
Yes, it is true that a cavity will not kill you. But poor dental health can. The mouth is the ENTRANCE for things to get inside of our bodies. The minute that bacteria and other harmful diseases appear in our mouth, those bacteria then get filtered inside of our body to spread. Plaque and tartar buildup occurs on teeth, and if left neglected, can then buildup in our bloodstream.
Dental care is medical care and your overall health depends on your oral health. http://ada.org/public/topics/oralsystemic.asp
Gosh, I'm thinking this might rank as the most unsexy blog post ever, but, hey -- it's about real life. And healthy is the new sexy, so -- it's all good.
I'm just so grateful to all the amazing medical experts out there, especially in my world, who have offered my family amazing health care.
They know who they are. And they are heroes, really. This post doesn't even scratch the surface of how much respect I have for what they do every single day. If the new Health Care Reform Bill can be adjusted to bring everyone on board who deserves to be there, then I'm happy to write about it.
IF YOU DO I WILL IMMEDIATELY DELETE IT AND REPORT YOU.