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Health Insurance - Do we HAVE to have it?

Hey a new post on TwitterMoms on this -- which I've posted below as well.

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President Obama's mandate to provide health insurance for nearly all Americans is going to come with a hefty price tag — and many of us are going to be paying for it.

Right now, health insurance is not a right for all Americans. In fact, it’s a pricey privilege. The average American family of four pays $3,354 a year for coverage — double what they paid nine years ago. And the reason it's even that low? Because most American now take out high deductible plans.

Add in deductibles, and doctors that sometimes just won’t take your insurance — and health care is a slow leak from our bottom lines. For those who earn just minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour, even that amount can seem impossible.

So many are hoping to see some kind of reigning in of the health insurance industry so that we can continue to have coverage — and maybe keep a little bit more in our pocketbooks. Or, frankly, start getting coverage for the first time.

I don’t want to dissect the plans being bounced around on Capital Hill right now. I’m actually hoping to hear about moms and what they are doing about health insurance: Do you have it? Do you not? What it’s costing you? And do you think it’s worth it.

I’ll just say right off the bat that I favor some sort of mandated coverage. I believe a country that can’t provide health care for its people is not a place I want to live. Running to the emergency room for an emergency is fine. But what about a mom who uses the ER because she can’t afford a pediatrician? I don’t blame the mom — I blame a system that gives her no other choice.

Yes, mandated health insurance will cost us. But yes, I think we need it.

And you?

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