Health Insurance

Costa Mesa resident Peggy Parsons can’t wait to drive a car again, watch a movie, or see her 17-year-old son perform in a school play. Newport Beach eye surgeon Gregg Feinerman operated on Parsons free of charge Tuesday, removing a cataract from her right eye. The surgery will allow 62-year-old Parsons to see clearly for the first time in several years. Vision in Parsons’ left eye has been impaired since she was a child, but she has steadily relied more on her weaker left eye since being diagnosed with a cataract in the right one two years ago. “I can’t wait to see Christmas lights,” Parsons said Tuesday morning, clad in surgical scrubs as she sat on an operating table at a Newport Beach clinic before the operation.

Last Christmas, Dana Point resident Kerri Larson bought a pair of over-the-counter reading glasses after she noticed that she had to strain to see her computer monitor. A year later, she can’t drive, see friends waving to her on the street or read a book. Aggressive cataracts are rapidly cutting off Larson’s vision. Each day, colors are less vivid, faces less distinct. Larson, 39, lost her job as an executive assistant after the company she worked for went out of business in June, leaving her without health insurance.

There’s a very big dose of unpalatable medicine coming out of Washington, D.C., these days. Both the House and Senate versions of proposed health-care-reform legislation — more than 2,000 pages each — will mandate that every American buy health insurance or pay a tax. Those who refuse to get health insurance and who fail to pay the tax penalty, for turning down coverage, could be sent to jail. That, my friends, will be the first time in American history that U.S. citizens will be forcibly coerced into buying something — anything — or be declared a criminal.

A new radio ad paid for by the Democratic National Committee takes aim at Rep. John Campbell for voting against a Democrat-backed health-care reform bill. Campbell is one of 32 House Republicans named in a DNC “Hit List,” released after the House of Representatives narrowly passed a controversial health-care bill with little Republican support. “In last year’s historic election, voters in California’s 48th Congressional District supported President Obama and his call for change,” a female announcer’s voice in the new radio spot says.

The health-care bill provides incentives for employers that currently offer private health insurance to dump their employees into a government-run system. Furthermore, the bill is financed on the backs of our seniors by taking hundreds of millions of dollars away from Medicare, and because Democrats refused to put strong verification requirements in the bill, it will result in billions of dollars being spent to provide health care for illegal immigrants. U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach)

Kathy Paladino is a fierce believer in health-care reform. Her support for it comes from personal experience with private insurance companies. Sixteen years ago, when she and her husband, Frank, were preparing to welcome their son, Nate, into the world, Paladino experienced complications with childbirth. She was in intensive care for five days, and Nate was in neonatal care for two weeks. At the end of their hospital stay, the medical bills reached more than $50,000, even though the couple carried health insurance.

We pride ourselves on being a democracy second to none, a shining light for the rest of the world to emulate. The Greatest Generation fought a long and bloody war a continent away to safeguard democracy in Europe. We are currently fighting two prolonged, costly wars, ostensibly to bring democracy to another distant part of our globe — the Middle East. Some are even rattling their sabers to start a third war. And then there is the current reality. Forty-six million Americans have no health insurance, and their rolls are increasing each day. Those lucky enough to have insurance pay ever-increasing premiums and co-pays, for progressively diminishing coverage, if they are lucky enough to stay employed.