[speaker001:] Okay.
[speaker002:] Okay.
[speaker001:] Universal health insurance, right?
[speaker002:] That's right.
[speaker001:] Uh, *all 3 utts should be separate slash units
[speaker002:] What would we like to say [LAUGHTER]. I think,
[speaker001:] Well, I think universal health insurance, like national health, like what Canada has,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Is that what you're, you're thinking the subject is about?
[speaker002:] I think that's what the subject is about.
[speaker001:] Did you read, uh, the article in the paper today about this particular subject?
[speaker002:] In the Dallas, the MORNING TIMES?
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] I guess I did not.
[speaker001:] Uh, the state of Washington and the state of Minnesota is, uh, going to begin testing a program, a state funded program for citizens of those two states and there's fourteen other, uh, states that are considering it. Least according to the article in the paper this morning. I think it's a trend that's, that's, that's, uh, probably may go nationwide eventually because I think national health is something that we all need. It's getting to a point that you have to have it, you have to have some form of health insurance.
[speaker002:] Well, it's been interesting that we,
[speaker001:] Extremely expensive, though.
[speaker002:] Yes. So we live in a society, though, where everyone if you ask them on polls, will, uh, say that they think that everyone has a right to health care.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] And yet, I don't think we've ever quite decided who's really supposed to pay for it.
[speaker001:] Well, that's the thing, you know, uh, unfortunately the ones that currently pay and pay the premiums for health insurance are, are paying for the people that don't have health insurance.
[speaker002:] Which is why people are talking about [LAUGHTER], we ought to just admit it perhaps
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and then try and somehow subsidize it in a way that's more fair.
[speaker001:] I don't think you, uh,
[speaker002:] You have health insurance?
[speaker001:] Yes, I do.
[speaker002:] Through your company?
[speaker001:] Uh, through my company, yes. But I have been in a situation, uh, recently where I was laid off from a position as a sales manager of a company and was off work for about a year and my wife developed cancer. We didn't have any
[speaker002:] Oh, my goodness.
[speaker001:] insurance. And it was a
[speaker002:] That's must have been hard [breathing].
[speaker001:] go to Parkland type situation.
[speaker002:] How was your care at Parkland?
[speaker001:] Uh, because it was a life threatening situation, it was very good. Uh, as it, as it turned out one of the top, uh, people, or one of the top doctors in the state that is involved in cancer treatment was at Parkland.
[speaker002:] But, yet, Parkland is not free, either.
[speaker001:] No, it's not free, but, uh,
[speaker002:] Is it affordable?
[speaker001:] It's, it's a situation that because I didn't have any insurance and I was on unemployment, it was paid by the county.
[speaker002:] So you did have a good experience.
[speaker001:] I had a bad experience as it turned out. Uh, I was fortunate that there was Parkland.
[speaker002:] Is your wife better, I hope?
[speaker001:] Uh, no she passed away.
[speaker002:] I'm real sorry.
[speaker001:] That's all right.
[speaker002:] Sure. *listen; is this a question?
[speaker001:] That happens.
[speaker002:] It does happen, but it's very sad.
[speaker001:] Yeah, but in any event, uh, I'm in favor of national health.
[speaker002:] Well
[speaker001:] If I had
[speaker002:] so am I.
[speaker001:] to vote for it.
[speaker002:] [LAUGHTER] Actually, uh, I'm a pediatrician
[speaker001:] Oh, is that right?
[speaker002:] and I feel very strongly about, uh, children, and, uh, developed very strong feelings about this during our measles epidemic
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] last year.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] Where we certainly proved that we're not doing a very good job with preventive health care among children and particularly the children who need it most. So, uh, I'm really quite active in trying to, uh, be proactive at least for children's issues. It's very complex, very complicated, but, uh, I strongly believe that all children have a right to immunization, glasses, hearing aids [LAUGHTER], basic health benefits.
[speaker001:] Well, I, when I grew up and I grew up in south central Kansas, uh, we had, and my mom worked for the health department, the county health department and we had x-rays every year, we had a dentist come to our school and, uh, check our teeth once a year at least. Uh, we had all our flu shots taken care of, our measles, mumps, rubella and all that other stuff.
[speaker002:] Um.
[speaker001:] And, uh, when my children were growing up, we didn't have that. We had to pay for it, which I wasn't opposed to paying for it. I had the money to pay for it, but I'm sure that there were people that don't.
[speaker002:] Well, and the costs have, so much has gone up so much. The cost of immunizations for example, uh, and just the legal [breathing], the legal benefits, uh, that has really forced people into doing a lot of things unnecessarily, et cetera.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] So, well, I don't know, it's, it is interesting, in case you didn't know, Texas leads the nation in uninsured children. Thirty-one percent of all Texas children
[speaker001:] Did not know that.
[speaker002:] do not have insurance and are not on Medicaid. So, uh, one out of every three children has nothing to reimburse them for their health care. And I work in the children's Parkland system and it's pretty overwhelming to me.
[speaker001:] Uh-huh.
[speaker002:] But, uh, it's pretty hard to be indigent and to be dependent upon indigent health care systems in Dallas county.