The Truth
March 26th, 2010Let me break down the new “Healthcare Law.”
“Hey, you over there-buy me a car.”
“Um, no, get your own car.”
“The government says you have to buy me a car. It’s the law. On top of that, you have to pay for other people’s too, even if you have your own. If you don’t, you will go to jail.”
WOW. It took us a paltry couple hundred years to give up our freedoms. God bless every state in the land, and every person in the land that is suing the government for this law being unconstitutional.
I read a quote from a TOTAL ignoramus who said something to the effect of “I don’t know why people are making an issue out of it. The law is the law.” WTF? This guy was apparently a lawyer. It is blatently stated in our laws that if the government gets too big for it’s britches, and isn’t representing the majority of the people, (which is isn’t-67% of Americans did not want this bill passed), then the people have a responsibility to rise up and tell the government what the hell is up and how it’s gonna be. The question I have is, Will We Do It?
I don’t mind Healthcare Reform. Insurance should be made accessible, or more accessible than it has been. But to force people to buy something they may not even want is CRAZY. CRAZY and ILLEGAL, and UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
Despite this passage, Obama has the lowest presidential approval rating in history. I WONDER WHY?
Pretty much, as far as I can tell, all he’s done since he’s been in office is apologize to the world for America being America, apologize to people and countries who attacked us and killed us, ignored countries that have been our allies, arranged for the release of dangerous terrorists so they can wander about and DO IT AGAIN, give failing businesses huge amounts of money, (gee, I wish I could fuck up my whole company and then get paid billions for it), and then, with the help of Democrats, (and I used to be one by the way, and this party has gone SO FAR OUT THERE, I can’t even remotely identify WHAT THE FUCK is going on), has passed a bill that over half of Americans DID NOT WANT, and which will turn many Americans, who are middle class working stiffs into poor working stiffs, due to the fact that they’ve got to pay for everyone else. But hey, they’ll have health insurance.
America has officially become a socialist country. It happened without the consent of a lot of the people in it, and those that knew what was happening couldn’t get enough going to fight it off. Freedom as we knew it died. If you don’t think there’s more on the way, think again.
Ammunition-the stuff they put in guns, is now made to expire. That’s right. What is the point of that? Well, if you know you’ll never get away with taking the guns away….take away the ammo. What do you think might be around the corner?
So then why do we have to buy car insurance? Why can’t we get a loan to buy a house unless we have homeowner’s insurance? Why do we have to pay taxes?
Why do men have to register for the (possible) draft at age 18? The government requires lots of things of us and many of them are for the good of society. Sure,
the gov’t wastes lots of money, that is inevitable in a bureaucracy. The point you are missing is this: if someone is uninsured then they go to an emergency care
facility or an indigent care facility and they end up getting health care from TAX DOLLARS. In other words, YOU and ME both pay when they do not have insurance. We pay through our taxes and through higher insurance premiums to cover the uninsured. So forcing someone to have basic insurance is protecting the wallet of
everybody else. What is the other option? To deny health care to anybody that cannot afford it? Just let them rot and die? I recently had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer a few days before his new
health insurance kicked in, so he was up SH_T creek for tens of thousands of dollars in life-saving treatment. He got some money from the state, some from charities, some from fund-raisers, etc., but in the end he is on the hook for more money then he will make in many years, perhaps the rest of his life. Do you think he wishes he was forced to buy at least an emergency medical policy that would have saved him a ton of money and his future? Your are damn right he does. But according to your blog you would not want to force him to protect himself from debt, and tax payers from helping him, by requiring basic health
insurance. So he can have his freedom and just suck it if he gets really sick b/c he ain’t getting our money. Well that won’t work b/c part of human nature is to have mercy/sympathy on others so we are not
going to start denying care to people without money. Instead we will pay for some of it with tax money, some of it with higher insurance premiums, and the sick person will be stuck with debt they can rarely pay back. Why not require everybody to get basic, emergency health care to save them and everyone else the cost of care? Seems like common sense to me, not “SO FAR OUT THERE” as you declare. If you want to risk your health by not having insurance, be my guest, but don’t come crawling to friends, family, the gov’t
and the free clinic when you get sick. Is that the path down which you want to go? I don’t recommend it b/c someday, somehow, sickness, disease, or tragedy will hit your family and then you will forget all
about your precious freedom and wish to God you had health insurance.
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kelly Reply:
April 21st, 2010 at 7:52 pm
Your point is well taken. I agree, the government does require us to do many things, such as pay taxes, and it also requires us to do other things, such as buying car insurance for protection of citizens.
Since part of my work is in managing state Medicaid, I am well aware that the cost of those folk’s care comes from our tax dollars. What I was saying, or trying to say, is that we will all be paying MUCH MORE than we are now, because this health plan effectively puts about 32 million people on Medicaid who didn’t previously qualify for it, and that means more taxes for everyone, and that is waaaaay expensive.
I simply believe that people should have the ability to opt out of it if they already have insurance, rather than be forced to pay for it. I also understand what you are saying about illness and the need for insurance. I have, in fact been very sick and have had minimal or no health insurance in the past, and I currently have a family member who is sicker than any patient I have personally ever treated, and she has no health insurance. I wish she did-I believe strongly in reform, rather than force. What I hoped for was an option for her to buy into an insurance plan rather than be forced into it.
One of the things that makes insurance so damn expensive is actually pharmaceutical companies and attorneys. The FDA is quite corrupt. When every physician you work with shakes their heads and tells you about the history, it sinks in. That’s a whole other topic really, but there is no reason that most of these medications should be so expensive, other than the fact that they are banking on lawsuits in the future. Also, hospitals and doctors have to pay exorbitant malpractice fees, so that jumps the price up on things too.
I have health insurance, and good health insurance. I’ve worked my tail off to get where I am today. My entire work is centered around caring for others and helping people. I’ve never turned a patient away because they had no money, and most hospitals don’t either. The thing is, you can’t MAKE people care. If we were all right in our heads, and our hearts, things like this would not even be an issue. We would automatically care for others. But lots of people don’t, won’t, and don’t spread any care or extra that they have to others. So the government enforces it.
I don’t object to options to buy emergency plans. I object to force of it when people already have what they need, or do not want it. I don’t want anyone to be denied care, or be “uninsureable.” For example, I think it’s ridiculous that people with mental health issues who take an antidepressant, who haven’t been hospitalized are deemed uninsureable because they see a psychiatrist. I don’t think it’s fair that people who are diabetic can’t get heath insurance because of their pre-existing condition. I have always wanted reform for things like that.
What concerns me is that people who DO have life-threatening illnesses, such as terminal cancers, or who need transplants will be turned away. It happens ALL THE TIME in countries with socialized medicine, because it’s “too expensive” to treat the patient, and they are seriously, literally sent home to die. That is one of the many reasons Canadians have come over to the US for care. Some countries are better about this than others, but it’s a key issue that isn’t talked much until people find out later on that the insurance doesn’t cover the really needed services.
So, I think that both sides of this issue have points, and that sanity on this issue is somewhere in the middle. I propose that sanity is not making everyone buy it, and that insurance companies/laws need reforming. I still don’t think that people should be forced, but that’s what’s going to happen. Everyone pays for schools, social security, now we’re all going to pay for everyone’s healthcare. It has been deemed an entitlement.
I am truly sorry about your friend and the medical bills. I’m paying off an exorbitant rate myself. I’m glad his life was saved. I’m also glad if he’s better, because you can’t appreciate freedom much if you aren’t well enough to enjoy it. At the risk of being redundant, if we had a plan like Canada’s, they might have sent him home to die. I will say a prayer for your friend. I wish we didn’t largely operate on a zero-sum, lack-based model. There really is plenty for everyone to go around.
Best wishes. I welcome any further comments from you and others on this issue.
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