Chapter 27, Paraghraph 3

I feel that I may need to make a few things clear about how I feel in regards to the health care overhaul.

First I do not think this is a good bill, though I do believe that we need a healthcare overhaul.

I believe in a public option, as in I believe in a government run health care program that the public would have the option to buy into. I believe that we should all have the choice to have health care even if our place of employment does not provide insurance and I believe that pre existing conditions should not determine if you are eligible for that insurance. I believe that being able to see a doctor when you are sick is a right we should have and not something we should have to file bankruptcy because of. I believe that if my father were to loose his job and thus his insurance that my parents should not have to sell their house and move in with one of their children in order to pay for his diabetes medication.
I do not believe that we should be required to purchase health care. I believe that if you choose to live with the risk of not having health care then by all means pay in full for your doctor visits if you would like. However I think that if you want it even if you only make minimum wage and have diabetes or SB, or cancer then you should still be able to get coverage even if that minimum wage job does not provide it. I do not think that a patient should have to worry about whether or not they can afford the medication or treatment they need to live.

I do not believe the bill that passed last night provides the above.

I do not think that you should be penalized if you do not have health care. However, I do not think screaming “socialism” is a valid argument against it. Medicare is already in place and is a “socialistic” ideal, come to think of it so are public schools, fire departments, the military – all government provided or regulated institutions in place for the greater good (aka general public). And if you want to scream about how it is “unconstitutional” I could make a list for that as well, starting with the patriot act. I do not believe that having a public option or even a public health care system will magically turn America from a democracy to a socialistic nation which would lead to communism and then totalitarianism – which is what screaming socialism implies. I do not think that passing a health care bill is the first step in creating a Stalinist America. We have elections, primaries, term limits and the like which can change everything in just four short years. Things like this healthcare overhaul can be appealed and overturned, or simply overhauled again.
When the leadership changes there is the possibility that so to will the policies. It is one of the things that makes America a pretty cool place to be.

And if you really want to scream and yell about something that is completely against everything that America has stood for prior to this past year then I believe that you should be upset about how presidential campaigns are now legally allowed to be completely funded by corporations with no cap on corporate “donations”. THAT is a serious problem. Apparently it is now completely ok and legal for our candidates to be purchased.

I do not intend to start any arguments, though I am aware of the friends I have and all of our varying political views and beliefs and I am aware there is no way to avoid the arguments. I suppose though a discussion would be healthy but from prior experiences I am also aware that a discussion is something that most likely will not happen. Someone will always call names and resort to personal insults simply because they do not believe the same things the other person does. Which is pathetic and I personally believe that we are too old to resort to that kind of “argument” but I am proven wrong and that our age has nothing to do with maturity quite often.

With that in mind, I would like to hear what you actually think. Not what some political talking head told you to think and not that you think that I am a stupid, socialistic, liberal ass hole. First of all I am not stupid, and you know that. Secondly I am not a “liberal ass hole” for the most part I am not even all that liberal, just apparently liberal enough on the things that make people scream and yell. And last but not least I am not a socialist, and neither is America or our sitting president. Most of you are only saying that because the media says it. Use your brain and come up with a valid reason you do not like the idea of my father being able to get insurance if he were to loose the coverage he has. Tell me something that makes sense as to why my parents should have to file for bankruptcy because my father can not live with out his insulin if the bank he works for were to go under or start laying people off. Convince me that it is ok that I can’t afford to go see the girly doctor even though my health and the possibility of my bearing children in the future could depend on it, and do this with out attempting to compare me to The Bolsheviks.

Also, understand that I do not agree with the health care bill that passed yesterday, so please do not argue that I do. I have read much of it, I understand most of it and I do not think it is the bill that it should have been.