"Well Dressed"
The well-dressed comment aside (?!?!?), she is wrong. For me, this has NOTHING to do with President Obama, and EVERYTHING to do with healthcare. I love my healthcare. Things in my life wouldn't be possible right now if it weren't for my healthcare.** I thank God every day for the healthcare I have and I know that it's a blessing. But it's a blessing that my husband fought and worked hard for us to have.
I am scared that it's going to go away. That it's going to change. And that my particular pre-exisiting condition won't be covered under the government option. And it won't. I've already researched it.
So yes I'm angry about bailouts and TARP funds and car programs and energy legislation that threatens to raise my electric bill ... but I could probably forgive all of that. But this ... I can't stand by. So that's why I write letters. That's why I make phone calls. That's why I'm going to the townhall meeting on Saturday. Because I don't want them to take away the healthcare that I pay for, the benefits I enjoy.
It's deeply personal for me. Just as it's deeply personal for those that don't have health insurance and want reform. It has nothing to do with this President. It could be Clinton, McCain or whoever. If they were promoting a government run health plan I would fight against it.
And to update ... the President is now saying he will stop trying to garner bipartisan support and pass this by the end of the year. The problem is, with all due respect, that it's not just Republicans that are opposed to this. Democrats are opposed to the price tag, and they've been critical too.
The President says the American people need this. No we don't. If you want to talk reform, talk reform of Medicaid and Medicare and leave my healthcare alone. Change the qualifications and rules for those. Anything else just signals that you're trying to change this country to single payer. And I, and a lot of other people, oppose that.
** Let me rephrase. Things in my life would be different. They would still be possible. Because all things are possible. But we've been incredibly blessed this year with a good doctor and good care. And I do not take that for granted and I know how many would deny me the care I've received. Many in the world are denied. Every day.
Comments
But....
I hate this idea that people who have healthcare have "worked hard" for it, mostly because it implies that people who don't have healthcare haven't worked hard. And while I'll accept that choices do play a part, I think there's a lot of luck involved too. And even a lot of the choices that are being made are maybe not the one's we want people making.
Case in point, a lawyer and a jeweler (that you might know). The jeweler works for a small business, where the owner cannot afford to make any contribution to health insurance. If the jeweler were to participate in the plan it would cost more than half his salary. The lawyer (thankfully) works for the state, where she has decent health insurance for both her and her husband. But she can't strike out on her own and make more money, because her family relies on that insurance.
When I say worked hard ... he works very hard. For his entire job. So he provides by working hard and one of the things he provides is insurance.
But I've been without too. I was without insurance for two years and paid out of pockets. I got insurance through the temp agency but it was AWFUL and really didn't pay much of anything. No annuals, no nothing.
I am sympathetic. Others in our family (if you've read these comments you've seen BiL and me spar) have issues too that I do understand. And I do wish things were easier for folks. But I'm scared of a government take over of health care, I'm scared of regulations that will limit my access to care.
And my point of the post is really more that this is intensely personal for everyone, on both sides, and is not, at least for me, about "hurting" the President.
But I would never want to hurt a "jeweler." And I'm very glad he has insurance, from any source.