In Response To, or Agreement With, @stevenhodson on Healthcare
Steven wrote a post about health care reform today over at the Inquisitr. Here’s the content of a comment I left.
Certainly, it's the greatest political defeat of any president in recent memory - having what he banked his entire presidency on fail within 12 months of being elected.
This president isn't one that takes a message from the public. The public was overwhelmingly against public run health care, and has been for the last two decades - Hillary Clinton tried this years ago, and most of the nations' social programs were created under the guise of repairing the economy 60 years ago, when they were really about pandering to a public while creating the sort of government (socialism - under Roosevelt) that the nation would come to fear and hate over the next 40. Yes, Roosevelt was a socialist - a self-proclaimed one at that, and Roosevelt is an admitted role model for our current president.
This president will continue to pursue his agenda, mostly because while he may have been in touch with a pulse (or something) during the campaign, he's exhibited all the signs of being completely tone deaf to the will of the people since taking office. He has the lowest approval rating for any president at this stage in the presidency. His willingness to pursue policies that the citizens of his republic do not want is part of the problem.
I agree - we don't need social security and we don't need medicare or medicaid. We need tort reform in healthcare. We need technology making the business of healthcare more efficient. We need people willing to fork over the $50 bucks a month it requires to get a health care plan - incidentally, about the same price as your average phone bill, a meal for two at a nice restaurant or half the cost of the average cable bill.
I have a family of four. We pay $200 a month for healthcare (and yes, now I'm finally covered), and almost no ailment we've had over the last two years of having health coverage hasn't been covered.
$200 a month is the same amortized monthly cost as my laptop. It's about $20 more than my average electric bill in the winter. It's about the same as a car payment for a used car.
Yes, it's a big enough amount that I feel it every month. I can buy an xBox or netbook every month, or I can have healthcare for my family.
Health isn't a right. It's something you hafta work for. Not everyone has good health by default. Some people are naturally fat. Some have bad teeth. Some have genetic defects. Some people lose a limb.
Good health isn't a right. It's something you work for.
I'm cross posting my comment to you on Steve's post, since it's fairly effortless to do so
I agree that healthcare is a cost we all must bear to receive decent healthcare.
However, Mark, I don't know where you live but the $50 a month you cite, I would GLADLY pay to be covered. Up here in New York it would cost $800 to insure myself and my two children per MONTH with a basic plan and no prescriptions. High deductibles. Hell, I'd pay $200 a month easy to insure JUST MYSELF.
The healthcare reform initiative is not about handouts or paying doctors with magic rainbow money that came from a unicorn's ass. It's about the cost of basic healthcare far outstripping the means of a typical family.
Yes, I could move out of New York to whatever place magically covers a family of four for $200 a month. I could leave my whole family and friends and life in New York and find some place I could afford healthcare. But what is so wrong with wanting to break up the profiteering and wholesale bankrupting of Americans? I'd rather live where I'm from and pay a reasonable portion of my income to healthcare, so I can go back to skating without worrying about what will happen if I break my leg or sprain something.
It's insulting you'd assume people like me would rather have the extra $50 a week than be able to see a doctor. It's not the issue at all, and on some basic level you have to know that. It's intellectually dishonest.
Not sure where you're shopping for health insurance, but I haven't found that many health plans much over $500 a month for full families. The most expensive one we were pitched was $600, and most fell within the $200-400 range.
I'm an experienced bargain shopper, though. It's sort of my thing.
Still, it's not hard to shop for price. There's hundreds of insurance affiliate salespeople out there, and Texas is far from a magical land of cheapness.
Maybe what I said was insulting - I dunno - it's just how I see it. My wife and I have worked hard to get where I have, and I've taken very few handouts in my lifetime.
What I find insulting, and always have, is that the government should tell me that I *must* sacrifice part of my income to health insurance if I don't wanna (and then pay a penalty if I don't do it). I find it insulting that others thing they're entitled to the money I work exceedingly hard for to pay for their health.
It's not my duty to provide for folks' privileges, like improved health. I really enjoy knowing you and many of the other folks from the other side of the aisle on this health care debate - so don't get me wrong. I don't hate you. I don't wish you dead. But I'm horribly insulted that you think that my money is better spent on your healthcare than my own kids or my own life. It pisses me off. Your privilege is not my responsibility!
Is there some messed up things about health care in this country? Yes. Can it be fixed? Yes. Will making me pay for your crap at the point of a gun fix it? No.