Tuesday, March 23, 2010

healthcare rant

A comment on Facebook:

"I think many of you miss points in this bill. Of course its great for people to have insurance who have been denied, but that is what jobs are for..you are insured from your place of work. For those of you who can work get a job. We as Americans should not be made to have health insurance and then we are penalized if we refuse health insurance this bill is out rageous! Why not pass a bill for those who cannot work with the promise of health coverage..thats all that should have been done. I am someone who has many pre-existing health issues..many do you hear me say yay! No you don't nor will you. I have a job that covers me. Just another way to divide and then the Pres will come in and conqure and our world will me so much worse that I believe many of you acan't even begin to understand"

What?

1. Um, sorry, but not everyone can work. And not every job provides health coverage. And not every health coverage offered is affordable, because not every job pays a living wage.

2. You as an American are made to pay for car insurance and house insurance. What -- you don't WANT health insurance? Clearly you are someone who has never been without insurance and faced a life-threatening illness or injury. All it takes is the slip of a knife, a moment's ill-attention at the wheel, or a microscopic virus. And then your life will be ruined if you don't have health coverage.

3. I'd rather conquer the world through universal health care than war. Just sayin'.

4. I have to giggle a little at the image of World Dictator Obama making the world "so much worse that many of us can't even begin to understand." Yeah. That's going to happen.

This stuff makes my head hurt. People do not get how important this is. I for one am happy to pay higher taxes so that my fellow tea-partying, birther anti-choice Americans can quit worrying about health coverage.

Maybe I'm feeling extra-stressed because of the impending SSDI hearing, but this just burns me up. Fine. Go hide in a bunker and hoard food and explosives. I'll be out here working my ass off for your Social Security and Medicare which you are loathe to give up, even as you acknowledge that they are flawed. Kinda like the healthcare bill.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

ha ha ha. i had to laugh at a lot of this comment.

the fact of the matter is that people who don't want health care reform are lucky enough to be of the minority who the old system worked for.

my family is incredibly fortunate in that we are mostly healthy and we've always had insurance through jays work. the only problem is the insurance isnt cheap and they dont seem to want to cover too much. i got some insurance forms in the mail the other day. i may have to call and complain just to get them to cover the ROUTINE GYNO EXAM i had last month! it will get paid for (i know for a fact its covered), but i shouldnt have to bitch about it. i should be allowed a pap every five years at the very least, no questions asked. i have no idea if any of this will get easier under the new plan. but i dont see how it can get any worse.

and dont even get me started on social security and medicare. living in florida, i come into contact with a lot of older folks who complain about the idea of socialized medicine but dont seem to get that its not a whole lot different from what they are enjoying the benefits of when they go to the doctor and medicare covers everything. why can't decent medical care be available to us all?!?!?

and i completely agree. any tax increase is not going to effect my life that much. in fact, it may make me a happier person just knowing that perhaps the few extra dollars my family shells out, possibly enabled someone to get medical care they desperately needed.

Daphne said...

Sigh. The comments people were making were starting to make Terri cry, and I won't stand for that. Thankfully there are sane people in the world too.

jam said...

Daphne, more people are with you and Terri than against you and Terri. Unfortunately most in this country that are for the reform are silent. What people forget is that ignorance combined with conviction actually hurts people and is not just harmless ignorance. In my job I help people with applying for Social Security Disability. These are people that want so badly to continue to work but are unable to do so because they have a chronic neurological disease with no cure. Prior to reform, these folks would apply for disability and be forced to pay high COBRA costs or go without insurance for about 2.5 years when they would finally then become eligible for Medicare. Now with this reform these folks just might have a more affordable option for insurance while they wait for Medicare to finally kick in. What people forget is that everyone who works and pays taxes pays into our system (gasp socialism), and pays for Social Security Disability (SSD). SSD is an INSURANCE program that we all pay into.

Daphne said...

Jason: I know, it's crazy. Thank you so much for saying this. People are not thinking about what they are saying when they say they don't want "socialism." If you don't want "socialism", then hand over your social security check and turn down Medicare! I don't think America is in any danger of becoming socialist, but a slightly socialized medical system is not going to hurt anyone. I don't think our current system works, and I don't think the new system will be perfect either. But it will be better. At least for us. If we're being selfish, then fine, I'll be selfish: I'm glad because this will help US.

Anonymous said...

i dont think you're being selfish.

everyone deserves quality healthcare that wont bankrupt them.

hugs to you and terri.

Stefanie said...

Whoever made that comment is a bozo who has no clue or compassion. The reform bill is not perfect but I didn't expect perfection and something is better than nothing. I live in fear of soemthing happening and not having insurance coverage for James. and you are right, just because a person works doesn't mean where they work provides medical coverage or if it does that the person can afford it. I have a friend who has been employed at a small business without health coverage who hasn't been to the doctor in 15 years. She is lucky to have been healthy but I'm terrified for her.

As for socialism, I honestly don't think it's a dirty word. Besides medicare and social security we have public schools and libraries, police and firefighters. And you know countries like the Scandinavian ones that are fully socialized have a better standard of living than we do in the U.S. Go figure.

Once the dust settles I think some people who are against the reform bill will change their minds, especially when Armageddon doesn't happen.

Theresa said...

I can't even talk about this stuff without getting all upset and incoherent. That commenter is an ignoramous and an ass. As are most of the backwater people who live around my area. We are "lucky" enough to have insurance through my husband's job... if that's what you want to call it. It's a huge chunk out of his check every week and it covers almost NOTHING.

I hate how people act like what we've got going on is "Oh so much better!" Pffttt... please!

Daphne said...

Tammie: exactly.

Stef: I know you know this particular fear well, too. I know from living in a Scandinavian country that far from being Armageddon, socialist societies actually seem to do pretty dang well.

Theresa: I saw one person actually say, "What we have works just fine! We didn't need to change a thing!" I almost choked. Managed to not say anything, but barely.

Lahni said...

As a Canadian I don't know if I can comment on this but I'm going to anyway. First of all, when someone has such poor grammar and spelling abilities don't you have a hard time taking what they write seriously? I know I do.
Secondly, I think opposing a health care bill is really selfish. Sure I pay higher taxes up here in Canada, but I'm more than willing to do so knowing that EVERYONE is entitled medical attention when they need it. Are there problems with this system? Of course there are, but I personally think that the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks.
I'm truly surprised that there are people who believe that the healthcare system is working "just fine" in the US.

Daphne said...

Lahni: Canadians always welcome to comment! And yes, the grammar and spelling do make it hard to take it seriously. Why is it that so many of the extreme negative postings always have so many spelling errors? Just sort of confirms my opinion of the posters. Anyway. I agree with all your points. This new bill isn't even all that radical! It's not radical enough! Oh well. Thanks for commenting!