Thursday, September 15, 2011

Get your filthy hands off my health care options


Those assholes that think government-sponsored health care options are the bane of America need to lose their jobs and get offered COBRA (continuation of company-sponsored health care benefits, all paid for by the unemployed person).

I've been unemployed before, and I couldn't possibly afford to pay for COBRA now that I wasn't pulling in a steady income. And I have absolutely NO health issues, and take NO prescription meds. (I don't take any over-the-counter meds, either, but the drug issue is for another rant).

Why is it OK that the only way an American can get health care coverage in this country is to find employment that offers it, or spend an awful lot of money on self-paid insurance? Why shouldn't there be options that are affordable to individuals, even if they're government-based?

Why is giving all your money to a health insurer or provider in the case of extreme and catastrophic illness (we ALL know someone who has been in that situation) better than so-called 'Socialized Medicine"?

Should I not have the option to buy a government-backed plan, even if the majority (is it really a majority??) of Americans are fearful of single-payer health care? Does anybody see the upside to having an insurance system that your employer doesn't control?
How about these:

  1. The ability to quit a job you hate that is making you miserable 
  2. The ability to work for yourself
  3. The ability to retire early 


(And, by the way, why are so many people fearful of the U.S. Government, in which we have some relative voice, and so trustful of large corporations or health insurers, who have the ability to fuck us over repeatedly with zero consequences?)

I heard an interview on the radio the other day (yes, it was NPR. Call me a liberal commie pinko. Unlike Rick Perry, though, I'm not about to flaunt my anti-intellectualism AKA stupidity, or that I make all my decisions based on what the voices in my head are telling me.) Some genius mother in Texas, railing against the Health Care Act, said that she refuses to buy health insurance. When pressed on what she would do if, heaven forbid, she or one of her brood got into an accident or was diagnosed with some very expensive ailment, she just put up her Ignorant Wall and basically said that she doesn't worry about it (probably another 'god' thing. Why are all the flaming idiots also flaming religious zealots??). She wouldn't/couldn't see that she was being irresponsible.

I'm cynical and realistic enough to think that we, Americans as a whole, can never be enlightened enough to put down our Tea Party placards and actually listen to facts. If we did that, we might be able to move this country forward. Just a little.