I try to keep my political opinions to myself. Honestly, politics aren't really my fortay and I think everyone is entitled to read/write/believe whatever they want. It's not my place to call someone out or accuse them of being wrong or anything else.
Recently, a friend of mine wrote a blog post on health care reform and it would benefit her family personally. This is a very dear friend of mine, and in being so, I know that she did not write this post lightly or without knowing the stance she was taking. I agree that we're ultimately going to disagree on the healthcare reform because the facts are, it's hard to swallow for some people. Some people feel like only the wealthy should be entitled to things like basic human needs. And they're verbal about it. And for a long time, my stance was, "It's their beliefs, what do I care." However, a very conservative person posted a comment on my friend's blog and it really irks me.
It irks me because the author perfectly epitomizes everything I hate about loud mouth, obnoxious conservatives or think they're beliefs are the answer and everyone else is an idiot. Read this.
The first thing that bugs me about him, is that he is insinuating that his bullet points are fact, when in FACT they are not. The second thing that bothers me about him is his tone.
I have a lot of friends on both sides of the debate. And I will gladly discuss this with them in an intellgient manner. What I can not stand are assholes like this guy who are not willing to listen to your side of a debate and are not willing to stop playing the defensive card long enough to listen to what someone else, with intelligent thoughts and beliefs has to say.
The other thing I can't stand about people like this guy are the way that they can be so American and so proud to be an American and then the instant things aren't going their way, they're quick to fly their flags upside down and denounce America and everything in it. It's not a secret that I am not a fan of the former president or of the war in Iraq/Afghanistan. BUT I have never commented on America as a whole nor would I ever do something as childish and disrespectful as flying my country's flag upside down.
To me, this is what's wrong with the beautiful country I live in. On the oustide we pretend to be a country that is accepting of others beliefs and ideas, but in reality, we're trying at every chance to denounce our fellow American's beliefs. We pride ourselves on being a democracy, but when democracy works, and we elect a President with a record number of voter turnout, we're quick to denounce him and everything he stands for.
Nothing is being shoved down anyone's throats. Health care reform isn't, the war isn't. It's all been very open and honest, in my opinion, and it seems to me that representatives on both sides of the party lines have voted for and against health care reform. If you feel something is being shoved down your throat, I suggest you talk to your ELECTED official.
Like my friend, my family is affected by a pre-existing condition. While it hasn't been an issue for us yet, it's only a matter of time. This health care reform could help that. Additionally, I tend to be the victim of awkward illnesses and bad timing. This health care reform could lower the costs for me personally and help me not spend all of my money on prescriptions and treatments that are extremely overpriced as it is.
Maybe the healthcare reform won't help you personally....but maybe it'll help someone you care about. Maybe they haven't even told you how desperately they could use healthcare reform. But more importantly, who are you to say that anyone in this beautiful country should be denied anything? Aren't we supposed to be the land of the free? The land of opportunity? I suggest we find our way back to that or we will no longer be a beautiful country, and someone else will step in.
5 comments:
all I can do is shake my head and continue to not ever comment on big political things like this.
I think one of the things that bothers me the most is when people snidely say, "this is just another step towards complete government control of our lives." seriously? Are they telling us WHICH insurance to get? No, it's still our choice. Are they telling us, "hey, it's in the entire country's best interest and it will save money throughout the entire system if we don't have uninsured people walking our streets." Yes, that's what they're telling us. It's also mandatory for everyone to have car insurance, but do I hear people bitching about that? Is that complete government takeover of our lives? No. It's so completely obvious that it's in our best interest for everyone to have car insurance. Do we have to get a certain kind? No, we can choose our levels of coverage, and get the minimum available if we so desire. If we don't have any at all, we can get fined. Start the protests! That's socialism! Use your head, people. You can't live without some government intervention in your lives; it just doesn't work. As much as people want to bitch that mandatory healthcare OF YOUR CHOOSING limits our freedom, I really think the currently uninsured would beg to differ.
The reason people are so upset is because they DID talk to their elected officials and their elected officials basically said F off we'll do what we want. Yes the majority of Americans are for some sort of reform on healthcare. But the majority of Americans were against this specific bill. Reasons being are because the bill REQUIRES you to buy a product. If you don't buy that product the government is going to fine you. The U.S. Constitution was designed to specify what powers the federal government has and does not have. There is no part in the constitution that says as a citizen you are REQUIRED to buy health insurance.
This country (which is not a democracy, but that is a whole different story) was founded by those seeking independence from a tyrannical government with too much power. This bill grants the government way to much power and it is the start to a vicious cycle.
As for the guy that wrote the blog, his request for everyone to fly the flag upside down as a sign of protest is unwarranted and against the law. Flying the flag upside down is only warranted if there is extreme danger to life or property. The country is not to that point. His bullet points are not all fact but some of them are.
Another good example of why people are upset is the portion of the bill that says insurance companies can no longer deny you for preexisting conditions. This sounds like a great plan when you first look at it. But it is just common sense to want to save money. What this really does is give someone permission to go ahead not buy insurance and save a helluva lot of money. Then when they get sick they'll just call the insurance company up and get coverage. The company will have to pay all the medical bills and then when they are cured they'll just go ahead and drop the policy. Absolutely nothing can be done to stop that. Who eats up the cost for all the people that will do that? Those that do decide to obey the law and have insurance while healthy. Premiums will be astronomical. Now why would someone choose not to have insurance when its in the law? Would you prefer to pay $1700 a year for insurance (just using the rate I was paying) or take a once a year fine of $700 for not having it. Quite frankly I could buy a lot of stuff with that extra $1000 a year. Why not keep that money and buy insurance when I need it only? Sounds good to me.
Their are parts of this bill that are good and being someone with cancer who's health insurance dumped him as soon as he was diagnosed I wish that changes were made to fix that but not at the expense of what this country was built on. This law will eventually lead to insurance companies not being able to operate. The average insurance company already only operates with a 2% profit margin. Once this happens the only option will be for socialized medicine run by the federal government. This will lead to everyone's taxes going up, not just those making over 250K.
This is the CPA in me, but I hate hearing companies lament their low profit margins, especially when they can be so easily manipulated. Profit margins basically reflect the percentage of revenue left over after paying salaries, expenses, taxes and lots of other things. So, pay your execs a shit-ton in salary and your profit margin will be lower. Pay them more reasonably and your profit margin will be higher. Spend money on lavish corporate retreats and perks and your profit margin will be lower. Forgive me for not feeling sympathy that health insurance companies have average profit margins of 3-4%, when I can guess the real reason for that.
I agree with Janet on the profit margin stuff.....I think we've all learned in the past few years that companies can basically manipulate their numbers to show whatever they want to show.
I am not trying to imply that this bill is in any way perfect. But the fact of the matter is, we had to start somewhere. I'm not sure where the right place to start was, but we had to take that first leap. It's just like every other huge piece of legislation....it's not always perfect when it passes, but changes are made along the way that make it better. I have faith that this will happen with this bill too. At least the point has been made that the government WILL do something about ridiculous measures like this.
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