Healthcare Anyone?

So Bushland has been a sleepy land with losing an old job, gaining a new one, pushing my business full time, arguing with the MTA, then deciding to go back to work again, new friends, and lots of events. But today's signing of the Senate Healthcare reform bill into congress was something that prompted me for comment. What I don't get is what the fuck the problem is. I have been cornered by angry republicans and received numerous nasty emails so I expect for the comments section to follow suit because the Republicans are freaking the FUCK out. Now, let me start off by saying in no way shape or form do I think the bill is perfection. But I do think the bill is better than what was in place. I do believe the bill is better than the alternative. The alternative is what scares the shit out of me.

So speaking of fear, the latest in fear mongering has come from the far right in the form of statements like

"we are all going to pay higher taxes" the reality is the only people paying higher taxes are those making over 200k individually. When you answer with that, the statement you get this:

"Obama wants us to be a socialist country and we cant make any money so that's why the rich are getting taxed"Are you fucking serious? Did you know that percentage wise the middle class is currently taxed more than the upper class (those making over 200k) so know what? I really truly feel awful that a few people will have to downgrade their caviar so people don't have to die due to lack of health coverage. Seriously. Wtf.

Then there is this: They want to fuck with our Medicare:
You mean YOUR Government subsidized health insurance?That Medicare? I guess you have forgotten where Medicare came from. The Democrats. And who fought against it. The Republicans. Infact here are some quotes from some of our favorite Republicans on the very plan they fight so ferociously to be left untouched.

Ronald Reagan, as part of Operation Coffee Cup in 1961, stated that: “[I]f you don’t [stop Medicare] and I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.”

George H. W. Bush, while a candidate for the US Senate in 1964, described Medicare as “socialized medicine.”

Barry Goldwater in 1964: “Having given our pensioners their medical care in kind, why not food baskets, why not public housing accommodations, why not vacation resorts, why not a ration of cigarettes for those who smoke and of beer for those who drink.”

In 1995 Bob Dole stated that he was one of 12 House members who voted against creating Medicare in 1965. “I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare ... because we knew it wouldn’t work in 1965.”

"They want to (insert gasp here) MANDATE people to have insurance": They want to mandate people to have insurance so the system can WORK. But remember that people will be given help to pay for their insurance. We are mandated to have car insurance, we cant purchase a home without homeowners insurance. So I guess I don't get it. I guess one could argue that it leaves out peoples right to have a savings account instead of pay an insurance company. But why not then make a provision that says ok.. if you don't want to participate in the plan we need proof that you have x amount of dollars in a dedicated savings account so that if you become sick, taxpayers don't have to pay for your uninsured ass when you do eventually get sick and have to go to the hospital or emergency room. As of now there is an amendment in the bill called at "Empowering States to be Innovative" amendment. This would give States the right to come up with their own plan that could either mandate coverage or not granted it meets federal requirements. This amendment was taken from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) Healthy Americans Act -- the far-more innovative health care reform legislation he authored with Republican co-sponsors. I know this seems like a stretch to the far right, since all they seem to know is how to destroy.. never to create-- since they had every opportunity to come to the table with an alternative and failed to do so. So here is something I can live with. How about all of you who are whining and bitching about the Mandate clause in the bill sign a waver that when you do get sick or have an emergency you waiver your right to have any sort of public assistance available to you? You know like when you run to the ER and then complain when you get the bill that you cant afford it.

It all leaves me to wonder if the right wing actually HAS an opinion on anything.. other than they are against change of any kind. Does it even matter what the change is?

And I will leave you with this little nugget from our friend John McCain was lovely:

"There will be no cooperation for the rest of this year," McCain said in an interview with KFYI radio in Arizona. "They have poisoned the well in what they have done and how they have done it."

So business as usual then, John?


"Our country is drowning in debt and now another trillion dollars for HC! This is not the right time for social health reform. We need to fix the economy first. Obama put himself above this country and this nation. It is all about himself and his name."
Really, and I guess the billions we are spending on a war in Iraq is more important than access to health insurance for people in this country? Or how about how our tax dollars go to contracts for corporations like Haliburton and Blackwater?