What!!!!

Yoda, I was reading along, actually agreeing with maybe a couple of things you said in your post, but then I got to this part.

I got fire!

Probably the part that fires me up the most is the Republicans in power who are hiding behind the chant, the rant, "No Socialized Medicine."

First of all, let me make perfectly clear that I am not in favor of socialized medicine either. But why don't these chanters realize that there are millions of hardworking (or unemployed but wanting to work) Americans who cannot afford to buy into a good group plan? (Even if there is such a plan available to them. Often there is no such thing.) Or is it that the chanters are covered and so they just don't care?

Those on welfare do not even enter into this equation because the lives of the generational welfare bunch do not change no matter who is in power. It's all the same to them. That gravy train just keeps on rollin'. They are covered.

It's those who have no access to affordable coverage that I am concerned about. And what's this I hear about healthcare not being a right? I keep thinking that I cannot possibly be hearing that one correctly. Are those who say that really saying that there are those who do not deserve healthcare in America? How can they explain the alternative?

This country needs to make sure that affordable access to good group plans is available to BUY into. I know of young hardworking families who simply cannot afford healthcare coverage. I know of those who want to retire early but have no access to affordable healthcare with a good group plan. Factor in a pre-existing and they better just hope they can keep their jobs so they can stay on the group plan.

"No Socialized Medicine" -- that phrase is nothing more than a button-pushing diversionary tactic. An excuse put out there to not solve the problem. Get that loud knee-jerk reaction and that way those in power can continue to roll around in bed with insurance companies and Big Pharma.

Well, I can't get out of here this morning without telling you a little story.

Several years ago all of us at work got a letter from our insurance company saying that they were going to issue an IPO and that we could have stock or cash. I took stock. The stock shot up. Split. Shot up again. And when the value against the cash others took quadrupled, I sold. I just did not want to own stock in an insurance company. Sure, the gain was a tidy one. But I did not want to own that stock anymore. The CEO was raking in multi-million dollar bonuses while claims were being denied. Somehow, making me, the stockholder, happy seems to work OK when it's just about toothpaste or mac and cheese. But where healthcare is concerned, I just did not want to own a piece of anybody. But lots of people own a piece of me. I am still under that plan.

Should stockholders and healthcare mix?

And yeah, I know. Abdicating to government control is bad, too.

But we moderates want to see the problem of healthcare addressed and the middle ground found. For the sake of so many Americans.

I do not make my decisions based on what I see in the media. I talk to real people.

And guess what the first thing is that I would want to ask about if I were to be invited to one of those Republican town meeting things that are supposed to come around.

Boomer