Annice

I was going to write about my experience buying a new laptop at Best Buy, but given the historic vote on Health Care Reform, that will have to wait.  Saturday night, I had some of my husband’s friends and their wives over for dinner.  Several of the couples are retired, and while I don’t know them well, they seem to be very nice people.     

 So there we were at the dinner table, eating our dessert of mango sorbet with fresh slices of ripe mango, and someone steered the conversation toward the health care bill.   

Suddenly, I found myself sitting in the middle of a group of people (in my own home) complaining about this country’s turn toward socialism.  One guest was even furious that she would be forced to pay for all those “illegal immigrants and unemployed” who were now entitled to health insurance:  “I can’t pay more taxes.  I have nothing left to give.  And now, people will get it for free!  Where’s the incentive to work?” she asked. 

 “Besides,” someone else added, “the Democrats rammed the bill down our throat, when the majority of Americans don’t want it.  The government is getting too big.  I don’t want the government telling me how to run my business.”  One example of unwelcome government intervention was that the government can shut down a restaurant in NC if it allows smoking: “If people don’t want to frequent a smoking restaurant, they don’t have to.”  Well, I can see their point on that one, but what has that got to do with health care reform?  

Okay, I thought.  Time to fight back.  

 I interrupted the flow of the conversation by telling them I had no problem with a socialist government, considering that capitalism got us into this financial crisis to begin with, but that ours is not one.  Nor is it a totalitarian one:  there was a vote on the issue, and Obama won.  There was another vote Sunday night for health care reform, and the vote passed.  If Americans don’t like the results, they can caste their ballots in November and vote out their Congressmen and -women.  That is a democracy.      

I asked them about the 32 million Americans, many of whom have two jobs to support their family and still can’t afford insurance.  What about the working poor?  As for me, I’m happy to pay more taxes so that everyone can have health insurance.  Better yet, get the government to re-allocate our resources and spend less on defense and more on health care.  In fact, if we hadn’t gotten into the Iraq War in the first place, we would’ve had more money to pay for healthcare, education, day care, elder care, etc.  And by the way, this bill will benefit small business owners who really can’t afford insurance by providing access to a huge pool of insurance options for them to purchase health care at a competitive rate.  What’s so bad about that?   

One gentleman said many governors were ready to start suing the government over state’s rights and that he was pleased about that.   I replied sarcastically: “Oh, that’s really productive and a good use of resources.”   

I’ll sum up my feelings on the issue this way:  while I have been very fortunate to have health insurance, I am celebrating this week along with the 32 million Americans who have waited a very long time.

Related posts:

1. Betty’s Beat: August 2009, U.S. Congresspeople Get the Message – universal health care!!
2. Betty’s Beat
3. Care-giving for Husbands and Dogs
4. Beautiful Women over 50: Betsy on our Mental Health System
5. Betty’s Beat: Accentuate the Positive

Tags: Health Care Reform; mango sorbet

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 3:42 pm and is filed under Living, Main, Relationships, World. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.