I write this with some hesitation. I was born and raised in Alabama. Baptised at Cherry Street Baptist and raised by a Church of God of Phropecy Grandmother. The first election I was ever old enough to vote in I voted for Gerald Ford. So, I come to this not as someone with no idea what it is to be a good conservative. I am not mocking or being disrespectful to those who truly see the G.O.P. as the "good guys" it's just that I honestly disagee. Healthcare is one of those areas and let me respectfuly explain why.
It's true that government can't be a nanny to everybody no matter their lifestyle. Surely we can find common ground somewhere. I have very good insurance because of my job. I'm thankful and I understand what a slippery slope it is the the abysess should I or many like me lose my job. Ya see if you are very, very poor then you do indeed get healthcare. It's called Medicaid and although it is strained to the breaking point at times it does indeed cover you. If you are very, very rich then you get the best health care anywhere. None better! Ya pull out your wallet and ya call your specialist and your off! But, if you are lower or even upper middle class and you depend on your job for health care then you better pray and hope and make sure (as much as you can that you keep it.) If you are laid off or if you job doens't give you health care then you my friend are screwed big time! You are not poor enough for Medicaid and not rich enough for the doctor visits. (Medicaid folks are also not treated with the same respect by much of the medical establishment either but that's a whole nother subject.) If you get cancer or heart disease then you just better get on over to the side of the road cause the rest of God's chillun are gonna pass you by. They can't help it cause they can't afford to take you to the doctor.
Now that being said I am concerned that the new administration is moving to fast and to partisian with health care right now. However, the big insurance companies have got their propaganda and big guns blazing right now. If you are conservative and you think george bush was a true conservative I have some beach front property in Northeast Alabama in a little town called Altoona I'd like to see ya. (But that is also a whole nother post.) Fact is we the people need to take this nation back. The first thing a new congressman/woman should do is not to find their party "leader" when they get to D.C. but to find how to benifit the people back home. But it gets lost in the "agenda" of the party. Meanwhile people (sheeple)continue to cheer and wave the party colors while the rest of the people get (insert favorite colorful phrase here) So, I ask if you are anti abortion and yet you say "let em eat cake" once they get here then what have you really done? If you say life is sacred but cheer as homes and people are blown to rubble then what have you really done? (that is a whole nother argument also.) But back to my main question to my conservative friends (and lots of my friends are conservative.) Is there a middle ground somewhere so that health care can be obtained by those in honest need? Or do we continue to have this battle every four to eight years? I am not A Liberal because to be A "anything" means you endorse and are zealous for it. But I do lean left on healthcare and other social issues. My question is to my friends: Is there a way to meet without the hysteria and rhetoric or are we doomed to watch this play everytime congress and the presidency changes hands?
1 comment:
You threw a lot out there Steve, so I'm not going point to point on this. I'll just stick to the primary subject and share with you about how all this affects my family.
So here goes.
I am not rich. My wife and I started a business almost five years ago. We have overhead, we have employees, we have bills. We take LITTLE home for ourselves. Just walk through our house and see the repairs that need to be made that we can't afford. Look at the old cars we drive. We put clothes on our childrens back and rarely buy clothes for ourselves. We can't pay ourselves what we really need to get by day to day.
We are in the medical field - my wife is an Occupational Therapist. She's in private practice. Here's the deal. We don't have health insurance. Here is the irony. We can't afford health insurance because of what we have to pay out in taxes every quarter. My government wants to "give" me "free" health insurance and yet the reason I can't afford health insurance for my family is because we are overtaxed.
Last time around we had to take out a loan to pay our taxes. My government comes along an skims most of the cream from the top of what we earn. It's easy to say that the poor are in such great need and the rich have too much. Let's take from the rich and give to the poor. But the fact is, everyone is being soaked.
A few months ago I had to go under the knife. Again, we have no health insurance. Now we are under a pile of medical bills because we can't afford health insurance because we pay out too much in taxes. Do you think I want anything from the government? No... HELL NO! They've done enough already.
I'm not going to get into the socialized medicine downside, government takeover of the health care industry in this comment. I am replying to your post from a first person - we are being driven under by these bozos in Washington. I wouldn't trust them with my life. I don't want their handouts - because what they take from my family is already costing us dearly.
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