I need to preface this by saying that I don't have a problem with people who disagree with me. I mean, if you don't like Harry Potter, I may suspect that you have no soul, but I can still get along with you. But if you don't like Harry Potter because, though you've never read any of the books or seen any of the movies, someone told you it was pro-devil. . . .then no, no I can't get along with you. It's not that we disagree about Harry Potter, it's that you haven't checked the facts yourself and you are being fed misinformation, probably by a Twilight fan.
It is this mentality that is driving me crazy as I look at certain social media accounts and see the posts of certain people, some of whom I may (or may not) be related to. . . . If you dislike the Affordable Care Act, that is your business. But you need to understand that it's a law like any other. . .you don't get to choose which ones you follow. I think the drinking age is stupid, but I'm not going to go out and buy alcohol for the teenagers I know. I'm also not going to shut down the government over it, not only because I'm too lazy and afraid of public speaking to run for office.
If you think the Affordable Care Act means you're going to have to pay for health care for lazy people. . . .er, guess what you're doing when those without insurance wind up in the ER? That's your tax dollars at work. Also, if you have health insurance through work, and you work with anyone who is old or has a chronic illness, you're already paying for someone else's health care. Eighty percent of Americans already have health insurance through their employers, Medicare and Medicaid (this is where you'll find people who don't work, because of disability, old age or "laziness", but still get healthcare, btw). The Affordable Care Act makes it possible for freelancers like myself and Hot Guy to get health insurance without going completely broke and without wondering whether to admit to our health issues on the forms. It's about affordable care, not you paying for my health insurance while I sit around and eat bon-bons.
If you think the Affordable Care Act means that the government is taking away your freedom, I have some questions for you. Are you also this upset about having to buy car insurance? How is my having health insurance - which means your rates won't have to go up to cover the costs if I'm in an accident or something - taking away your freedom? Would you feel like your freedom was being affected if the government said that you couldn't have a medical procedure like an abortion? Would you feel like your freedom was affected if the government said you couldn't marry the person you loved? Do you feel like your freedom was hurt when President Bush signed the Patriot Act? How do you explain the success of RomneyCare in Massachusetts?
As for those who have insurance who are worried about their rates going up. . .um, hello, did you just get your insurance? Let me tell you, in the many years I did have insurance, I never had a year when my rates didn't go up. Not ever. So don't blame rates going up on Obamacare, blame it on greedy insurance companies and the massive costs of health care in this country.
A while back, I got into a debate on Facebook. At one point, the . . .instigator asked his victim (for lack of a better term), "Why are you taking this so personally?" Well, the debate was about gay marriage, with the straight instigator advocating against it. It wasn't personal to him, it wasn't about his life so he just couldn't understand. The victim, of course, is gay - gay marriage has a direct bearing on his romantic and financial future. That's kind of how I see people who are fighting against the ACA. They don't get it, because they have health insurance. It's not personal for them. But it's personal for me. I need the marketplace exchange to be able to afford health care - I'm a freelancer with an autoimmune disease. I'm not getting insurance without this act.
The fact that there are people in Congress willing to shut down the government to stop me from getting health insurance. . . .that's so fucking personal that I can barely stand it. I can get along with you if you don't like the Affordable Care Act, but I can't handle it if your dislike is based on misinformation or if you're throwing a temper tantrum because too many other people DO like the Affordable Care Act.
PS: A special "Fuck You" to Fox News and the viewers who believe that this shut down is no big deal. As Jon Stewart pointed out, all spring you were talking about the horrors of the sequester. . .like the White House being closed to tours. Yet you don't care that museums are? Or that the FDA isn't inspecting our food? Or that babies are not getting their formula? Or that studies that can help kids with cancers are being put off? You make me sick.
4 comments:
Great --and valid-- points about the Affordable Care Act. A minority of House Republicans have blackmailed Speaker Boehner into blackmailing the rest of us. Boehner keeps whining that the White House won't negotiate. Well you can't negotiate with blackmailers.
You know, I had to admit I was not very current on the ACA stuff (thanks to nonstop cartoons in the house...LOL) so I did a little reading on it last night (thanks Wikipedia). I was stunned to see how much of the law was rooted in previous Republican backed health care reform packages. Now all of a sudden many are backtracking. It makes me sick (and I would classify myself as Republican). How can someone not support something that they previously supported and in some cases drafted. Many of the points you make are good too. Hell, if my taxes are going up anyhow at least I can say that people are being cared for instead of us spending 2 million on a screwdriver.
Maura asks the unanswered question: How can someone not support something that they previously supported and in some cases drafted.
THE TEABAGGERS ARE SICK.
@Nicki - And they think that somehow they are winning.
@Maura - I know. I really feel there's a group that's will just go against anything the President supports, even if they thought of it first!
@Dad - And filled with hate!
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