Have fun in Kenya, suckers.

So this universal health care thing…interesting, right?

I have been sort of keeping tabs of this controversial topic but not really engaging anyone in a dialogue about it, only because it I no longer am insured, medically speaking. It’s a bit of a big issue for me, and because I am still comprehending all the areas of this issue, I don’t feel comfortable debating the “Pro” side of it.

Basically, anything could happen to me tomorrow and I would be totally screwed. Is it my choice to go without health insurance? No…not at all. But I am at a place in my life where I can only afford so many “necessities.” I put that in quotations because I have car (and renter’s) insurance because it is required by law in the State of Oregon. I have a cell phone; but I have no other phone service so it’s a necessity. Internet service seems to be a necessity these days; especially as I continue searching for a job, and now a new place to live, it is apparent you can’t do either without access to Craigslist or LinkedIn or Jobdango. My student loan payment just increased (it was planned) and it’s quite a necessity to keep that loan in good standing. Then there’s my monthly rent, food and gas bills. So because of all that, I can’t afford health insurance with what I make from coaching soccer, though it sounds exciting and lucrative. PDXPup, Inc. sometimes operates in the red.

I mean, if I figured out tomorrow I had cancer, I might as well let the disease take me because there would be no way I could afford the treatment to beat it. And that is precisely why I don’t understand the health insurance system, because it seems like a gigantic scam to me. Here, pay my company $200 (!) a month just in case you get sick. You might never get sick, but we’ll still keep your $2400 a year. You might not get sick in 10 years, but we will still keep your $24,000 (if we haven’t raised your premiums, ever). It’s maddening just to think about; and please understand, I was appalled and mad when I had insurance! I was also extremely grateful I could afford to get my wrist fixed because I had insurance; my wrist would still be broken today if I hadn’t had insurance in 2007.

But I think the most jaw-dropping thing about watching the news and soundbites about healthcare reform is how many people have it wrong, and don’t really care to get it right. I read a blog from a guy who is a writer in Los Angeles, and he’s a pretty straightforward guy and not a democrat by any stretch of the imagination. He wrote this post recently about healthcare, and I couldn’t agree more. And he’s right to call some of these people debating the issue stupid; it’s not a way to engage anyone in a dialogue about the issue, but most of these people don’t want to discuss the issue…they just want to call Obama a fascist/socialist/Marxist/Communist and show up at Town Halls with Hitler mustaches and loaded firearms because it’s their 1st Amendment right to do so. I watched the video embedded in that post and it is absolutely alarming how uneducated some people are about the nuts and bolts of the issue. I mean when you have congressmen who have said they won’t read the health care bill because they’re just going to vote against it, it’s alarming to me because these people hold public office and represent the people in their district. I would be pissed if Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley did that.

And at the end of the day, I have to agree with “Valeri” who commented on that particular blog post when she said: “I don’t think the Republicans see how hypocritical they are being (I also don’t think any of them know what the words “socialist” and “communist” mean, or the difference between the two). Why is it that suddenly they are just expressing their first amendment rights, but people protesting the Iraq war were un-American and didn’t “support the troops”? Every conversation at that time ended with a conservative telling a liberal to “Move if you don’t like it!” You know what? If you don’t want healthcare reform, move. But you are going to have a bitch of a time finding a first world country that will let you bring your gun that DOESN’T have universal health care. Oh, wait… there ISN’T ONE.

Have fun in Kenya, suckers.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.