And while I'm on my soapbox...

[kellinator]

Excellent column from Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times today about whether the United States can really claim the best health care in the world. Did you know a woman in America is eleven times more likely to die in childbirth than a woman in Ireland? But if you manage to survive till you're Medicare-age, your life expectancy goes through the roof.

On the other side of the coin, we have protesters in Washington shouting "kill the bill", despite the fact that many of them are of the age where they are either covered by Medicare or soon will be. The comments they make indicate that most of them really don't know what they're talking about -- they whine about government interference and then out of the other side of their mouths they bitch that Medicare doesn't cover enough.

Most sadly for me, apparently a large number of these people announced they were Christian. I guess they missed all the verses about caring for the sick and needy. People like this are why some of the best people I know recoil when I tell them I'm a Christian.

Frankly, this whole healthcare thing has pretty much destroyed any faith I had left in either America or human kindness. I watched V the other night, and the big reveal that the aliens were evil was the phrase "universal health care." What's so bad about giving everyone a chance for proper health care, not just those who were born into privilege? The article didn't say, but I'm betting there weren't that many people of color in the crowd. And I'll bet you that crowd thinks everything they have they earned, when so much of life is just plain luck (and expect to have more of it if you're white and rich).

Opt-out option? Right now I'd like to opt out of the human race.

Comments

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

One, I know almost to the penny what I'm paid, what I pay in taxes, and am able to figure back what I recieve or am allowed in government services, and I "overpay" by a vast amount, and am about to watch that slowly creep towards where I'd be close to a third of my "gross" income going to taxes, and well over a third if you're figuring in actual employer overhead due to tax matching schemes.

So you pay more to the govt than you get back? Where do you think the roads you drive on come from? You get your electricity from TVA, right? Know how that came about? Not to mention you live in Tennessee, and it's well-known that southern states get back more from the federal govt than they pay in.

I'm really not interested in debating health care with you, because you're right, no one's mind is getting changed, but I will challenge you on that claim. And I will also tell you that I think it's asinine, and I think if you object to taxes going to pay for civilization so much, you should stop using civilization and go live in a cave somewhere.

And re: your comments on V, ever heard of hyperbole? How stupid do you think I am anyway?

[mfree.livejournal.com]

I don't object to taxes going to "pay for civilization" at all. I'd just like them to go where I have a little more control over direction. And yes, in my particular situation, I'm not using/allowed federal services equivalent to the amount removed from my paycheck and the matching sum paid by my employer combined minus the amount averaged per capita regained by the state on my behalf. On that note, I don't actually *mind* it so much. I mind the amount that gets taken out and put to *waste*, which the bill on the table is going to generate in droves.

I don't think you're stupid at all. I wasn't being literal, the whole "hope/change/universal healthcare" thing was hamfisted as all get-out. But to that point in the plot, evilness wasn't hinted at beyond the absolutely creepy body language of Anna, and alliteration to it would have been from preconcieved notion either from knowing the plot (I'd watched the original mini-series) or from the banter about the code words the writers peppered the dialogue with, as has been discussed for weeks. *That* is what I'm phrasing around. Yes, I could have put it better, I'm looking at what I wrote now and it looks high-handed, and for that I apologize.

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I really appreciate that.