Yes. I AM my brother's keeper.

[ellid]

Or, why I agree with the following statement. Perhaps this makes me a socialist commie-symp-pinko-liberal who is devoted to destroying America, but you know what? I am one of those people who would be completely, utterly, 100% uninsurable in most of this country if I didn't have insurance through my employer. It doesn't matter that my skull tumor is benign. It doesn't matter that it's stable. It doesn't matter that there are no known risk factors outside of a genetic disease that I don't have, and that I could not have prevented it.

What matters is that it exists. And because it exists, and because I need a 45 minute long MRI once a year to make sure it's still stable, I cannot open my own business. I cannot go freelance. I cannot work for a small employer that does not offer benefits. There is a distinct possibility that I may not be employable in many states because my mere presence would drive insurance rates past the breaking point for many companies.

The health care situation in this country would not tolerated in any other developed country in the world. Perhaps it's not fair that the taxes of the many should go to the care of the few, but neither is the share of my property taxes that will go to a high school that my non-existent children will never attend. It is in my best interest as a citizen of Easthampton that a new school be built, and it is in my best interest as a citizen of the United States that all of my fellow citizens have access to health care when they need it, without having to sell their homes, divorce their spouses, or lose their jobs because they can't afford the bills.

So yes. I agree with the meme:

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.

Matthew 25:31-46 still applies.

Comments

[vulgarweed.livejournal.com]

Well said! *applauds*

Perhaps it's not fair that the taxes of the many should go to the care of the few,

But reform would be the taxes of the many going to the care of the many! Do the people opposed to this on selfish "Libertarian" grounds (I'm not even addressing the "death panel" loonies) really believe they are immune to getting laid off? To being bankrupted by an insurance company that cheats them by refusing to pay a claim? To a catastrophic injury or illness causing them or someone in their family to lose their job? To unchecked premium hikes going to a level that even their smug rich-guy asses can't pay? Denial, denial, denial. They want to blame the victims because they don't want to believe they could easily become one themselves.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I have no idea what they believe, but they come across as terrified. The Big Lie has worked again.

[samantha-vimes.livejournal.com]

Indeed. Virtually everyone would benefit from a system that offers more security, even if they are lucky and do avoid much in the way of medical care. I believe there would even be improvements in education and worker productivity as preventative care becomes standard across income levels and kids can attend school and adults can go to work because they have the asthma/diabetes/psychiatric medicines they need to function.

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

HELL YES.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

Yep.

[rwday.livejournal.com]

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick.

It's unbelievable that you even have to assert what sounds to me like an undeniable truth. I don't like to think that there are people who would look at this statement and disagree with it, but I'm sure there are.

What's truly sad in this "debate" is that the loonies running around town hall meetings screaming about socialism and death panels are mostly of the class that would benefit from health care reform. They would have secure coverage not tied to a job, which in this economy sounds like a pretty damn good idea. So what if one of the options is a government plan? If "government health care" is so awful, why are Medicare recipients generally so happy with their coverage? Oh, never mind. 62% of Republicans think government should stay out of Medicare.

*headdesk*

[ellid.livejournal.com]

There are people who state, very forcefully, that a public option is "stealing" from people who have health insurance, and that the sick and the uninsured are lazy bloodsuckers who brought this on themselves through living an unhealthy lifestyle that presumably makes them disgusting and fat and gives them diseases.

Not only is this cruel and to a large extent untrue, it doesn't apply to many, many, many chronic conditions. Like, say, an acoustic neuroma....

[rwday.livejournal.com]

Okay. Nice that they know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they'll never be unemployed and in need of health coverage. Or that they'll never hit their lifetime coverage limits because of a major illness. Or that their adult children will immediately be able to find jobs with benefits.

I support many things through my tax dollars that do not have direct and immediate benefits to me. Chances are good that I will never need the fire department, but I'm very happy to fund them just in case. It is to everybody's advantage to have fires put out, crimes solved, people educated and housed and fed. It's also to everybody's advantage to stem the spread of disease. And ultimately, the uninsured ARE going to be treated, it's just a matter of whether that's going to be in a doctor's office or in an emergency room when it's too late.

[varianor.livejournal.com]

I posted the short version of the above statement to my Facebook profile last night. The two people who spoke up with the "whose going to pay for it" attitude were a) an attorney who makes plenty of money and b) an ex-military friend of mine who has no kids and who works as well as his wife. The pressure against it seems to increase the better off one is. (Note that the Clinton single payer system attempt was foiled by special interest groups including doctors, hospitals and others who benefit from the current system.)

[persevero.livejournal.com]

'No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'

Though the point that Donne was making wasn't quite as supportive of universal health-care...

[harpnfiddle.livejournal.com]

I just read this (posted on another friend's blog). Horrifying is right! http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/7/751100/-How-I-lost-my-health-insurance-at-the-hairstylists