Health Insurance = Nazism?

Disclaimer: I am not a political person, neither am I a journalist. I have not researched for this piece, I am just writing what I know. And also, because I am ranting, please excuse the lack of finesse.

I am mad. Really, really mad. And I can't keep quiet anymore.

We don't have health insurance. As of August 1 we had to cancel the $570.05 per month/$5,000 deductible policy. Before that I had a $919/$3,000 deductible per month policy. Neither one of these plans did me jack-shit. During the first policy I was paying $30 co-pays and getting bills for $200 or $300 for various doctor and hospital visits (my son's EEG, for example) that they would not cover. From the second policy I was paying out of pocket every doctor visit - not that there were many of them because after paying almost $600 a month I didn't have a penny left to pay for a $40 back adjustment even though I could barely walk.

So, we have made the difficult decision, that wasn't really a decision, but a forced reality, to go insurance-free. Our children are covered because Hubby's recent pay-cut made us eligible for state insurance. But, because we had purchased private insurance we now have to wait a year to be eligible ourselves. When I called the state's insurance help-line I told them of our new financial situation I was told that no longer being able to afford your premium is not an excuse. If, however, we had taken his employer's insurance at $1,200 a month and his pay was cut, then we would be helped. One problem there: If we had been paying the equivalent amount of our mortgage to some insurance CEO, we would no longer have a house to go home to die when we were unable to pay the medical fees the insurance wouldn't cover.

Yesterday, I received a letter from our previous insurance company asking if, wait for it... Tator's fall down the stairs and Little Lady's tick bite were pre-existing conditions... what madness is this??!!

And now I am hearing that there are Americans out there who think Obama is a Nazi for wanting "socialized" medicine. This statement makes me so angry! The Nazis killed people. How in the hell can anyone equate Obama and those who want to give all Americans equal access to quality healthcare to people who tried to erase an entire race?! You know who is killing people now? The insurance companies! Obama is trying to help those who, like my family, find themselves in the ridiculous situation of having to deny themselves the very care they are paying for because the insurance company is so expensive and denial-happy.

Oh, the irony.

I grew up in England. My parents never had to worry about such things. After I was born my mother didn't have to leave the hospital after two days and go home alone with no nurse to visit her or go back to work after six weeks without pay. My father didn't have to choose whether his slipped disk was something he could live with because the alternative was being in debt to the hospital for the next 10 years. For how much I love this country and have become an American in all but on paper, I wonder sometimes if I shouldn't uproot this family and plant them back in my homeland where they would be cared for like the humans they are rather than social security numbers or medical billing account numbers.

When the Opposition to the new plan starts spreading falsities (like killing grandma) it does nothing but harm the process and the people they are trying to help. Instead of spending time in these town forums getting real opinions and suggestions from The People, the politicians are having to spend valuable time refuting the crap these "fear mongers" are issuing. Why can't they share their opinion without spreading lies and hatred? Apparently, they have always had a fully-inclusive healthcare package paid for by their employer and really have no idea what us real people are dealing with on a daily basis.

Get out of way and let Obama do his job and let me go get my very overdue Pap so I don't have to leave my children without a mother because cervical cancer wasn't caught early enough (God Forbid!).

It's like, gag me

It's the smell of skunk spray immediately after ejection - sickly sweet.

What is that word?

Smarmy. "Revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness...."

Yay, that's it.

The videos at the Democratic and Republican National Conventions are just plain smarmy. Obama's was OK, but Clinton's? Lord. I didn't see Palin's, but McCain's was out of control. That irritating movie-announcer-guy narrator. I can't take it seriously. And the background music! Bleck.

It's all so... so... American. A pep rally. A tribe of too-earnest cheerleaders yanking on your heart strings. An after-school special (remember those?) - all cheery, cheesy, sappy, and oh-so-serious. Just like that skunk spray; so sweet it's nauseating.

I don't know why they bother me so much. The word that springs to mind is propaganda: "Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one's cause." Put some patriotic music behind some touching pictures, tell the story as if it's a 1940's news film and it all becomes more important, more emotional, more convincing.

Call me a cynic, but I'm sorry, it doesn't work for me. Bring on the hype and I run the other way.

Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts...

Stop the hatred... PLEASE!

Warning: This post contains sarcasm, cynicism and downright anger.



"The answer is: 'If [she] were a __________, she would have aborted the baby.'"

"What is a dying 12-year old who was raped by her father?"

"Incorrect."

"What is a Democrat?"

"That is correct."

According to a lovely lady called Phyllis Schlafly, if Sara Palin, the Republican V.P. nominee, was a Democrat she would have aborted her Down Syndrome baby boy.

WHAT?! That has to be one of the most hateful, offensive, and ludicrous things I have ever heard. I have been fuming ever since I heard this comment yesterday on NPR's "On Point" with Tom Ashbrook. His website is flooded with comments all expressing a similar rage. Some have criticized Mr. Ashbrook for not immediately challenging this horrendous generalization. My guess is that he was actually unable to due to blacking out momentarily when he fell off his chair in disbelief.

Because Democrats are pro-choice, apparently (according to the religious right) they are pro-abortion, just killing their unborn babies willy-nilly. I heard an interview recently where a man was asked why he was voting for McCain: Because I'm pro-family, he said. Yes, obviously Democrats hate family, which is why they would rather abort than have brats running around who might constitute a family.

This ignorance and pigeon-holing just floors me.

And would someone, please, explain to me how some pro-lifers justify being pro-war? Death is death, is it not? Someone's baby is being killed, just 18, 19, 45 years after leaving the womb.

Let me just say for the record, I'm not a Democrat (or a Republican) because I'm not a citizen of the U.S. But I am a family-loving, compassionate, intelligent human who believes people who judge others and spread hatred in the name of God (hmm, isn't that what the terrorists do?) are only damaging their cause and hurting those to whom Jesus (the one I learned about, anyway) would have shown love.

I will say no more...