Health Care Reform?

I thought long & hard about whether to post on this issue, simply because I'm not a political blogger, nor do I want to become one. But this bill is going to affect our country for years to come.

I have been faced with the hardship of having no insurance, having to find private insurance, fighting with the insurance company for payment, the list goes on and on. I am in agreement that health care reform is needed. I do not agree that this is the way to do it.

Before you stop reading, let me finish. One of the things that has been bothering me about the whole debate is the anger & name calling. It is a passionate issue & it is bringing out the best & the worst of people. Understandably. I want to try to explain how I feel about it & why, but I want to try to do it in a calm, rational, non-judgemental manner that everyone can understand. Maybe not agree with, but listen. I have listened to the other side of the argument, & like I said, I agree we need reform. And I'm actually a little bit put off that none of the Republican leaders tried harder to find another solution or explain why it might not be the best plan with less... yelling.
Here is the other thing. I am a patriot. I support the office of the President, & I support my President. The President of the United States is MY President. I may not have voted for him, but he is my President. I do NOT have to support everything he says, does or promotes. Blindy following someone without educating oneself on the issues is as bad as blindly opposing the person without listening to the issues.
But I will wish the President success, because I want my country to be the best it can be, not only for me now, but my children & grandchildren.

Our founding fathers came to America to get away from oppression from the government. A government who told them how to live, what to say, how to worship, excessive taxes, and none of these things promoted a healthy & happy life for the people. America was founded with the idea that less government control makes for a healthy & free life. All of this is detailed in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

I've read both of those documents recently. Yes, I have. I'm not going to even try to explain or interpret anything in them. The language is centuries old & I'm not a history scholar. I know what I learned in school. I just wanted to read them because I personally think all adults should re-read them from time to time, lest we forget.
One thing I do think is that it is not a good thing for the federal government to be in control of too many things in our country. We are on our way to something we might not be prepared for.

Back to health care. Reform is needed. I had to pay out of pocket for a medically necessary mammogram when I was 36. My physician wrote an order for it. I had a lump. My insurance (a group plan) wouldn't pay for it because I wasn't 40. Huh? Things like that are unacceptable.
But requiring people to buy insurance... the federal government will require you to buy insurance. Is that right? Better yet, is that constitutional? Can the government mandate that you buy a service? Sure, they require we purchase auto insurance, but they don't require we purchase a car. I feel that when we allow the government to start telling what to buy & how much to buy, we are approaching a slippery slope. Where does it stop? We just have to be careful.

The other thing I think I can confidently say most people who have a problem with this bill are concerned with is how the health care is going to be paid for. My problem is that with the economy the way it is now, most people are having trouble not only paying for their own insurance, but just putting food on the table. *I heard Joe Biden say yesterday that he understood how people are feeling now, people are sitting at the breakfast table wondering "how they are going to keep their kids in school." Um, Mr. Vice President. I understand your children have never darkened the doors of a public school, but most of America is not worrying about how to pay for "free" public school. Food, clothes, & electricity are what we're concerned with.*

So, to pay for the health care of a few million people who don't have it for one reason or another, the government is going to take even more money out of our paychecks. Money that pays for milk & bread for our children. I don't mind helping people, I DO help people, I feel it's all a part of the Golden Rule, treating others the way I want to be treated, but I do mind the government telling me that I HAVE to & how much & when I have to do it. How resentful will I feel when I can't get my own children something basic & needed because our hard earned money was taken to pay for someone else's health insurance. How do I explain that injustice to my child?

Then there are the small businesses. Actually, let's not even go there. Let's just talk about businesses, companies in general. A company's biggest expense is now going to be the employee that needs a health care plan for their family. Spouse & multiple children. Are they going to keep that employee on the payroll or let them go? I hope they keep them. Government control of a business. See where we're going?

It's the TAKING that is the problem. The government TAKING.

I'm giving worst case scenarios. Or am I? It takes looking at the whole picture, not just saying let's fix it and then giving a pat on the back because we've "fixed" the problem that previous administration allegedly started.

Do I have another solution? I don't. But I'll be thinking.

If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them, they must become happy. - Thomas Jefferson