My spouse and I battled our health insurer for over 18 months to get coverage for our autistic child's speech therapy. The battle was finally resolved in March and we won. No one, and I repeat, no one, could loathe their insurer more than I. But after watching and listening to the health care "debate" (or debacle if you prefer), I hate them even more and it has surprised me.
My feelings grow stronger every day. Every day I read a news article telling me that "The Public Option is Dead", "Support for Obama on Health Care is Falling", etc., my feelings of disgust and anger grow stronger.
There is only one "option" I want to see, and that is a strong, new law that stops the madness. Anything less than that is not good enough.
I don't consider myself to be a hateful person but I am angry. And it doesn't feel good. Any dealings with my insurer feels like I am running a gauntlet, and it is uncomfortable. I don't need this. I want it to go away but it won't.
I seriously doubt I am the only one whose feelings have intensified in recent weeks because most people who have health insurance know that it sucks. And they know who is to blame. The loons screeching about death panels only increase our rage, because we know that it is the health insurers that employ this practice, not some fantasy government bureaucrat (Thanks for reminding us and reinforcing our anger loons!) The screamers, the haters, the criers against "socialism", are expressing our anger for us even though they got the wrong target. We know who the target should be. We know who is screwing us, and it ain’t Obama in a Hitler costume (Hey Freaks! Thanks for reminding us we have got a big problem). We have been reminded day in and day out how much we have been cheated, ripped off, screwed over, denied, and treated like the lowest dogs on earth by our health insurers.
For these reasons, I will declare that the cat is not going back in the bag. It is too late. Access to decent healthcare is a right. Americans know it in their bones and will fight for this right. It is what we do. No matter what the President says to Congress, no matter how long the Republicans and Tea Baggers try to deflect, no matter the hand wringing and flip-flopping, no matter what the final bill outcome is this year, the people of this country have had it. Thanks to the attention, a glaring spotlight has been placed on these soulless corporations and their evil practices. They are going down. No matter if it takes a week, six months or six years, they are done.
The question now is how many members of Congress will go down with them? Because if they can't see the forest through the trees and fail to stop the madness, they are done too. I won't settle for scraps anymore, will you?
This is my first diary here and I hope I got it right. Thanks for reading.