As progressives complain about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act possibly being overturned by the Supreme Court, I can't help but feel that in all ways this whole thing is hard to not get sick over. I'm sick of pretending that the Affordable Health Care Act was sufficient, or even much of an improvement. I'm sick of polls that ask the American public whether they approve of the legislation, only to reflect that it is unpopular, when all anyone wants is Universal Health Care. I am sick of the right wing convincing so many low-information voters that they have any point at all. And, I am so sick at the level of hypocrasy wielded by those who do not care about their fellow man, that I see true evil lurking behind the hearts of the far right, or at least absolute power corrupting absolutely. Absolute power corrupting? Well, for me, that's my moment of cognative dissonance. It is far easier to contemplate cliche than it is to face the level of cruelty we are all witnessing against anyone who is not rolling in dough.
I have three stikes against me before I open my mouth, or type a word.
1) I am a woman living in Virginia.
2) I am self-employed.
3) I own my home.
I'm out.
I know the the third item might not seem like a strike, many people would love to own their own home. And, in the middle of the mortgage melt-down it might seem like an insensative statement. But if you combine it with the other strikes, and the realities of affording health care, I am one illness away from being totally screwed.
Strike one - being a woman in Virginia - well I don't think I have to explain that to anyone on Daily Kos. My only saving grace is that I am no longer of childbearing years. If you had caught me a couple of years ago I'd be in trans-vaginal fear right now, but suffice it to say I am in complete solidarity with my younger statewide sisters. I can't believe that we are relitigating basic women's rights. I teach, and I do fear for my students. The young women of today are strong, but I don't think they were prepared for this kind of a fight. With voter suppression happening everywhere, and these nickle and dime attacks on the right to choose, it is hard for a woman to not feel like most of her rights are under attack. They are. I don't know which is worse; the utter disregard the right wing has for the basic intelligence of women, or the insipid manner in which right wing women must behave in order to keep their man. Either choice makes me sick. This is a basic case of the newly dominant Republican Legislature in Virginia imposing it's viewpoint in the most cynical of ways, and medically oppressing everyone who does not share their vision for the future - barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Absolute power - who else would act like that?
Strike two - employing myself - well I don't think I have to explain that to anyone on Daily Kos. But I will if anyone else is reading - that means I have to buy my health insurance myself. I have no pre-exsisting conditions (thank God), but my premiums take up a full third of my income, and my deductable is so high that by the time I pay my insurance I can't afford to go to the doctor. In this case I hope this situation is only making me figuratively sick as the literal manifestation is cost prohibitive. I have no way of knowing. I haven't seen a doctor in a really long time. My only hope is the possibility of exchanges for the self employed included in the Affordable Care Act. I do have one VERY critical point to make regarding that classification. Why do I need the President to go to bat for me to say that I am a part of a larger actuarial group in order to defray my costs over an increased pool of people? I AM AN AMERICAN! Isn't that group large enough? This conundrum is definately evil. We are no longer who we say we are, we are who the insurance companies say we are. And they get to say it - absolute power. This is why it is so easy for me to say that the Affordable Care Act is at best insufficient. Even if I get a better rate, and lower deductible (which is now fairly unlikely) I will have to pay these illness profiteers to do it. I'm still going to be paying for some big executive McMansions somewhere - probably in Pacific Palisades next door to Gov. Romney.
Well, why pay for the insurance at all you may ask? I am locked in a Catch 22 with strike three.
Strike three - I own my house. I realize in this day and age that one requires explaining. The number one cause of bankruptcy is the cost of catastrophic health care. When the bank owns your house they can't take it away from you 'cause you don't own it. When you own your house and you get carted into the emergency room with a heart attack and no insurance, guess what, you get to sign over your house. As a self-employed person who spends a third of their income on health insurance (so that there really are no savings) my only hope of surviving my older years is that I will not have to pay rent. And if this insideous attack on Medicare, and Social Security continues, well... The saving grace for me is that I am one month older than the cut-off point people like Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor keep discussing as the age that will not loose any currently proposed Social Security benefits. But as my empathy extends beyond young women in Virginia, what about EVERYBODY else? And what happens when the monied interests want another tax cut, and my age group becomes as expendable as all the others? You know it's only a matter of time before that happens. I'm sure the owners of the McMansions will be in that lofty elite; the houses I helped pay for. Absolute Power.
The fact that we never had a chance at Universal Health Care is absolute insurance company power. The fact that the right wing has taken over the mind of anyone watching FOX News is absolute media power. Can I get a Rupert Murdoch? The fact that they have convinced wide swaths of the general public to have inane opinions that are completely against their own self-interests because they are too tired to read, or too white to not be afraid of anyone who looks a little darker is an example of absolute manipulative power which is completely corrupted. Scaring people in order to get your way. I think they call that a bully. They are the same people who want to look into your vagina so that you won't get rid of a baby you can't afford, was the result of rape, or may be killing you. They are the same people who will not help to raise it, feed it, cloth it, educate it or give it health care. If it steps out of line they will put it in prison for a profit. If it wears a hoodie they will shoot it in the street, and if it kills someone they will execute it. All in the name of Christianity and the sanctity of life. If that isn't evil, then I just don't know what the fuck is......... I feel sick.