A former neighbor wrote to me on facebook last night, after seeing the millionth post I was doing about the shutdown/debt ceiling (I usually post cute pics of my kids, so I’m sure this has thrown quite a few of my fb friends for a loop)…and commented that in her day (she just turned 60) she marched on Washington to get results from the politicians (referring to the Vietnam war)…and that she was passing the torch on to me…but, I don’t think she was correct, this time it wont begin with me…see me below the squiggly for my thoughts on this…
This "march" (or movement) will not begin with me (I’m in my early 30s), it will begin with her, and all the older people –not yet Medicare age, and the reason for this was also in her note to me last night…She wrote:
If it weren't for ObamaCare, as a cancer survivor who is self employed, I would be uninsurable
Let me repeat that. She is a cancer survivor. Without Obamacare – she would be uninsurable. A bit of background on her…she was very liberal when she was young, by the 90s (I used to babysit for her kid a lot and spoke with her often at the time), she had become conservative, and by the 2000s, she was centrist – right down the middle.
Until now.
What Republicans realize, and what made them fight so hard against Obamacare before it was implemented has nothing to do with me – my deductible goes down a lot, and we will have much better benefits, I’ll have maternity covered which means that we can really start trying for another baby, but my cost goes up a bit more than $200/month – so, it’s a bit better than before, but costs me $2500 more a year. It has to do with her – and people like her.
My 60 year old cancer-survivor former neighbor now has insurance under Obamacare. She now is safe in case something happens in those precarious years before Medicare can be her safety net. Literally, Obamacare is now her safety net – and though it is far from perfect, it is a real and true safety net. I have already heard countless stories from older people who will finally be able to get insurance again (because they had been denied due to previous health conditions), or older people who finally have affordable insurance (due to Medicaid expansion or spread out risk from getting the healthier people into the insurance pools), or older people that will finally be able to afford really good insurance (which when you are older, is what you need).
What makes this significant is that these older people vote – they vote consistently, and they remember. The Republicans have been so clear about their desire to get rid of Obamacare that they are alienating a big portion of the population that is their most reliable voter base. Will those older baby boomers who have had to cross their fingers and go without – until now – vote for the guys that are going to take health care away from them again? I certainly don’t think that my former neighbor will be doing that. How many more are out there like her?