Health of a Nation

Shaking my head at this health care "debate."

It amazes me the things that people honestly believe will be allowed to happen in this country. Death Panels?? Euthanasia?? Forced Health Care Coverage??

Okay, so that last one will happen...I always laugh when people get upset about it, though. "You're going to MAKE me pay for Health Coverage??"

"Yes," I think to myself, "because if you don't, and you get into an accident, I'm the one paying for your ass." I wonder where conservatives are suddenly getting this idea of leaning on your fellow man? That's usually such a liberal idea.

In fact, there's been at least one other major switch with the ideologies, too. Democrats are discussing a public option, that will compete with health insurance companies in order to help drive costs down (for the record, my health insurance premium has more than doubled in the three years of having it.) So, essentially we're looking at a free-market recovery of a health commodity - except for one big thing, which is that the public option would be non-profit...i.e. money would not be the goal, HEALTH would be the goal. So then, what happened to the conservatives who wanted to do the same thing with the economy? "The Free-market," they cried, "will always prevail!" as they waved their real-America flags.

The death panel idea also makes me laugh. "We don't want the government to decide when we should die!" Yes, they want it the American Way - allowing the health insurance companies to decide that. The way our forefathers wanted it.

I don't believe that the government is proposing death panels, but then again I just read facts. Perhaps there's a piece of fiction out there that I'm missing. But I will say that, regarding the troublesome fact that they are proposing conversations between patients and their doctors about end of life care, Wisconsin is leading the way. According to ABC News:

"In La Crosse, Wisconsin, are already common because of a program put in place by a local hospital. As a result of these consultations, LaCrosse resident Ann Kottnaur said she now knows that her mother Margaret, who has Parkinson's Disease and Dementia, would rather die at home than in a nursing home."

And finally, as a bit of stepping back, looking at the bigger picture...Regardless of what you think of Obama and his policies...he made promises on the campaign trail, and for the most part, he's going through each one and getting them done. And THAT'S certainly a change from politics as usual.