No to Healthcare DEform

Having noticed the CNN headline "Obama: Health care reform passage is near" I nearly freaked out. It's a watered down version of something that could have made a difference. This bill basically prohibits abortion by not giving any subsidies when plans cover abortion (currently 87% of private insurancers cover it). So if insurers continue to cover it, low income people will not be able to use those plans because they won't be able to use subsidies towards them. Obama barely addressed the abortion issue, except to say that we are carrying out our country's tradition of not federally funding abortion. Why is that our country's tradition? The government should not be able to put their moral 2 cents into how we spend our insurance coverage, particularly when the procedure is LEGAL. I'd say it's much more immoral to use the impoverished as political pawns. I suppose though, in order for a society based on structural inequality to continue existing, it must continue the tradition of subjugation. Governments function best as small municipalities, where the possibility of true democracy can still exist. Truly, we should be looking towards our past and our future to discover the many different ways of living that could allow us the cultural (and political) diversity that this world needs. The fact that a small group of elected officials can decide the fate of an entire (and huge) country seems ridiculous.

And it will basically force every American to have health insurance, sure that sounds like a good plan, but not every American can AFFORD health insurance. Hence, even with some subsidies to help with payment, there will still be impoverished Americans unable to afford the health insurance they are being forced to obtain. They will either have to purchase insurance or have a 2% tax increase, although there is no guarantee that the increase will pay for what you need. And then what about those who are unemployed and/or homeless so they pay no taxes on their income? Do they, the people in the most dire need, get health care under the federal program? These questions need to be clarified.

The bill will partly paid for by taxing plastic surgery. A move that has been called sexist and discriminating. Plastic surgeons have expressed their unhappiness with the move. The majority of plastic surgery patients are middle-class women (86% of plastic surgery patients are women). In a society that rewards the youthful (literally, women who are perceived to be more beautiful make more money), where we are constantly bombarded by an unrealistic ideal of beauty, women are trained to seek that perfection, often in the form of plastic surgery. I am not a huge supporter of cosmetic plastic surgery but I understand the desire. There is no clear line in this bill as to what is considered cosmetic surgery and what is considered reconstructive (where does gender reassignment fall?). I fear that that someone who needs a lot of reconstructive surgery may be taxed for the certain procedures that work towards improving their appearance yet may have no medical benefit (perhaps even after a catastrophic accident).

The bill's cost for 10 years is equivalent to the cost of one year of the Iraq war. I am so endlessly frustrated that our government would pay for a war to try and "stabilize" a country halfway around the world, instead of take care of their own people in this country. The people pay for that war with their taxes, yet have little say over the direction of those dollars. I am outraged that the news has not brought any of these inconsistencies to the forefront of the discussion.

I want health care reform, I support universal health care (let's divert the war dollars to take care of what really matters: health care, education, and enviornment). Quite frankly, the current system sucks. I'm lucky to live in a state that has a good program for low-income individuals (and as a recent college graduate in a terrible job market I certainly fall under that category). However, my parents are not so lucky. Although this year two of their children are no longer under their health care plan, the rate per month stays the same. They will always pay an outrageous sum per month for their insurance, even when it is only supporting the two of them.

Basically the bill uses low-income and middle class women as pawns in a political war. It's a watered down symbolic gesture. It's a gesture that fails because rather than say "We are America, home of the American dream, and we take care of our citizens" it says, "We are America, and we would rather blow up your citizens than give health care to ours." AND it includes a move towards overturning roe vs wade. NO NO NO. Take out the discriminatory elements and I could maybe get on board as a first move towards health care reform. As it stands, like communism, it was a good bill in theory but it will never work.