A member, and hoping to stay that way, of the reality-based community

30 October 2013

"The Odd Lies of America"

OMFG yes (the second letter).

Another is more blunt:
This “Odd Lies of Barack Obama” stunt really pisses me off, using the same line you used for Sarah Palin. You know that’s a load of crap.
My family now has health insurance. But a few years ago we didn’t, because we simply could not afford it. At that time in New Jersey the cheapest plan I could find for a 3-person family was around $800 a month (now it’s over $1,000/month). And it was such a limited, crappy plan that it didn’t even include coverage for chemotherapy (if you read the fine print). NO CHEMO. 
Now, I don’t know about you but in my mind the main reason to have health insurance is for disasters and life-threatening or chronic illnesses. I mean really, I don’t need to pay $800 a month so I can save 50 bucks on maybe 10-15 doctor visits a year for all three of us, or save a couple hundred bucks on a year’s worth of prescriptions. That’s insane. Yet it’s the business model that insurance companies used freely for years. 
But no one in the GOP, including Chris Christie, gave a rat’s ass. Not too many in the media cared either. But Obama did. And he changed the system so that insurance companies can’t sell crap plans anymore. They have to meet a reasonable standard. Or fold. Wow, what a liar that Obama was. He didn’t mention that some insurance companies chasing in on shitty, rip-off plans were going to choose “die” instead of meeting reasonable standards. Well I don’t give a damn. 
Seriously. How about “The Odd Lies of America” instead? How about the absolute lie for decades that we had a great health care system in this country. Because no system that is unaffordable to tens of millions of its citizens is anything more than horrible and appalling. And no system that allows insurance companies to sell plans that won’t help the client with a cataclysmic disease – and hides that information in the weeds – is anything but disgusting.
The real reason to follow Andrew Sullivan is not his work (though it is quite good, especially on gay rights-- I know, color me surprised), it's his pissed-off readers.

I was pissed at Obama for pushing that line when it wasn't true, and so I'm glad the chickens like their new roost. But to pretend for one moment that Obama's lie is in any way comparable to the "this is the greatest fucking health care system evarrrrr" bullshit we've been fed for the past 10-ish years is just fucking daft. Shame on anyone who dares do so.

The system as it was before the ACA punished losers in the genetic lottery. That is cruel. This is the only way to construct a privately administered (and profited on) system that at least tries to make health not be the reason for one's failure to thrive.

The system, as it existed before, also allowed one to pretend that they were being responsible by having coverage that was inadequate. These are many of the same people who rail at the poor and uncovered for it being their own damn fault. Those who so rail mention that the reason it's not themselves at fault is that they've just been lucky so far.


That is equal opportunity, yo.

P.S. If you would posit you don't know (and have never known) someone whose ability to contribute to society was literally crippled by some form of health problem that was not identifiably one "caused" by the individual, you are probably lying to yourself.

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