On Recent Steps to Socialize Our Country

With my leg in pain and my head being gamed out for a bit I decided to update my blog that I haven't posted on it like... forever... with an opinion relevant to recent events.

This health care legislation that was recently passed is just absolutely amazing for our country. It will probably be one of the most important bills passed this century. We are the only industrialized nation that does not have socialized health care in place to take care of people. A lot of people argue that leaving health care to the private sector gives us an edge on the rest of the world propelling us to the top. That's a lie of course as the U.S. is actually rank 37 in health care with every country before us sporting a social health care system. The contents of this bill are debatable and I don't entirely agree with them but the most important aspect is that this bill is the first step towards putting some form of a leash on these health insurance companies that have run rampant thus far.

I think that this is the only topic I have ever been able to generalize an entire group of people as being ignorant and uninformed. Anyone who thinks that having someone be responsible for your health that is simply there to turn a profit is an idiot, plain and simple. It's irresponsible, reckless, and the only reason the Republican party backs the idea is because it pays for their political campaigns. While some of the provisions laid out by this bill are great such as the pseudo-cap on profit for these insurance companies (they can only bring in a 15% profit off of the money they collect now) and removing the ability for them to drop people from coverage for being sick there are other aspects of the bill that really aren't that great such as the fine imposed on individuals without health care. But the actual rules this bill is putting into effect isn't nearly as important as the fact that it is actually regulating an industry that makes money off of manipulating people.
These insurance companies are happy to "take care of us" when we are healthy, or have a cold, but the second something more serious happens they are going to look for a reason to drop you, which of course has been pseudo-fixed by this bill. But the bill does nothing to stop them from hounding people after the fact in an attempt to mislead some jury somewhere that some injury wasn't covered in your plan and that they shouldn't have to pay for it.
Another frequent argument that has been dragged up against socialized medicine is that it takes forever to get any form of care in that system. Once again, a ton of bullshit, but even if it was true private health care is no better. Instead of waiting a long time to receive health care though dozens of pointless tests are run. I can't remember the last time I had an issue that the doctors didn't require weeks of tests to diagnose and treat. All of that checking and double checking could give a serious issue some time to evolve into something much worse. And it isn't as if a socialized health care system is suddenly going to take emergency rooms away from us if the need arises to go to one. Besides, when was the last time you heard of a Canadian getting a dual citizenship with the U.S. for health care... I have always heard of the opposite case.

Does this bill have problems? Yes. It is far from being anything perfect. But as it stands special interest groups and the puppets they have made out of the Republican party kept the bill from being debated further and forced it through. As an independent voter who has supported both Democrats and Republicans I can say that their methodology of trying to kill this bill rather than fix it has probably cost themselves any votes from me in the near future. I also think people are starting to think a little more clear headed now. Following passage of the bill Obama's approval ratings went up as well as the approval ratings for the bill. Stock values have gone up which should do something to slightly help the economy. This bill isn't a bad thing, and I implore anyone who is reading this to vote your Democratic senators and House members back in come November. The Republican party has proven itself to be a group of people just there to say "No" rather than help the much needed reform on our health system. Once I am done with medical school... some 10+ years down the road... if we don't find ourselves in a much more regulated private health care industry or with a socialized health care industry, I will be shipping my ass over to France.