Doesn’t matter whether one has strong political views, or, instead, strong views on social justice; or if one often uses labels for everyone, or, instead, is never disparaging of anyone.  We can all agree that the recent attempt to bring an end to the USA’s being the last First World country without access to affordable health care is a tragedy.  No one on either side this debacle is evil or subversive, unless being a politician is inherently evil or subversive.  (Is there an emoticon for tongue-in-cheek?)

When something goes wrong, great or small, my response is not anger, but sadness.  I felt this the other night when I took a friend into the emergency room to get stitched up after a little mishap with a ball.

Both my friend and I are on Medicare and have excellent supplemental coverage.  Our charges are lot more than they should be because we pick up the costs for those who cannot afford insurance. (Have you ever seen the charge for a toothbrush on  your itemized hospital bill?)

In the emergency room was a too-young mother who was in labor and who had had no care during her pregnancy because she could not afford it. She was about to give birth to a high-risk, premature baby.  This baby is now very likely being supported by extensive intervention and will need special, expensive care all his life.

Over half my property tax goes for education.  I and none of my family has ever attended a school in this county, but I support public education. It’s just a good thing to live in a community (country) where people are educated. I’d rather pay for universal health care with taxes than the way I do now. It’s just a good thing to live in a community where people can see their doctor before they are contagious or exsanguinating.

I am very partial to empirical evidence.

Here’s  some more:

Once, I was in Seville with a daughter who had arrived in Spain with  Pacific poison oak (classified as  Rhus diversiloba at that time, but recently reclassified as Toxicodendron diversilobum).  It progressed into such a ghastly case that we went to the big teaching hospital emergency room where she received excellent attention and the same treatment she has received several times over the years in California. It included an initial injection of prednisone and a bottle of tablets of the same. It did not cost one peseta.  The people of Spain paid for it with their taxes.

One thing that seems to be forgotten is that insurance companies are electing to cancel low-cost policies (which people thought they could keep) because the companies wish to, not because they should or have to.  They are free to do so. That’s capitalism.  Whether one thinks capitalism is a swear word or thinks it is what free-interprise is all about is not relevant here.  I’m just sad.  That is my traditional response when things don’t go as planned.