Your Vote, And Health Care, And Why It Matters.

Maybe I ought to update this thing more than once a year.  Like every week, or something.  I keep meaning to do that and then this thing called Life gets in the way.  Something about working two jobs, maintaining a household, keeping a couple of cats happy and, oh yeah, continuing to be sane.  It's not like it gets any easier as you get older, either,  Though, to an extent, as you age you quit giving a fuck about what everyone thinks, which does make it easier, kind of.

Anyway.  I overheard some ladies at the office talking about how expensive health care is.  One of them just had a baby and I think their pay out of pocket portion of a normal delivery was about $4,000.00, if I heard correctly.  The health insurance we have at work (I don't have it because I'm on Joan's insurance, and yes, it's more expensive that way but it's also MUCH BETTER) has a $6,000 deductible so they literally had to have that in hand in order to give birth.  Or, I guess if they didn't have it in hand, the hospital would bill them every month until the kid is five.  

The other lady had just had some emergency dental procedure (I had one myself not long ago) and dental insurance didn't pay for hardly any of it.  She was pretty surprised because she figured if we had dental insurance, there would just be a copay or something.  I explained that all dental insurance sucks.  Some sucks more than others, but none of it is very good.  And when you think about it, it's kind of weird that we even have dental insurance, because teeth are in your mouth, and your mouth is a part of your body, so why isn't it covered by health insurance?  And we pondered that, and then I told them something I don't think they knew.  I told them, "Well, you know what you can do to make it better, right?  Don't vote for Republicans anymore."  

I mean.  The looks.  The wide eyes.  The you've-got-to-be-kidding facial expressions.

People, you may think Republicans are good for the economy (they're not) but they are not good for health care.  You may think they're good for defense (they're not good for that either) but they're not good for health care.  They may be good for warm, fuzzy American values (if you're straight, white, rich, Christian and only care about yourself) but they are not good for health care. They are not good for the cost of health care, they are not good for your ability to access health care, and they are not good for your ability to pay for health care.  

Consider:

• The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), which allowed the 210 million Americans with pre-existing conditions to buy health insurance without going through an employer for the first time, was passed without a single Republican vote.  Republicans have voted 70 times as of July 2017 to repeal it. There have also been at least 28 lawsuits to declare the ACA unconstitutional on the basis of "state sovereignty." 
• Most abortions are banned in 14 states with Republican-led legislatures.  No states with Democrat-led legislatures have abortion bans. 
• 41 states and the District of Columbia expanded Medicaid, the state health insurance program for people who can't afford health insurance.  10 states did not.  The 10 states are Wyoming, Kansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, all states with Republican-led legislatures.
• When President Biden announced that he would push for Medicare to negotiate drug prices with suppliers, therefore bringing down prices for 61 million elderly and disabled Americans, a group of Republican senators led the drive to stop him.
• The five most expensive states to get health care are South Dakota, Louisiana, West Virginia, Florida and Wyoming, all states with Republican-led legislatures.  The top 5 states where health care is the least expensive are Michigan, Washington, Nevada, Hawaii and New Mexico, all states with Democratic-led legislatures.
• The five states with the highest amount of medical debt per capita are Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Indiana and South Carolina, all states with Republican-led legislatures.  The five states with the lowest amount of medica debt per capita are Hawaii, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts and Connecticut, all states with Democratic-led legislatures

I could go on, but you get the idea.  If you're at all worried about the cost of healthcare, your ability to access healthcare, or how you or your family members are going to pay for healthcare, you might want to think long and seriously before you vote for a Republican again.  Or if you do, and you suddenly find that you can't get or pay for health care, you have been warned.  Happy 4th of July!