As of this moment the bozos in Washington are dicking around with an 8-page “bill” that took them seven years to create.  They call this the “skinny repeal” plan because it repeals some of the ACA.  The problem I have with it is what it repeals.

The “skinny repeal” plan would likely eliminate the individual mandate, which requires nearly all Americans to obtain health insurance or pay a penalty.

This is the part of the ACA that young people have been bitching about.  They’ve been bitching about it because they’re young and healthy so their thinking is “why should I be required to pay for insurance if I don’t need it”.  That’s like someone saying they’ve been driving for twenty years, have never gotten a speeding ticket and have never been in an accident.  Why should I have auto insurance?  I’m a great driver.  Then one day–BOOM!  They hit someone, total their car and send the other party to the hospital.  Bet they wish they had auto insurance.

It’s the same thing with health insurance.  You’re a 20-something young stud, never smoked, don’t drink or do drugs, eat right, exercise, do all the right things.  But one day you start to feel “not right”.  You start to become clumsy.  Your stamina has gone AWOL.  You lose complete sensation in both your arms at the same time.  After many, many visits to many, many doctors and many, many medical bills you have had to pay out-of-pocket from your $15.00 an hour job because you were too ignorant to get health insurance, you learn that you have Multiple Sclerosis.  Health insurance would be nice right about now.

On the surface the option of not being required to buy health insurance may seem appealing to some.  Shit, we could all save a lot of money, right? Maybe take that dream vacation we’ve always wanted but won’t be able to take because we now have cancer and are bankrupt from all the bills we couldn’t pay.  Because we didn’t buy the health insurance.  Because we didn’t have to.  But now we wish we had.  Coulda.  Shoulda.  Woulda.  Didn’t.  Do you think Washington gives a fuck about your bad decision?  They should all be shot for even wanting to give you the fucking option!

Then there is the elimination of the employer mandate, which obligates larger companies to provide affordable coverage to their full-time workers.  The company I work for is a rather large company and I do obtain health insurance for me and my family through them.  If they are given the option to eliminate affordable coverage, what kind of health insurance options am I going to have as an employee?  Great, they can save money by offering some watered down shit plan.  Oooh, maybe they’ll install new windows with their savings.  Christ, the plan they offer now isn’t even that great but it’s first class compared to the health insurance offered at my husband’s company and at a few other companies I know of.  I can’t imagine what the plan would be like if they were only “obligated” to offer the “minimum”.  I’d probably be better off with nothing.

A little over a month ago President Barack Obama posted a message on Facebook regarding the Republican plan.  One thing he said that stood out to me was:

“Simply put, if there’s a chance you might get sick, get old, or start a family—this bill will do you harm. And small tweaks over the course of the next couple weeks, under the guise of making these bills easier to stomach, cannot change the fundamental meanness at the core of this legislation.”  

Folks, this means all of us.  We’re only human.  You know at some point in your life you will get sick, even if it’s just the common cold.  Hopefully you will live long enough to get old but along with age comes a myriad of health issues from simple ailments to complex diseases.  And you may or may not start a family.  But if you have any kind of dependent in your life, whether it’s a child or spouse, they may rely on you for health insurance.

WHY WOULDN’T YOU WANT IT??????????????