oh! now I get it. .

Wednesday night I watched some of the ‘Presidential Address to Congress’ and I thought I was going to shoot myself. I felt like I was watching the election debates again. Only, there was no one else at the podium. There was an obvious line in the room. . the Democrats were the ones giving standing ovations in 3 minute intervals and the Republicans were the ones sitting mostly. With the distraction of the frequent applauding, I thought the address was confusing. I felt that he was talking in circles.

There was some I guess “joking” going on (given the laughter), although I’m not sure what for. When I hear the President say something to the effect of ‘still some things needing to be worked out’ when presenting a health care bill before Congress followed by laughter, I don’t find this funny. I don’t really follow politics as often as I should but whatever he was joking about was over my head apparently. After listening for about 30 minutes I came to the conclusion that there have been ‘rumors’ about things in his bill: groups to encourage senior suicide, insuring illegal immigrants, etc. . all of which he said were lies. That’s fine. Good. I’m glad those are lies. But what the F is so funny about it? It really kind of pissed me off. I’m sure there are other Americans out there who follow less than I do or not even at all, and when they come in and flip on the TV to that, it’s stupid. And if I were to follow politics, I don’t think I should have to follow tabloids also, to fully understand a Presidential Address.

Following the address, I concluded:

· Our tax dollars shouldn’t go towards ‘picking up the tab’ for someone who doesn’t have health insurance.
· Everyone will be required to have health insurance, but those who can’t afford it will be exempt.
· Small businesses and larger companies will have to provide or at least ‘pitch in’ for health coverage for their employees.
· Small businesses with a “narrower” profit margin will be exempt.
· Not one penny of this plan will add to our country’s deficit.
· Doctors will no longer be the deciders of what is needed to diagnose. (i.e. The program directors will say if x-rays or MRIs are necessary or not.)
· This is a plan to provide another choice for affordable health care coverage and maybe even the added competition will trigger other insurance companies to lower their rates and premiums, thus keeping your options open.

In my opinion, the first 2 points contradict each other, as do the third and fourth. I don’t understand how this won’t cost money. Who is going to pay for the people who can’t afford health insurance? Are they just going to make it so cheap that anyone can indeed afford it, while still receiving quality service? And who exactly will be providing these services? And will you get to investigate your doctor’s or any other medical physician’s facility or services before accepting government health insurance?

I don’t know really how I feel about any of this. It does make me a little nauseous to think about going through the government for everything. It feels that the government is slowly collecting industries. Home, auto, and now health? I am not ever sure where to go if I want to research further. I know a lot of “legit” sites, but can they be trusted? It feels that all is corrupted or maybe I’m just paranoid. If there is another civil war I don’t think it will be a matter of Democrat vs. Republican but more of the people vs. the government.