Your life and death vs. the Republican nonsense game

Drug and Insurance companies make life and death decisions about you based on whether or not it's worth it to them for you to live or die.

These are companies that take your money but don't promise you anything in return. That's right. Insurance companies can deny your claims--based on their profits. Drug companies make persuasive claims such as:

"The benefits may outweigh the risks!" (Cymbalta anti-depressant, though a statement like that could make anyone depressed). How effective does that sound?

Wow--that's a great selling feature, since the risks include death!

Also, their site says, "The exact way Cymbalta works in people is unknown. More confidence inspiring copy! They make it and sell it but they aren't quite sure how or why it works... or if it works (since clearly, often the risks outweigh the benefits!

I find it sickening (no pun intended) to hear this "debate" about national health care--the old lying excuses as to why it's bad for all Americans to have health care, because it might not be great.

Let's also remember it was Republicans who were against Social Security and Medicare--that's right, those two vital programs for aging Americans--those two social safety nets, backbones of our system--Republicans were against them--remember that, because this is the same thing.

Well, look around folks, what we have isn't great. If you have money you can get more health care--not necessarily better, but more. Doctors are afraid to do anything other than what insurance and drug companies tell them to do--medicine by the numbers--because that way they're "safe" in terms of liability.

And even if you have health insurance now, you may not in the future. You might lose your job with tens of millions of other hard-working Americans. Your employer might not be able to afford health insurance benefits and drop them. Or your insurance company may simply drop you (or your company).

So don't feel safe even if you think you're covered now.

What will change? You will be able to feel safe that you'll get health care, no matter what happens to your job, your income, or your health.

If you have more money, you'll still get more health care--that won't change. All that will change is that you will always get health care--even if if profit-mad insurance companies won't cover you because you've ever been sick, or drop you for any reason (they don't need one--you just pay them $500 a month until they decide you might want some of it back), or you don't have $100,000 for a hospital visit you'll always get health care. Or that if you need a procedure you won't have a profit-based company saying, "No, your life doesn't make business sense for us."

The Republicans cry, "You don't want bureaucrats be making life and death decisions for you!"

Well, guess what folks, "bureaucrats" always do--that whole war on terror thing Republicans love so much is totally bureaucrats making life and death decisions for us.

And yes, I'd rather have bureaucrats who don't make a profit from my health care, deciding if I can have a procedure, than purely profit-driven businesspeople saying, "It doesn't make financial sense for him to have the medical care necessary to save his life."

That decision is made every single day by insurance companies who don't want to risk their already obscenely huge profits. I'm all for them making a profit, but not outrageously huge profits built on the backs of people they then reject for care.

So called "Socialized medicine" isn't perfect--but it is DEMOCRATIC.

True security comes not from starting wars that bankrupt the nation financially and morally. It comes from a government that takes care of its citizens--that's what government is meant to do--that's why we have it. Not to lie to us, abuse our civil rights, throw our money away on unnecessary wars that create more trouble for us--no, but to create a social network to support and care for individuals.

The 8 years of Bush were exactly the kind of bureaucracy that Republicans say they're against, and the kind we all should fear. But Republicans were fine with the horrible, lying, cheating, stealing, fascist regime that was bureaucrats at their worst.

Now that civil servants (that's right, they work for us!) are trying to do something for the people, instead of for corporations and profit--oh, that's bad. And God forbid we also raise taxes back to what they were under the Republican God Reagan. That would be horrible--except somehow it wasn't when he was in office.

How does that possibly make sense? It doesn't.

Which takes me back to one of the things my father always said to me, "You can't argue with an idiot."

So you can't argue with the Republican arguments against national health care. Because if you do, all you do is play into their nonsense game, and in the world of Republican nonsense, nobody can win, except insurance and drug companies.