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I have long considered myself a conservative, and more recently I have considered myself a Libertarian to boot. Libertarians believe in a dramatic reduction of government involvement and a dramatic increase in personal freedom. I never believed in welfare, and I've always been opposed to socialized medicine. Until I had a baby. You see, I had never been in the hospital before, never had surgery, and never had a huge pile of unintelligible medical bills sitting on my kitchen table. I had always enjoyed good health, and I suppose caused me to be unsympathetic.
Oh, the bills. What were these bills for? Beats me. Some are for mysterious lab tests, cultures, and other mad scientist-sounding procedures. Some are for services that the insurance company had paid for...and then taken back their payment. But mostly, we had no idea what the charges were for. For a while, we were receiving bills or statements every other day. Even now, seven months after Alice's birth, we are still trying to settle our account with Alice's pediatrician and my obstetrician, to say nothing of the fees for my post-baby abdominal surgery. We pay more than $400 a month for medical insurance for our family, and we are still paying hand over fist for medical expenses. Clay transferred our mutual fund account to a Health Savings Account so we could pay for all of this nonsense. The bills roll in, and I sadly watch my long-saved money being yanked out from under me. And we are the lucky ones.
Thank God that we are mostly healthy and can pay our bills...so far. According to Divided We Fail, every year 1.85 million Americans go bankrupt due to medical bills. I believe it! My medical procedures are insignificant compared to someone dealing with cancer, heart disease, diabetes or any chronic illness. How can someone who has thought ahead and invested in insurance be thrown out into the street because they can't pay their medical bills? The system is broken. It has to be fixed. My sweet husband is an idealist. He thinks that if the government gave us all back the money that they are wasting, we could all pay for our health care needs, our children's education, and even throw in some cash to support the arts. Clay is an idealist. I am not. I am a realist. How am I going to pay for my next child's prenatal care and delivery? I'm probably going to have to have another C-section...what if I have another reaction to the stitches and have to have another abdominal surgery? What if one of us gets really sick? What are we going to do? Let's face it: The government is not going to up and give us our money. The government is not going to become less involved in our lives. Is socialism is inevitable?
"Robyn, are you becoming a Democrat?" you may ask. In this two-party nation, this one-or-the-other state, most Americans have the mindset that you are either a Democrat or a Republican. But in reality, people are more complex than that. Can you be a Democrat and be pro-life? Most would say, "no." If you are socially liberal but fiscally conservative, does that make you a Republican or what? Who can say? We have to get past this all-or-nothing system. And I think we can. Most of the people my age and younger are developing their own political identities. Wouldn't it be great if we could vote on all issues individually? You could vote against abortion, for state health care, against the government stalking you, and for legalized marijuana. You could say yes to state-funded art museums, roads, and parks, but no to war, corporate pay-offs and gilded toilet seats at the White House. Sure, it would take up all your time, but maybe then we wouldn't be at the mercy of these power-hungry, good-for-nothing politicians. I hope that everyone will vote their hearts in this election and not settle for the lesser of the two evils.
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