As the Supreme Court hears arguments regarding Health Care, I began thinking about an acquaintance from the flea market. He and his wife are struggling antique dealers with no heath insurance. He's a rabid "Conservative" who thinks that Obama is the worst and that Obama's policy's are completely intrusive. Last fall his wife had a minor heart attack, went to the ER, spent a couple weeks in the hospital, with specialists etc. Fortunately she is fine. in receiving care, she ran up a 5 figure plus bill. But who paid for her care? They didn't, we did. Jimmy's (an alias) attitude is "Hey, they have to take care of us, when she got sick the ER had to take her and the hospital can't get anything from us because we have nothing." Yes, this is as close to an exact quote as I can recall. I asked if he still thought that the new medical insurance laws were bad and his response was simple. "The government can't tell ME what I have to do." ay yi yi.

Okay, now let's look at the facts. Whether or not they were insured, his wife would have had the heart attack. Whether or not they were insured, the same care would have been given. Whether or not they were insured, the bill would have been about same for the care given. (In fact, more than likely it would have been lower becuase their insurance company would have had a contract for services with the hospital). The only difference is that in 20 years they have not contributed a dime to health insurance and we all paid their bill. That is how insurance works, you contribute and if you need, you are covered. What my acquaintance did was get coverage after the fact with no contribution.

On the steps of the Supreme Court today, Santorum railed at the very thought of the Government telling anyone what to do. Hey Rick, every single day in hundreds of ways, the Government tells us what to do. On the Federal level, it tells us who must register for the Selective Service, it tell us what drugs are safe and legal, it tells us what standards of safety must be maintained by airlines, and on and on. On the State level, government tells us that we have to have the elevators in tall buildings inspected, it tells us we cannot operate a motor vehicle without insurance, again and on and on.

This is what Government is for, to protect and provide for the best interest of all. Every American (both legal and undocumented) already has heath coverage in that no hospital can refuse to care for a patient in need. Why not try to better the system and make sure every American participates by paying a share of the costs of this care. Why not see that young adults are able to stay on their parents policies while transitioning into being productive members of society. Why not insure that a pre-existing condition does not disqualify anyone from receiving coverage. These are all successes of the Health Care laws passed under Barak Obama.

Dear Tea Party and friends, cut the political crap. Start caring more about the people and less about winning the Republican nomination.

Nuf said.