Giving Thanks or Overindulging Ourselves?

This Reuters story, "The second coming of Obamacare website - will it work?" is interesting partly because of the comments following it. I am attempting to add my own comment, but it's Thanksgiving and everybody is "busy" at the Reuters site, or maybe they commonly take a little more time to agree to post comments. So I will share my comment here.


Maybe the White House or Secretary of Health Sibelius could consult someone like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for some savvy user friendly advise. Many people do want to see what is available to them in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was being accessed by a record high number of users at once too, I would think, when it crashed.

Meanwhile I suspect that the fine for not getting health coverage is the main suspect in discomfort to many people who would rather land in an ER and then ignore the bill rather than pay for insurance, as the ACA legally requires.  People individually can drive up health care costs for us all as well as for the healthcare industry. The reason why we have so much high pricey healthcare is partially about those who think they have no responsibility for themselves, but love to blame-game the "system." Other factors enter in when the economy crashes and many are out of work or working for very little pay.

In addition in some States legislators have rebelled against the ACA, including some in Missouri. Why would we not want to give it a try before throwing the babies out with the bathwater? Most legislators have an adequate income, relative job security and insurance coverage by the State where they work. At least for now.

This new system may just be the first step to a broader recognition that most modern countries have already established what is essentially "Medicare for All," as single payer supporters wish would occur. Our infant mortality rate in the USA is still scandalously high; and has been for decades. Meanwhile Canada, Great Britain, France and Cuba, among others, have had government provided healthcare for decades.

American citizens have some mighty peculiar opinions about their own "rights", such as to go bankrupt over healthcare --as has occurred for some during the past decade or two-- rather than embrace an attempt to upgrade to what is newly available. For the first time since President Lyndon Johnson, who established Medicare and Medicaid, we are making healthcare more accessible for average people.

I am reviewing my own gratitude today, on Thanksgiving, and I think I have been very lucky to be as healthy as I am; but also to have received appropriate help by being on a disability which allowed me to access Medicare. Believe me, I did my best to attempt to work before I accepted early retirement with a low monthly income. I am not complaining, because compared to many places on earth I live quite well. Places like parts of Asia and Africa still have very high rates of extreme poverty.

The title of the above referenced article really is satiric, since many of us in this country are half wishing for a Second Coming in response to issues we have caused for ourselves and the world at large. On the other hand the extremely wealthy in the USA are taking advantage of too many workers who deserve a fair shake. Healthcare coverage and a living wage could go a long way to bringing us into a better agreement about how much we can admire each other rather than being rankled up against each other in government and workplaces. Practically speaking we have barely even begun to discuss the issue of fair compensation except for the workers who are protesting.

Happy Thanks Giving to all of you!