A post in which I reflect

I went back through old posts from around this time in 2009.  That was when I was seeing Gavin (identified as "M" at the time by his request - in retrospect he must have known he wasn't going to come off well in the end).  I suppose that the dealings with Jason have made me more thoughtful about that time.  Sadly, the month I dated Gavin was the only significant dating relationship I've had with another man since Michael left in January 2007.  That's five years ago.  And the "relationship" with Gavin was, well basically one-sided.  In the end anyway.  My stalwart Russ contends to this day that I showed him something real and it scared him half to death.  That may be true.  That belief is definitely one of the reasons I adore Russ.  He's always got my back.  And he's old enough to understand how devistating it was for me to think all of that could have been a lie.

Which takes me back to God.  Go with me.  BB died while I was dating Gavin.  I had just lost my mom's father Poppy about the same time.  So many losses. Although my friends were (and still are) wonderful, maybe God saw I needed a little extra to get me through thtat time.  It was like when I had cancer.  I don't think God gave me cancer, but I do think he made very sure I had the support I needed to get me through it.  All of my friends were wonderful.  Rhonda deserved a congressional medal of honor.  My dad and I had a talk we should have had years ago, and entered a new phase of our relationship.  So many blessings.  Miracles.  So many people to love me through the bad time.

Perspective is such a game-changer.  So I'm wearing Jason's ring, hearing from him every now and then, and hoping for the best.

***

Speaking of perspective.  The Affordable Care Act passed the Supreme Court bar today, pretty unexpectedly to everyone I think.  And people down here - some of whom I know that the law was specificially designed to help - are mad as wet hornets, and having a fit on Facebook.  Sigh.  Sometimes it's embarrassing to live in the south, as much as I love living here.

Did the law pass back-asswardsly?  Absolutely.  They rammed through unfinished and imperfect legislation just in time to get it through before mid-term elections, when the Republican congress would never have passed it - after which they would 'fix it later'.  That was totally the wrong way to do it.

Can the government cock this up?  Absolutely.  Anyone who has been in to the DMV in the last 10 years knows that the government can screw up almost anything.  Thi sis srue to be a painful process, and I'm sure additonal mistakes will be made.  I'm sure I won't agree with everything that comes to pass.

BUT.  Something had to give.  Health care costs in this country have risen 5% in the past year (the rate of inflation was reported in May 2012 at 1.7%).  They have risen so fast in recent years that a rise of 5% was greeted with RELIEF.    If that doesn't scare the poodoodle out of you it should.  So what is the solution?  If not government involvement, then what fixes it?

On popular cry is that the 'free market' will correct itself.  That is an obvious falsehood.  If it was going to do it then why didn't it do so already?  Health care is now a for-profit industry run by corporations.  Are they going to vountarily reduce their profits?  If so, why haven't they?  I don't understand why everyone wants to boil the oil companies in their own product when they continue to record record profits, but there doesn't some to be much anger left for greedy HMO's at this point, or drug companies recording fatter and fatter wallets.

Another argument is that 'we don't want to pay for poor people'.  Well guess what, you're doing it already.  The US spends one seventh of the GDP on healthcare, a larger share than any other major industrialized country.  Health insurance is now primarily provided by the government in the public sector, with 60-65% of healthcare provision and spending coming from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, the Children's Health Insurance Program, and the Veterans Health Administration.  Indigent care is absorbed by those wonderful HMO's, and passed along as business expense, deducted from tax payment, and guess what - you're paying for that too.

The next argument is that "we have the best health care in the world".  Again not true.  Despite all those gobs of cash thrown at the problem: Life expectancy at birth in the USA, 78.49, is 50th in the world, below most developed nations and some developing nations. Monaco is first with 89.68. Angola is last with 31.88. US statistics are below the average life expectancy for the European Union.

So the big difference here is that the government would have a bigger say in costs, and would provide heath care more directly and of a standardized level, for poor people.  I don't have a problem with that.  So the government will patiently try to treat people, even here, as they try to bite the hand that's attempting to care for them.

Given the choice, I'd just as soon have government doing it as to have greedy corporations or HMO's in charge.   I don't think some regulation is going to make things that much worse than they are already.  I could be optimistic there, but as Albert Einstein said: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I think we were well overdue to try something different. 

***

After all of that, I was rather happy to come home to a quiet and cool house tonight.  Every day when I get home, I say a little prayer as I pull into the drive that my air conditioner is still working.  Since it is about twenty years old now, that  isn't an idle prayer.  Thankfully, it's still sticking in there.  I had thought I might work in the yard just a bit tonight, but when I got into the car and the temperature gauge said 100F for the first time this summer, I immediately ix-nayed that plan.

It was a quiet evening.  I had a tomato sandwich in a bowl for supper (which I love, thank you Todd), and watched the Chopped marathon.  I did a load of towels, just because the laundry hamper is full and I felt that I needed to make some progress on it.  I didn't even turn on the computer, despite a backlog of Bear411 messages.