Part 2
Fast forward to today, or about a month ago rather, when my girlfriend and I were homeless. After exhausting all our favors from very non-sympathetic family, we bit the bullet and applied for welfare and homeless assistance. Day one, we didn't get to see anyone. Before I continue, I feel I must add the caveat that I am not a racist, my best friend is black and I'm generally not a racially-motivated person. Anyway, aside from myself and Mary there were only two other white people in the welfare office, and they were there when we arrived at about 12:30-1pm. At 4 or so, whenever they close at these places, we were the only four people who were not called up or spoken to, and had to come back the next day. It just seemed... odd. The next day, to make a long story short, they told us I essentially make too much money for any help. A percentage of my income is cash jobs for contractors, so my paystubs showed less than $200 a week, and we were told that is more than enough money for two people to live and survive on, homeless or not. The homeless aid people were even better, saying the best they could do is get us a couple days at a motel, and after that "your girlfriend is just gonna have to find a job". For the record, she's currently applied at over 60 places; things don't always pop up when you need them to.
So I just said f*ck gov't aid, f*ck welfare, f*ck Section 8, we'll sleep in a car if we have to, but I'm not going to play their rigged game. I believe many government programs are to some degree motivated by racial guilt, slanted towards minorities, and tend to leave people like me to twist because of some belief that, as a white male, if I'm not doing well it must be my own fault, and thus I don't deserve help. A lot of people I work with who've tried getting various forms of aid agree with me, and that includes the minorities, whether they've gotten help or not. My one friend said to me "That's f*cked up that you're homeless and they said you make too much money for help. I make the same as you, and y'know what? I bet they'd help my black ass."
So as far as health care or ANY gov't aid, I want proof that every legal citizen would be treated equally based on need, regardless if they were black or white or purple. Everyone except those gargantuan Swedes. Plus, like a lot of people, I'm very skeptical about claims that illegal immigrants would not be covered under any gov't plan. Really? Are these the same Democrats that spend all day and night saying "Let 'em come, who're they hurtin'"? Again, it's not racial, I just have to be very realistic about the drain illegals put on our over-burdened system. In my business, most shadier companies hire illegals for about $5-7 an hour, and that affects the rest of us, because we end up making a lot less than what we generally deserve. A Rutgers Material Services technician can make a salary equal to between $20 and $30 an hour. A mover at a normal moving company makes anywhere from $9 to $13 on average, drivers making up to $18, maybe $20 if they've been doing it twenty years. And the only difference between jobs is that at Rutgers they're worth more simply because it's a guarantee that they cannot hire uneducated or illegal people to work as movers.
So as a rule, I tend to not want anybody in this country having to pay higher taxes for programs to help out people that, legally, shouldn't be here.
Then there's the "competitive" public option idea. Sounds like a great way to keep the insurance companies in line, except for the fact that just about every employer that offers insurance is going to dump their workers into the cheaper "public" plan, and eventually the insurance companies are going to start going under, and then what happens when the gov't option is the only one left? Is it still "competitive" then? It very well could happen; the contractors I work with as owner-operators mostly hate the idea of gov't-run health care, but admit they'd pretty much have to file their employees under the public plan as a cost-saver. My bosses would likely do the same. Kind of takes the steam out of that whole "If you like your plan you can keep it" argument. Maybe some will, but realistically most won't.
I just don't know. I know things need to change. I know insurers are greedy and HMOs are crooked. I just don't know what exactly can be done about it that isn't going to screw things up more in the long run. Any gov't system of care is going to cost billions eventually no matter what anyone says, care will eventually be rationed to offset costs no matter what anyone thinks, and politicians are going to end up using their "compassionate health care system" to squeeze more and more tax dollars out of everyone, because that's what they do.
I wish there were an easy, non-controversial, non-partisan solution, but in the end a lotta people are gonna be pissed no matter what happens. All I know is that more government programs should almost never be touted as a solution, because they never work as promised. We need less government in general, not more, and the fact that a lot of people wish the gov't would just take over the whole shebang shows how sad and screwy the health care system is.
(Oh, and lest I forget, we do now have a place to live. So we're good.)
EDIT: I agree with the end of what Newton said; once something becomes a game entirely based on profit, how can it be fixed? Sadly, it usually can't.