Robot Heart: Sex, Religion, and Politics

Do you know what terrifies me, Peggy?

Do you want to know what terrifies me, Peggy? Because it’s not Democrats or the specter of nationalized health care or even of “socialism.” What terrifies me is the fact that 42.6 million Americans do not have health insurance. 10 million of those people are children. Because these people do not have health insurance, in America this means they do not have access to health care at all. Another thing that terrifies me is the fact that another 25 million are under-insured in America—this means that they have health insurance, but that the coverage is so woefully lacking that they might as well not have health insurance. It terrifies me that 42% of the population under the age of 65 in this country have little to no access to healthcare. That’s a lot of people, Peggy.

Do you want to know what else terrifies me, Peggy? The fact that these numbers just keep growing. The number of under-insured increased 60% between 2003 and 2007. The number of uninsured increased in this period by 35%. Since 1999, employer insurance premiums have increased by 120%. The average cost of out-of-pocket payments by the insured has increased by 115%. The rate of inflation for that entire period was 44%. Insurance companies however boosted their profit margins nearly 14 times over in that period. They went from having a profit margin of $736 million to $10.2 billion. (A 1385% increase, unless I’m mistaken.) Seems like they’ve had a few good years, Peggy. Doesn’t look like this trend is going to reverse itself any time soon, Peggy.

It terrifies me, dear Peggy, that 50% of all bankruptcy filings in this country were at least partly because of health care costs. It terrifies me that every 30 seconds in America, someone is forced to file bankruptcy after facing a serious health problem. It terrifies me that the average debt for medical expenses for those who file bankruptcy is $12,000. It terrifies me that half of all home foreclosures happen in the wake of a serious illness, and that health care costs are cited as the primary reason for foreclosure in 13% of all foreclosures in America. It is truly terrifying that people are losing their homes and their good credit to health care costs, and that when people need help the most (when they are sick), they are instead facing huge amounts of debt and the possibility of losing their homes.

There’s another thing that terrifies me, Peggy. It’s the fact that so many senators in the talks about health care reform seem to be getting huge payouts from the health care industry. Sen. Max Baucus (yes, a Democrat) makes about $1500 every single day from “donations” from the health care or pharmaceuticals industry. In other words, $3.4 million—roughly 1/4 the total amount of money he’s raised between 2003 and 2008. He’s not alone, though. Chuck Grassley, on the other side of the aisle, took in $2.3 million from health care, nearly a quarter of his total fundraising, as well. Between 2007 and 2008 alone, health care gave $170 million to federal lawmakers, and the amount is fairly evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. No wonder we’ve got the GOP and the Blue Dogs alike fighting to kill a public option and doing their darndest to make sure health care reform doesn’t happen. They’re getting paid too much to do anything else.

And there’s more, Peggy. There’s so much more that terrifies me. It terrifies me that Mitch McConnell (received $1.5 million from the health care industry for the last election alone) gets up and makes a statement to the effect of, a public option would be tantamount to Americans frittering away $2 a day every single day for the next 10 years. Sen. McConnell either has never bothered looking at his statements from his health insurance company, can’t count, or thinks we’re really dumb, because most Americans pay far more than that every day for their health insurance. The average individual pays $10.93 every single day to cover their premiums alone. The average family pays $23.39 every single day to cover their premiums alone. And there’s no relief in sight for them, when it’s entirely likely those premiums are just going to increase again next year, while the amount of coverage is reduced. That $2/day sure sounds good now, doesn’t it, Peggy?

But, Peggy, journalists like you aren’t talking about whether $2/day is better than $23/day. You aren’t talking about how much money the people in Congress are making from health care companies, health insurance companies, and big pharma, or the conflicts of interest these payments must obviously create. You aren’t talking about bankruptcy filings or foreclosures or how many Americans end up in both situations because of the heavy financial burden health care places on Americans. You aren’t talking about how rapidly the expenses of medical care, the cost of insurance, and the profits of insurance companies are rising. You aren’t talking about how many Americans don’t have health insurance or don’t have enough health insurance. You aren’t talking about whether some insurance is better than no insurance. You certainly aren’t talking about how no other first world country has so wholly abandoned its citizens when it comes to providing reasonable health care.

So what are you talking about, Peggy? You’re bitching about Nancy Pelosi and the DNC. That’s one thing you’re talking about. You’re complaining about how some obviously misguided protesters (yelling “keep your hands off my medicare!” as an argument against government health care, or talking about whether or not, of all things, health care reform is Constitutional) are being “mocked” and abused by Democratic leadership. You’re shouting about how outraged you are(!), how offensive the Democrats’ behavior is(!!), how the Democrats should immediately bow to the uninformed mobs(!!!), even though those mobs often have no idea what kind of reform the Democrats are proposing, no idea why the Democrats are proposing it, and no idea what other Americans are suffering in the name of the status quo—largely because you and other members of the media haven’t talked about any of those things. Instead, you’ve been talking about socialism and AMERICA and your new favorite bogey man, the budget deficit. (Where were you, O’ Guardians of Fiscal Responsibility, when Bush was running up the deficit in record numbers all in the name of unnecessary wars? I guess you’re okay with killing people but not okay with saving lives?)

You know what terrifies me, Peggy? That people like you are so focused on protecting the GOP, corporate interests, and the status quo that you are willing to completely ignore the struggles of millions of Americans, completely shut them out of the national dialogue, in order to preserve it. It terrifies me that journalists like you and politicians can go on and on about how the DNC isn’t listening to “the little people,” but have no problem yourselves ignoring millions of people losing their shirts, losing their homes, losing their lives because of the state of American health care. It terrifies me that people like you can write an entire piece about how wrong the DNC is for “mocking” conservative protesters, when conservatives (you included, Pegs) continue to exploit and manipulate these people by giving them blatantly false information or encouraging them to continue spouting blatantly false information in order to protect your personal interests. It’s not just terrifying, Peggy. It makes me sick.

Personally, I don’t know how people like you sleep at night. But it terrifies me to know that there are people like you, all apparently sociopaths, who manage to spend their days lying, exploiting, and manipulating all for incredibly selfish and self-serving reasons, and then sleep like babies at night. It’s even more terrifying that there are so many of you in positions of power and leadership. In fact, that’s what scares me the most.

In response to: Peggy Noonan’s ‘You Are Terrifying Us’