Thought Sausage

Well it's gettin' around to that time of year when the presidential hopefuls on the Democrat side start throwing out all these great promises that give some have-not group something for nothing. Health care is usually at the helm of this banter, and I have to admit I'm somewhat suprised at how not-so-unrealistic Edwards and Clinton's stances are. I know very little specifics about Hillary Clinton's new health care plan, but I get the general overview from her unveiling on the campaign trail.

Sounds like a bit of a pull back from what she ran up the flagpoll back when her husband was prez. Rather than outright take over the insurance industry, she simply wants to regulate it and subsidize people who can't afford it. It smacks of the same ideas Edwards has been throwing around for the past six months or so but that's fine. I like to see that this dialog is moving more towards the center this year. Rather than outright saying everybody gets coverage no strings attached, the plan is to require businesses to cover employees, create bargaining markets and then go through and make sure the health insurance industry is regulated to keep premiums from spiraling out of control. Edwards (and I say Edwards because he thought of all this first) plans on paying for this by repealing the tax cuts of people who make over $200,000. In my years as a registered voter, I've come to the conclusion that the "People who make over 200k" is in fact code for "people who make between 30 and 100k once this thing comes to pass" because there simply aren't that many rich people out there.

Now that's not to say I'm ready to become a bleeding blue democrat (or any party for that matter, they're all clusterfucked in their own little ways), but I could support a system like that.

HOWEVER

I do believe there is some responsibility that comes with this universal health care. We live in the fattest country in the world, and obesity is the leading cause of heart problems in America. We know cancer is the biggest killer in America yet millions of Americans smoke.

I'll say this, if this social bill comes to pass, there should be a bill along with it that imposes a federal ban on smoking in ALL public areas (that is, if you wanna smoke do it in your car or your home) and a serious FDA crackdown on the food industry. If the government is going to tell me they are going to take more of my money to subsidize a family's health care bill...you're goddamn right that family better not smoke or eat all 1670 calories and 107 grams of fat that is the fucking Baconator. Shit happens, that's why we have insurance...but over-eating and smoking are two things people volunatarily do to themselves that we know as a fact (despite the bullshit PR from Phillip Morris) lead to health problems. The way I see it, if the government is going to tell me I need to pay for other people's right to health care (and as sure as you're born, you WILL pay for it), it's those people's goddamn responsibility to do their part to be fucking healthy. And I submit that there isn't a single drawback to having an overall healthier fitter country.