I've just realized: the Affordable Care Act has come to my home to roost. So when Boehner talks about pulling it out by the roots, he's talking about me. More below the thingamabob.
I've been blessed with pretty good health, mostly. Oh, yeah, I busted a shoulder once while skiing. (Full disclosure: it was on the bunny slope, it was to the displeasure of my young daughter who had to stop skiing after only four runs, and it was immediately after I said to myself, "I think I'm getting the hang of this.") But aside from that little mishap, in spite of a steadfast aversion to jogging along with a few extra pounds, I've had no real problems.
Then one day, I couldn't see so well out of my right eye. I thought it was a migraine, but it didn't go away. The dark spot got bigger. By the time I had it looked at two days later, most of the vision was gone in that eye.
Fortunately, the solution was, if not easy, at least straightforward. This was a detached retina, and by using vampires to suck out the stuff in my eye and then spot welding the retina with a phaser and then sewing the eyeball back up with a knitting needle, but not before using a basketball pump to blow the eyeball back up again, the doctor said he could fix it. This might not be the exact procedure, but it's pretty close. I didn't even have to stay overnight, as long as my wife could drive me back, and I got to go home wearing a little wrist band telling people not to life flight me anywhere and to avoid mountains or my eye would fart.
And, fortunately again, my wife has pretty good health insurance from her job, and so the incredible bills got mostly paid. I'm obviously in the wrong line of work, since I don't get paid bucket loads of cash for working with knitting needles and basketball pumps, but I guess the phaser is a little pricey.
So I've been going about my business for the last six weeks or so. And yes, as the opthmls--the ophtalm--the eye doctor said, "The bubble will be your friend for the next several weeks." And it has been. The bubble is much smaller now, and I'm able to do more things. All is becoming well.
And then it hit me. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it was pretty true. I've never had a pre-existing condition before, but now I do. It's true. I have moved from the ranks of the healthy to the not-unhealthy-but-you-know-there-was-that-thing-back-then healthy-ish. Try taking that to the insurance agent and see what you come up with. Our daughter once had a rider on her for tonsillitis--any throat condition would not be covered. (You would be amazed at what can get rejected as a throat condition.) Now here I am...where she was all those years ago.
I thought of that this week when I read John Boehner's comment about plans for healthcare. "Rip it out," he says. "Rip (the ACA) out by the roots."
That's pretty strong language, sir. And it hits at my home, my face, my perception (literally). Were my wife (God forbid) to lose her employment and her insurance, under the ACA my eye would still be salvageable. I wouldn't have to mortgage my grown children or sell my left nut to get it fixed, because I could possibly be able to find insurance that is affordable but which could not toss my eyeball on the scrap heap or declare it like Achilles' heel--unprotected.
But remove the ACA, and the protection goes away. I will never have enough money, or enough house, or enough children, and certainly not enough nuts to get the coverage that would regain me my vision. You, sir, are proposing to tear my eye out by the roots.
I work with sick people frequently. Health care has never been an abstract issue for me. But now it strikes much closer to home than ever. When we remind folks of this, maybe more will realize that the not-so-good senator isn't talking about some mythical set of undeserving "them" somewhere. He's talking about us. He's talking about lots of us. He's talking about ripping our protections away. He's talking about us maybe even more than he knows. His lack of care would be far worse than all the vampires and pumps put together.
Just remind folks how close they are: one sudden change, one loss of insurance coverage. And one foolish, foolish senator who happens to be powerful enough to hurt a lot of people.
Tue Jul 03, 2012 at 5:17 AM PT: Oh, I am so embarrassed. You are correct. Boehner is Speaker of the House. I knew that once, but apparently the vampires overreached and sucked out some brain material as well. Thanks for the correction.