Another thing that Bush talked about yesterday was how it was ‘junk lawsuits’ that are driving the cost of medical care up so high that health insurance costs have grown beyond what the average person can afford. If it weren’t for the fact that people sued doctors and hospitals, why everyone would have access to health care now.
That’s good to know. My Dad fell yesterday and broke his hip and has to have it operated on today, not something that’s lightly done when you’re 93 almost 94 years old. Luckily he has medical insurance to cover most of the costs of this, because his assisted living expenses are eating up his savings. Not to mention all the drugs the doctors keep giving him, though most don’t do a bit of good.
But I want to assure President Bush that if Dad dies during treatment, we won’t hold the hospital responsible and sue them. In turn, will he then get the health insurance premiums lowered in this state so that I can afford to get coverage? It would be nice not to be worried about getting sick. And if I am sick, it would be nice to know I could go into the doctor without being financially ruined by the trip.
But I’m a little lost on the mapping between limiting malpractice suits and available, affordable health care for all. Could he spend a little more time on that one?
Watching Bush yesterday, among that crowd of just plain folk, I thought that he came off rather charming. Likeable even. You know, I don’t think President Bush is evil. I think he grew up in an environment where people are supposed to take care of themselves and their friends and family, not have the government do it. I think he was taught that when people have a run of bad luck, it’s up to them to make the best of whatever situation they’re in. He grew up believing that every little boy or girl, well, maybe just every little boy, could be president someday. After all, just look at him? His Daddy was President, and now he’s president. Things work out, his brother will be president in four years. That’s the way these things work.
I think growing up he looked out on his father’s horse ranch and he saw wide open skies and plenty of green, so he didn’t understand why people talk about Texas being one of the worst polluted states in the country. He listened to his Daddy’s friends as they talked about how this country is rich with oil and Nature, she’s a tough old broad and isn’t going to be hurt by a little drilling.
He was raised in Texas where you just don’t step on another’s man’s shoes, boy, unless you’re willing to pay the consequences. Al-Queda stepped on our shoes, but Saddam was going to, he just knew this – why can’t most of us make this connection? And now that we’ve found out that Saddam really wasn’t much of a threat to us, well, the President said recently that sometimes people make mistakes. The Democrats chortled over that one.
His approval ratings shot up three points after that quiet bit of reflection. To the people here abouts, it takes a real man to admit he can make a mistake.
My own Dad didn’t grow up in a rich family, but he was brought up to believe that family takes care of family, and people don’t ask for help if they find themselves down on their luck. They make their own luck. Of course, it’s a lot tougher when your family isn’t rich, but that just makes the victory that much sweeter.
Dad also thinks that anyone that goes to live in a tree to protect it from being cut down is a nut, and those women who bare their pink bras to protest the war are silly, and pretentious. As for Iraq, well, he thinks it’s the Iraqi’s problem that they can’t see what a great opportunity they now have, and continue to fight among themselves. After all, government can’t do everything for them, either. Shame about our boys, though. And those nice foreign workers. The terrorists, they kill because they like to kill. They enjoy killing, and nothing we do will change this.
As for the cost, well everyone knows war is good for the economy. Look what WWII did for us?
If my Dad survives to November, which is iffy right now, and is capable of making cognitive decisions at the time, he’ll vote for Bush. I think that the President will appreciate that.