Tamarindo

Any child born today in America should have the same health care insurance coverage as that of Karl Rove.

Why not? We can't afford this? But, we can afford Shock and Awe, so why can't we afford to cover tonsilectomies and measles here in Lubbock, in Springfield, and in Peoria?

Perhaps you know what kind of health care coverage Fred has. I do not. I haven't asked him, and I am not likely to. It's a boundry issue.

"There is no health care shortage, and the actual "Code Blue" is the individual failure of not making personal health care insurance a top priority, a failure that is aided and abetted by social welfare advocates. In other words, people have been conditioned to care about their health care needs, but not care enough to give up their toys and luxuries for them."

Man, that's harsh.

If you are an uncovered infant born into this world from an oncovered mother, the preganancy a product of incest, rape, or "bad choices," no matter to Fred. You see, people who have no healthcare coverage don't care enough to give up their toys and luxuries to obtain proper healthcare.

Fred is an interesting guy, I suppose; and I can only suppose, having never met him.

Didn't the Air Force provide health care for him, and now that he's retired, doesn't his insurance tab fall on the taxpayers? Like me? I'm a taxpayer. Aren't you, too? Funny that. I dunno. Maybe he has Pacificare. Whatever.

Let's start.

Well Fred, you're wrong. There is a healthcare shortage.

Firstly, we need nurses here. When he insists that there's no shortage, this defies reality in that regard. There also seems to currently be a shortage of doctors in this state. And hospital beds are also in short supply.

Retired healthcare administrator?

Oops.

So when Fred says "there is no healthcare shortage," he's blowing smoke out of his ass and up yours. How else can I say this? Tell me. Please. I'm a good listener. It's just plain nonsense. Nice word, that. Nonsense.

The point is, there is a shortage of healthcare here. Even if you've "made good choices" (as Fred probably thinks he has, no doubt he's not on a waiting list for any treatment at the VA at this time,) there are not enough nurses, doctors, and hospital beds available to accomodate him, master of good choices, let alone the rest of us mere mortals and our unfortunate offspring.

Fred goes on to wildly proclaim:

"Now, suppose the government (taxpayers) did provide health care for all who supposedly can't afford it. The result would be a financial and quality disaster."

Yeah, kinda like the way the government handles national defense. Total bloody hell. Freakin' disaster that, especially under Republican administrations. 9/11 under Bush. The Marines who died in Lebanon under Reagan's watch, in a vulnerable onshore hotel instead of offshore safely in a ship.

Sheesh. There's more, poor Sylvia. Can we bear it?

"The first thing we would see is huge increases in people who allegedly can't afford health care, greatly swelling the rolls and taxpayer cost.

• That's catastrophic enough, but likely exacerbating the calamity will be employers' incentive to terminate their health care plan contribution for employees, adding them to the public rolls.

You must understand that to Fred, the 40 million-plus people who currently have no healthcare coverage are invisible, and they will only become apparent if we decide to give them some sort of humane coverage.

What the duck?

It would be catastrophic for small businesses to find that their employees had coverage that came at no direct cost to their employer? Tell me, laundromat, retail, and gallery owners, that this would present to you a catastrophe. We all want to share this pain.

Fred offers further enlightenment:

"• There will never be enough money for public health care and pay increases, but government won't have any control over pay. Health care workers will strike to get more pay because they will have all the leverage. Health care would have to be cut (delayed or rationed) to meet worker salary demands."

Ah.

The Law of Supply and Demand.

What a bitch. Sheesh, I wish we could somehow artificially control healthcare costs by suppressing the earnings of those who provide it. Oh wait... been there, done that. That's one of the reasons we have a doctor shortage, actually. Funny that.

Scare word, scare word!

Socialism.

What that word really means, and this is the reason why people like Fred have been trained to be afraid of it, is democracy. We The People need healthcare, and our attempts to provide this for ourselves are of course socialistic. That's what government is for.

But for some reason, Fred and his ilk repackage this in fear:

"Contrary to socialist blather, any present health care Code Blue results from individual priority and choice. However, if we let the propagandists dupe us into socialized medicine, we'll all be screaming "Code Red" for health care."

Propagandists? How about realists. These are the people crying out and working for change.

Mango? Tamarindo? Pina-Pineapple? What flavor of kool-aid does Fred drink? Sheesh. I think maybe he drinks it all.

Is that mean?