The Day After Christmas

It's the day after Christmas and most of us are still feeling warm and fuzzy from our visits with family and friends. We are still checking out what presents we got, and if they were high-tech goodies, figuring out how to use them.

The only present most of us (55% according to the latest Rasmussen poll) didn't want was the health care bill the Senate passed on Christmas Eve morning. I had the opportunity this past week to personally talk to some people who, it is said by Reid, Pelosi and the Great One, would be most helped by this bill.

One is a young man of 30 years old who said his employer did not provide insurance. To purchase health insurance himself for his family of four would cost him $300. per week, he said. He opposes the health care bill! Why? Because his employer will have to close up shop or drastically change how he pays his employees as a result of the bill.

Another, a young woman of 40 years, says she cannot afford to purchase private insurance. Her employer does not provide health insurance due to costs now, and won't after health care reform either, he tells her. Her choices will be to assume the costs of a policy, pay the fine, or go to jail. She told me, while holding out her arms as if to be cuffed, that she will go to jail. "They will have to treat any illness I have, give me dental work and any medication I need in jail", she said, "and it won't cost me a penny." She is a vibrant, spicy young woman and made it clear she would go to jail to make a point of the unfairness of the legislation.

Both these young people work for small businesses. These small businesses are in trouble anyway due to the economy, and are desperately trying to figure out what to do when the added costs of health care reform strike home.

People I have spoken to who work for larger corporations are also worried. They have employer provided insurance and pay modest premiums each pay period. They feel certain their part of those premiums will skyrocket now that healthcare reform seems certain to pass. Others feel their employer will dump them into the public option, should it be reinstated during the final negotiations between the House and Senate.

Seniors I talk to are already hurting due to the lack of a raise on their Social Security this year. No matter what Congress says, inflation is here and the cost of living has gone up. Add to that the cuts in Medicare that are guaranteed in the Senate bill and the increase in Medicare premiums and they stand to be hurting even more, and soon.

The President, Reid, Pelosi, and all members of Congress and the Senate are so rich and powerful that they have no clue about life as an ordinary citizen. I believe they think everyone in the United States has the same amount of income that they do, except for some minority groups.

The people I talked to were not members of minority groups. This was not a scientific poll; it was conversations with friends and people who were willing to share their thoughts. These were people who for all their lives had let the government do its thing, while they worked and supported their families. These are average American's who are mad as hell and scared to death.

The healthcare fight is not over, it may take a month or two for the final bill to be passed and signed. In the meantime, we average American Citizens need to keep up the effort to contact our representatives of both Houses and try to make them see the light. It isn't too late, but the clock is ticking. Call, write, and email your representatives today and every day. Hound them at every turn. Maybe they will listen to us at last, maybe not.

We have to try….before we run out of time.