I always look forward to Garrison Keillor's columns on Salon. I used to love his Mr. Blue (clearly I've been reading Salon for wayyyyy too long), but I think I like him speaking his mind better. This week he takes on a subject near and dear to my heart--the systematic screwing over of all of us unlucky enough to come of age and go to work in the era of downsizing, outsourcing, and plan-your-own retirement. Here's an excerpt:
"This country is squashing its young. We're sending them to die in a war we don't believe in anymore. We're cheating them so we can offer tax relief to the rich. And we're stealing from them so that old gaffers like me, who want to live forever, can go in for an MRI if we have a headache."
While I still hold that most Americans--young, old, or in between--do not abuse healthcare in that way because it's simply too expensive for them to do so, I did like his followup idea:
Hard choices need to be made, and given the situation we're in, I think we must bite the bullet and say no more healthcare for card-carrying Republicans. It just doesn't make sense to invest in longevity for people who don't believe in the future. Let them try faith-based medicine, let them pray for their arteries to be reamed and their hips to be restored, and leave science to the rest of us.
It makes a lot more sense to me than leaving children uninsured and without healthcare, since they didn't have any part in the decision-making process that has made American healthcare so expensive and inaccessible.