Clearly I must have slept longer than I realized last night. It seems when I awoke this morning that America now has the world’s best health care. Overnight we seem to have gone from 37th to 1st. Now that is some serious hope and change!

Or, maybe, it is just Joe Wilson and his typical exaggerations and out right lies. He stated “I’ll take you to the poorest county in South Carolina, Allendale, a very nice hospital. I’ll take you to another county which is very depressed.”

Well that is real nice, Joe. We have beautiful hospitals in my county, too. But I don’t have insurance yet so they cost me money to go to. And do you know who pays for that visit when I cannot afford to? Taxpayers. Do you know who paid for that hospital? Pharmas and insurance companies. And taxpayers.

America pays more than any other country – per person – for our healthcare and yet we are ranked 37th in the world for quality of healthcare. Our budget is overrun with healthcare costs and yet 39million LEGAL Americans live without insurance. Not because they don’t want it. Not because they mismanage their money. Because after they pay taxes (to pay for other folks’ health care) and pay their mortgage and their car note and buy food and keep the lights and heat on there is not enough money  to also buy insurance.

I don’t want health care like Canada or England. I want health care like Sweden or Denmark. I want health care that I pay a reasonable amount for that is guaranteed to not be cancelled if I get sick. I want health care that I cannot be denied for because of an old back injury. I want health care that will cover preventative, prescription, women’s, dental, and catastrophic needs.

I want equal rights to health care for everyone – regardless of their ability to pay. I think that if someone cannot truly afford health insurance, then the government should pay for it. But I also think that if you can afford insurance, you should be required to purchase it because I am tired of my taxes paying for irresponsible people too.

I think health insurance should be similar to car insurance. Required. However, having a car is an option. Being alive and healthy should not be. Therefore we must put a safety net in place for those that cannot help themselves.

I will be voting and campaigning for the Congressional elections. I will work to put people in office that understand that every American needs health insurance and that insurance companies need to be put back in their place. I will work to see a Congress that understands that they work for us, not the pharmas. A Congress that recognizes that we will never have a balanced, healthy budget until we rid ourselves of much of our bloated healthcare costs and that the only way to do that is complete and utter reform. Tear it down completely and rebuild all over again.

It is the only way.