Yeah, me too! I HATE sick people. And I HATE poor people. And kids - don't get me started. But you know what the worst is?...

The sick kid of a poor person.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/12/bush.schip/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

First, let me say that I am not blindly endorsing anything. I can understand why one would want salary caps and to make sure that only adults are covered. That being said, as a Socialist I don't see the problem with universal health care and taking all the health insurance and pharmaceutical CEO's and putting them in a chain gang in southern Louisiana. It will warm them up for the hell they are destined to spend eternity in. The idea of making huge, windfall profits from other people's serious illnesses seems...um, immoral.

The favorite excuse is, of course, that unless we are charged an arm and a leg for medicine and health care, there is no money for research. Sure - research costs money. I get that. Some money needs to made. But I won't list the amount of money these companies pocket OUTSIDE of research for fear that one of you, dear readers, may go on a shooting spree.

If you have never been sick, or have never known somebody who is sick there is no way you can possible grasp the seriousness of this issue. And I don't mean "Damn, I got the flu this season." I mean actually debilitated. It is nearly impossible to get out of the debt that causes when you HAVE insurance. If you don't, you generally just die. And not pleasantly - or just continue to get worse and more useless. And you know what's weird? It is the poor who tend to get these really bad sicknesses and illnesses - it's like they don't take care of themselves to begin with or something. I mean, how expensive can a healthy diet, preventative medicine, and regular check-ups with various kinds of doctors really cost? Oh, wait...

Point being (and I have tried really hard to make this rant cogent and not just a spewing stream of the bile it deserves) that we cost ourselves more by not taking care of each other. And even more importantly - what kind of human being can sit by and not care about the well-being of those around them?

I think there is something in the Bible about that. There He is is again - Stupid Jesus! Always trying to cut into our profit margin.