#SCOTUS health care thoughts

This may be the first time I've brought up anything seriously political on my blog.  I feel like I might be crossing a line, so if you're a regular here and don't want to read this, I will not be offended.  But here I go crossing that line because, it's my blog, and I can do what I want to.

First off, I am not a political or legal or "ObamaCare" expert.  I understand the general principles of trying to cover everybody and that birth control will now be included in your insurance.  As a former self employed, and somewhat starving artist, these are the things that matter to me.

Second, so other than the two points I just mentioned, I don't want to talk about the details of healthcare reform.  That is for experts to hash out, and I am confident the final result will be acceptable to the majority of Americans.   And I am not an expert.

I just want to give my thoughts on the general concept, and the issues I have with the cost arguments/concerns.

1. Our government spends lots and lots of money.  I believe in a balanced budget, but I have no problems putting that money towards US citizens who need healthcare, and US doctors and hospitals that deserve to get paid rather than giving away free services.  Our war expenditures should be going down, why is it a bad thing to pay doctors, and heaven forbid, insurance companies here.  Our economy is struggling, why is it a bad idea to put money into our country in such a way thats its not even a bailout?
2. Preventative care is good for everybody.  This comes from both a human nature/ethical standpoint and a financial one as well.  If we can keep Americans healthy, then we should be able to prevent costly hospital stays, treat problems before they are out of control, all while improving quality of life and paying doctors for their services.  This seems like a natural extension of the programs we've had in place for decades.

In general I consider myself a libertarian.  I think people should be free to make their own choices, as long as they don't infringe on my personal rights, or cost me too much money.   Expanding Medicare/medicade/ObamaCare or whatever you want to call it may cost me money (or maybe not in the long term, we'll see) but I'm ok with that.  I pay taxes anyway, and the money might as well go towards raising the bar for quality of life for the people around me.  I'm a softie like that.

And now for some pretty pictures:

The rules on my blog are as follows:  discussion = cool, arrogance & fighting = not tolerated.  If you would like to leave a comment about my thoughts here please do.  If you have thoughts of your own I'd love to hear them.  I wrote this post to simply get my thoughts out there not to start a debate or fight.  Again, it's my blog and I'll do what I want to....including delete potentially nasty comments.