This was suppose to be a reply to Dustin from yesterday's post... I turned it into another post for today. Yes, it's my 2nd post for today... It's ok, I cleared it with the Blogger Gods. I just have to hand over my 1st born or something like that.
Dustin-
For a short time when Autumn was little, I had to get private insurance for us both... talk about spending some major $$$$!! It was crazy and I had to stop it because over half of my take home pay was going to pay for healthcare, and it wasn't good healthcare by any means! So, we were without healthcare for a time because my employer at the time did not offer health insurance.
I just wrote a post saying I spend about $10,000 a year on healthcare- which the coverage is decent and McCain now wants to give me a stupid $5,000 check for private insurance which we all know that private insurance totally sucks and is WAY more expensive! Are you kidding me?!?!?
So, instead of spending $10,000 a year I am looking at spending $15,000 (because private insurance is ALWAYS more expensive), $10,000 which would come out of MY pocket. Money I need to be spending on my house, food and gas and the crap I need to keep my house working and livable like electricity, gas and water.
I like the idea of having a $5,000 check to go buy insurance, but when my insurance cost $7,000-$10,000 a year it makes no sense to me AT ALL! Now give me a check for $20,000 and say, "Keep the rest that you don't spend on insurance and use it to pay for your family's need" then we are talking and I would listen.
I think Palin did an excellent job last night, the debate camp sure paid off! However, the $5,000 thing is what did me in... I'd rather keep it the same mess it is now than to make it worse and Dustin, you are the first person I am publicly saying this to, "I, Janelle, am voting for Obama." The healthcare is what means the most to me and my family while we "sitting at the kitchen table" and I have to vote for the plan, not the person, that has a better plan than making my family pay even more towards healthcare cost out of our pockets.
Sorry Shelia, I know this disappoints you. However, I have to do what I think is best for me and my family and the values that hit home for me and my livelihood. I know McCain has some good ideas, for example, I don't think going over the Iraq and "waving the white flag" is the best answer. BUT I know I don’t want our troops over there for another 100+ years as peace keepers. As stupid as I am getting ready to sound, why the hell did we go over there in the first place? Bin Laden was the one responsible for 9/11, there are no WMD’s to be found and yes, Saddam was a horrible, horrible man- but America does not need to be in business of policing every country with an evil dictator “just because we can”. Yes we have the best military in the world and yes we could go blow up every country that doesn’t share the same views as us because Lord forbid they would want to go to war with us- it’s the “let’s get them before they get us” mentality. Well, that probably works in prison yards, but not for world leadership- we don’t live in a prison yard, and we shouldn’t be expected to act like we do (however, the man in prison does get better healthcare than you or I. He gets the best the government can offer AND doesn’t pay a dime, WE PAY FOR HIS HEALTHCARE.) It is not our job to make sure that every country in world has a democracy. It is our job to take care of our own and our own are hurting right now.
To everyone- this vote is VERY hard for me. I have ALWAYS voted republican for president. It is second nature to me because the Republican Party’s views are the ones that closely match my own. It will be very VERY difficult to vote democrat this year... I feel like I'm letting my party down. BUT my party has royally F-upped the America that I love and for that I do have to jump ship.
I worry every payday wither I will have enough to last me till next payday... will I have to do a cash advance this time? How am I gonna make this work? Paul and I were one of the folks that got a mortgage we could not afford. Yes, that is our fault. I knew when the bank said yes, they were wrong. BUT this was my dream house and when you have the bank people saying, "Ok, if Paul works this amount of overtime each week, you guys will have no problem! Go for it! You don't know what the housing market is going to do over the next few years and you know interest rates will rise and the cost of the house will go up, so you mine as well suck it up and just buy it now, cause you don't know what the future holds." So, I went home, played with our numbers and did the, "If we live without this, we can afford this and blah, blah, blah..." So, now “living without” means my girls don’t get to do gymnastics every week like I want them too. I can’t afford a housekeeper, a luxury I promised myself when I got this job. A family trip to Disney World is out of the question. Yes, I know those things are trivial and most families have to live without those things as well, but I graduated from college to get a good job so that I could afford luxuries like housekeepers, Disney World and stuff like that. My husband works Tues- Saturday nights leaving me home alone with no help with the kids and for what? So we can do it all over again next payday?
In my opinion, the fix is easy, take the money we are spending on healthcare now, the working American’s and say, “That’s it.” Janelle’s family pays $300 ever payday and that is all she will this year no matter what/when/how/ why she or her family goes to the doctor. I could take the other $3,000 worth of bills I am sitting on and SPEND IT! Either in the stock market for my retirement, trips for my family or buying healthier food for my family making us be healthy in the first place! Really, when I go to Wal Mart for my grocery shopping and pizzas are on sale 2 for $7 which one pizza is an entire meal and two pizza’s will feed us for two nights or one small ham for $12 that doesn’t include side items like vegetables. A family that is on a budget, which one do you think we are going to buy? I’m gonna buy the two pizzas for $7.00 because I know at least, my family will eat for two nights.
I disagree with the bailout. I think that the market will fix itself just like it is doing right now. Yes, this moment in time for our stock market is horrible, but it will fix itself, I 100% promise. We haven’t dipped below 10,000 points and that is the benchmark, in my opinion. We are not headed for another great depression, but we need a fix and the fix comes from the healthcare market. There is surplus of money in the healthcare and just because John McCain wants to give us a $5,000 check does not fix anything, the price of healthcare WILL NOT GO DOWN! No, you will just have more families throw their hands in the air and say, “I can’t afford it anymore.” And just be without healthcare insurance.
I am so adamant that looking at how our healthcare issues can be fixed is the answer to fixing most of the financial woes in America that I know that I am blind to other issues. But I do not apologize for that.
Ok, stepping off my soapbox now and once again going to hid in a big ol ditch somewhere and try to shield myself from the incoming shrapnel and if I'm wrong on any of this, please send me links to correct me so that I can get the facts straight.
For a short time when Autumn was little, I had to get private insurance for us both... talk about spending some major $$$$!! It was crazy and I had to stop it because over half of my take home pay was going to pay for healthcare, and it wasn't good healthcare by any means! So, we were without healthcare for a time because my employer at the time did not offer health insurance.
I just wrote a post saying I spend about $10,000 a year on healthcare- which the coverage is decent and McCain now wants to give me a stupid $5,000 check for private insurance which we all know that private insurance totally sucks and is WAY more expensive! Are you kidding me?!?!?
So, instead of spending $10,000 a year I am looking at spending $15,000 (because private insurance is ALWAYS more expensive), $10,000 which would come out of MY pocket. Money I need to be spending on my house, food and gas and the crap I need to keep my house working and livable like electricity, gas and water.
I like the idea of having a $5,000 check to go buy insurance, but when my insurance cost $7,000-$10,000 a year it makes no sense to me AT ALL! Now give me a check for $20,000 and say, "Keep the rest that you don't spend on insurance and use it to pay for your family's need" then we are talking and I would listen.
I think Palin did an excellent job last night, the debate camp sure paid off! However, the $5,000 thing is what did me in... I'd rather keep it the same mess it is now than to make it worse and Dustin, you are the first person I am publicly saying this to, "I, Janelle, am voting for Obama." The healthcare is what means the most to me and my family while we "sitting at the kitchen table" and I have to vote for the plan, not the person, that has a better plan than making my family pay even more towards healthcare cost out of our pockets.
Sorry Shelia, I know this disappoints you. However, I have to do what I think is best for me and my family and the values that hit home for me and my livelihood. I know McCain has some good ideas, for example, I don't think going over the Iraq and "waving the white flag" is the best answer. BUT I know I don’t want our troops over there for another 100+ years as peace keepers. As stupid as I am getting ready to sound, why the hell did we go over there in the first place? Bin Laden was the one responsible for 9/11, there are no WMD’s to be found and yes, Saddam was a horrible, horrible man- but America does not need to be in business of policing every country with an evil dictator “just because we can”. Yes we have the best military in the world and yes we could go blow up every country that doesn’t share the same views as us because Lord forbid they would want to go to war with us- it’s the “let’s get them before they get us” mentality. Well, that probably works in prison yards, but not for world leadership- we don’t live in a prison yard, and we shouldn’t be expected to act like we do (however, the man in prison does get better healthcare than you or I. He gets the best the government can offer AND doesn’t pay a dime, WE PAY FOR HIS HEALTHCARE.) It is not our job to make sure that every country in world has a democracy. It is our job to take care of our own and our own are hurting right now.
To everyone- this vote is VERY hard for me. I have ALWAYS voted republican for president. It is second nature to me because the Republican Party’s views are the ones that closely match my own. It will be very VERY difficult to vote democrat this year... I feel like I'm letting my party down. BUT my party has royally F-upped the America that I love and for that I do have to jump ship.
I worry every payday wither I will have enough to last me till next payday... will I have to do a cash advance this time? How am I gonna make this work? Paul and I were one of the folks that got a mortgage we could not afford. Yes, that is our fault. I knew when the bank said yes, they were wrong. BUT this was my dream house and when you have the bank people saying, "Ok, if Paul works this amount of overtime each week, you guys will have no problem! Go for it! You don't know what the housing market is going to do over the next few years and you know interest rates will rise and the cost of the house will go up, so you mine as well suck it up and just buy it now, cause you don't know what the future holds." So, I went home, played with our numbers and did the, "If we live without this, we can afford this and blah, blah, blah..." So, now “living without” means my girls don’t get to do gymnastics every week like I want them too. I can’t afford a housekeeper, a luxury I promised myself when I got this job. A family trip to Disney World is out of the question. Yes, I know those things are trivial and most families have to live without those things as well, but I graduated from college to get a good job so that I could afford luxuries like housekeepers, Disney World and stuff like that. My husband works Tues- Saturday nights leaving me home alone with no help with the kids and for what? So we can do it all over again next payday?
In my opinion, the fix is easy, take the money we are spending on healthcare now, the working American’s and say, “That’s it.” Janelle’s family pays $300 ever payday and that is all she will this year no matter what/when/how/ why she or her family goes to the doctor. I could take the other $3,000 worth of bills I am sitting on and SPEND IT! Either in the stock market for my retirement, trips for my family or buying healthier food for my family making us be healthy in the first place! Really, when I go to Wal Mart for my grocery shopping and pizzas are on sale 2 for $7 which one pizza is an entire meal and two pizza’s will feed us for two nights or one small ham for $12 that doesn’t include side items like vegetables. A family that is on a budget, which one do you think we are going to buy? I’m gonna buy the two pizzas for $7.00 because I know at least, my family will eat for two nights.
I disagree with the bailout. I think that the market will fix itself just like it is doing right now. Yes, this moment in time for our stock market is horrible, but it will fix itself, I 100% promise. We haven’t dipped below 10,000 points and that is the benchmark, in my opinion. We are not headed for another great depression, but we need a fix and the fix comes from the healthcare market. There is surplus of money in the healthcare and just because John McCain wants to give us a $5,000 check does not fix anything, the price of healthcare WILL NOT GO DOWN! No, you will just have more families throw their hands in the air and say, “I can’t afford it anymore.” And just be without healthcare insurance.
I am so adamant that looking at how our healthcare issues can be fixed is the answer to fixing most of the financial woes in America that I know that I am blind to other issues. But I do not apologize for that.
Ok, stepping off my soapbox now and once again going to hid in a big ol ditch somewhere and try to shield myself from the incoming shrapnel and if I'm wrong on any of this, please send me links to correct me so that I can get the facts straight.
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4 comments:
I respect your decision and you shouldn't feel the need to justify...
That's what America is all about:)
I can understand and respect your decision. While I agree with you that healthcare is really freakin' important, I don't think Obama or McCain's plans are the brightest ideas I've ever heard, which is why that is not the platform I vote based upon.
I applaud you for being so sure minded though!
For me it's down to 2 things. First the supreme court. Under McCain and especially a President Palin, I stand to lose far too many rights. I'm not just talking about marriage, I'm talking about any kind of recognition (see Virginia's laws), job security, housing security (should I ever decide to move), etc. I'm fortunate enough to live in Jersey which is very open minded (for the most part, and near Philly/NY at least), others however aren't. Yes, you can still be fired for being gay in a lot of states.
The other is the war in Iraq. We need an exit strategy there. McCain is ready to commit 100 more years if need be. I agree with what you said, it's not our job to spread democracy. We need to realize some places, especially places in the middle east DON'T want it. The religion and culture won't tolerate it either.
Taxes, well given the state of the economy, they are going up no matter who is elected. If McCain wins and still wants to stay in Iraq, oh taxes are for sure going up somewhere some how. Might not be your income tax, but taxing your health care benefits is still a tax!
I agree with Misi. Its your right to vote for whoever you choose. As long as you are informed (which I know you are), then its your decision to make.
My vote comes down to who I agree with the most on the issues now and the ones that could come up. Like Dustin said, the power to choose a Supreme Court judge is major. And that was a factor in my decision, as is Iraq and health care.
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