Health Care

This video was made by the talented young adult author John Green and explains our options in a way that is easy to understand.


I saw this video on The Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC.


And here's a link to a funny one, thanks to my brother-in-law John.


Very simply put, I (like many Americans) think we NEED health care reform. At the very least, no one should ever have to declare medical bankruptcy. No one paying for insurance should be denied due to "pre-existing conditions." People should be able to get affordable coverage that is not through their employers (simply because people change jobs a lot more than they used to). In an ideal situation, I think there should be a public option. Or at the very least, there should be non-profit insurance programs.

And just so no one assumes I want a public option because I don't have insurance, or that I have crappy insurance... I work for the county so I have government benefits. They are pretty amazing benefits. The total costs of my prenatal care and Brayden's birth were about $8,000. For those of you who have not had a kid, this is actually pretty low because I used a midwife instead of an OB, did not have to pay for an anesthesiologist and epidural, and had no complications. My total out of pocket for all of this was about $500, so less than 10%. Government benefits rock and I wish everyone had access to benefits like this.

P.S. I'm also annoyed about the whole "controversy over President Obama's upcoming speech to school children, but Kerri and Stephanie both express it a lot better than I could.