One of my co-workers, a guy I usually get along with, was all smirky and smug this week because Obamacare "is a done deal". There's no escaping it now. He doesn't know what's in it, and he doesn't even care. What matters is that those of us who opposed it are stuck with it.
I have no idea why that should make him so happy. His wife has a progressive, degenerative disease. He sees Obamacare as "They can't deny L insurance." He doesn't even know if necessary treatments for her disease will be covered. He has blind faith.
I don't.
Now, L is a grown woman. She can vote for Obama, she can contact her Congresscritter and support Obamacare. And if it turns out that she's left in the cold, able to get flu shots but not adequate care for her pre-existing condition, or unable to get things like heart valve replacements because her quality of life doesn't warrant it, that's her own doing. And her husband's. They were willing to put total faith in the Democrats and in Obama.
Not so for these people.
If people I love with pre-existing conditions -- such as autism and mental retardation -- get left out in the cold, unable to get life-saving treatments, it'll be because of other people's blind faith in Obama and the Democrats. Blind faith in people who embrace a "quality of life" ethic that considers people I love unworthy of medical care.
My worry about the people I love is a joke to people like Mike. But somehow those of us who want to be sure that profoundly disabled people get medical care are "hatemongers".
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