a message to my kids | Senior Chat | Senior Forum

Wanted to share this with you folks, as well…

Well, you have to know that I am ecstatic about the choice of Paul Ryan for vice president, and want to first say, he is not too young.    (Kennedy was young too)
I am sitting and listening to the other side making statements about Paul Ryan's budget plan and medicare it makes me absolutely livid.

I have lived to see what happens when one's individual choices are 'overtaken'.
When your dad and I moved to Charles City, (1962) your dad's contract included medical insurance. I do believe that is the first time it was. I don't remember having it as a part of my contract when in Northwood, and that was just the year before.
Now, would it have been more or less costly for the school board to pay each teacher a few dollars more a year based on their performance and value to the school, or to provide health insurance to the whole group. I think this is how it started – right?  It is less costly to 'give' a group something they now call a benefit than to provide the money in their salary to purchase those 'benefits' for themselves.  Result – freedom of choice eroded, and it is a very slippery slope from there.
Now, enter the labor unions – well, by 1962 they had already used this for their members in industry and corporations and it appeared that both loved it, and it lowered the costs to the employer.
Health CARE industries, I think Kaiser was one of the first I heard of, LOVED it – they created 'clinics' to service those being insured, offered their own insurance or shared with an existing one and created the HMO. Now the doctor, who used to be paid when people used his services was no longer dependent on their patients, but on a 'healthcare' business.
As I visited and worked for doctors in the 80's and 90's and heard about the limits put on them, I could not believe that the medical 'profession' was allowing this to happen to them and their practices.  But it happened to teachers, too.

This is a well planned and hard driven agenda to CHANGE how America and Americans do business, personal, and public. It breaks my heart to have seen what was so, so easy to do. It breaks my heart that our elected officials, on both sides of the aisle did not protect our liberty and freedom as they should have. Did not 'see' what was happening. It IS our fault, we ( my generation and those before us) were not diligent, we trusted those we elected.  Communication was not what it is today, we always didn't know we weren't being told the truth and often when we found out, we did nothing.

So, this is where we are today. The American citizen 'addicted' to being 'taken care of', medically, educationally, economically' by the government.
 
Addiction is the continued use of a behavior despite adverse dependency consequences.

Now, how can this addiction be good?  That is the question that bothers me endlessly. I grew up watching people take care of themselves, go to the doctor of their choice, take care of their health as an individual, based on their ability to pay…. the way everyone lived up until the 60's, and the market served that practice.  That is when churches and other service groups built hospitals where they could care for those who may have needed additional assistance. Some doctors even had their own hospitals! Now, there is a novel idea – entrepreneurship in the medical profession.

I listen to and read about reform and change and keep screaming outloud and in my head – what has the government got to do with my healthcare?  It has to get out of it and the focus moved to insurance companies who have also had a big share in this attack on our personal freedom.  My sadness is …. you, not I, will have to live through what ever happens. If nothing is done to intervene and break the addiction of Americans to government, your lives will change DRAMATICALLY, you WILL live long enough to suffer, and for sure my grandchildren will. However, if, starting now, we elect representatives who understand that the individual is what America stands for and begin to make changes to help America 'withdraw' from their drugs of choice, entitlements, handouts, benefits, subsidies, there is hope for the future of America and the American people. It won't be pain free, it won't be easy, but it can be done. People can take care of themselves when given the opportunity. That IS how GOD made us.

Here is where you can do research on the Paul Ryan Medicare plan….

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.or…..pport.aspx