I rarely update my blog now, due to social networking…a blog has become a fading pastime. Myspace is now abandoned, Facebook has taken over, and Twitter is fast becoming the alert system for keeping up with everything faster than ever before. But, since I tend to think of my blog as my personal journal although public, I do from time to time make posts….however, I tend to keep them in draft form so that only I can see them, in the idea of thinking one day - I'll look back and amuse myself at my writings.

Today, I'm making my post public, not that I think anyone will actually see it. According to my stats- my site is hit mostly with "spambots" nowadays, nonetheless…I feel like writing.

In the new age of recession and healthcare debate, as life tends to go- new and ever-changing morals of Americans are at the for front of every news story, every coffee shop discussion, every morning drive talk radio show. 

I'm one of the few fellow Mississippians who actually believe the President is doing what is best for the public. I have faith in our new, young, radical, liberal leader, which is something foreign to hear in the south. I don't subscribe to the breeding haters that pretend not to be racist yet so often bring up the fact that President Obama is African American so he must be a liar and only wants to help black Americans. I listen to my fellow "southerners" who proclaim to be bible belt Christians as they bring morality down to levels only criminals could follow, and I'm stunned daily at the things I hear….ramblings of disputes blown so far out of proportion and dramatized beyond that of what reality TV has become.

It's no secret that the economy is struggling, it's no secret that Medicare will be bankrupt by 2017- just 8 years away, it's no secret that Medicaid is bankrupt in some other states and the ONLY reason it's not here is thanks to our state government's robbery of the "tobacco money", and it's no secret that Social Security- our nation's joke of a "retirement system" could be bankrupt within 20 years….way before my generation is to retire…..yet, it's my generation who continues to fund such worthle$$ systems without debate.

As I have made healthcare my career, I have seen ALL the angles of this debate, and I completely understand the reasoning for the bulletpoints within the Healthcare reform bill- 3200 America's Affordable Healthcare Choices Act of 2009. I have worked for hospitals, healthcare companies, wellness companies, government medicaid and medicare programs, and insurance companies including HMOs. I have done travel nursing in different parts of the US, and I've volunteered in the poorest parts of Mexico, places that make the Mississippi Delta look like a Donald Trump Tower. 

One thing is common place…..unhealthy lifestyle. That is the reason and forefront for ALL the argument. And, majority of Mississippians don't want to change. They want money there to pay for medications that they wouldn't need if they were not obese, money to pay rehab after a preventable stroke due to unhealthy eating, money to pay for ICU when someone has a preventable heart-attack, money to pay for ER visits from a preventable glycemic  or breathing episode, yet…..these are the same people who constantly complain of the welfare dollars that pay for the poor. These same people accuse the President of being a Socialist…yet they want the same treatment as those who do actually make better choices and lead healthier lives and want their social security check to clear every month even though, the ones paying their social security will never make the same deposit.

Sad thing…when most of the conditions that "drain" our healthcare system are those conditions that are the result of unhealthy lifestyle! It's not people with cancer, AIDS, or Type I diabetes that drain the money needed for healthcare. It's mostly those who are obese, eat garbage, smoke, and refuse to exercise. 

Is this morale? As a nation, we've decided that smoking should be banned in public areas. This is the result of a newly acquired moral. To smoke around others in public-forces those who are near to be at risk for the carcinogens that kill unsuspectingly.

So, I wonder as I listen to our Obese politicians, our Obese radio personalities, and look at our Obese governor whom I have personally heard say- He is not like Mike Huckabee and will not vow to loose weight to encourage Mississippians to loose weight while at the same time launching a Health and Wellness program for the state, …..is this moral??

We as a society have deemed that we should not have to pay for the complications that occur with smoking- hence we've banned smoking in public places in the hopes that there are less smoking related illness- and guess what? It has actually worked! I'll be damned, as my fellow southerners like to say…..less smoking around kids and non-smokers- boom! - less preventable respiratory illnesses for the system (that means us- the insurance payers, and taxpayers) pays for. Hmmm, what a "freakin" concept!

Therefore, I deem- that paying for unhealthy people is immoral!    

The crazy thing is….most of the people who are doing all the "bitchin" and complaining have not actually read the bill. Well, I read it. The entire thing…..and ironically, pretty much everything proposed- are things that we are already encouraging as a healthcare system and have been encouraging for decades. So much of it, is already being done as voluntary efforts on behalf of volunteer programs and/or health and wellness programs within employer groups, wellness companies, healthcare and insurance companies, case management groups, nursing organizations, diabetes organizations, heart disease programs and so on and so on….and as usual- it's the ones who refuse to make healthy lifestyle choices who "opt out" of these most often free programs……

Oh, the irony…..I do believe, I'll deem that as immoral as well!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 4:10 pm and is filed under In real life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.