health care

today i watched the highlights of president obama's speech celebrating the long anticipated signing of the health care reform bill and i teared up. i have no idea why. i have health insurance, i have always had health insurance, i have no preexisting condition, and i live in massachusetts where we already have a universal health care law. for all intents and purposes, this law has little to no meaning to my life.

yet there are so many other people like me, who have always had health insurance and are in no danger of loosing it, that are staunchly opposed to this bill. this is my blog so i can say what i want. and honestly, i just don't get it. the people voting on the have health insurance and, like me, have probably always had health insurance. so, like me, they cannot even begin to fathom what it is like to not have health insurance and the kind of worry and stress that would put on life.

because i have no personal connection to this debate, and i don't really understand the politics behind it. i don't really care about deficits, nebraska, or taxes on tanning beds. i can't pretend to know what all of the stipulations mean and there is no way i have actually read the whole thing. at it's most basic, what i understand the new law to be is providing health insurance for those who cannot afford it. i just don't get how giving people who want health insurance but don't have money for it the opportunity to buy health insurance is a bad thing.

i see it more as a judgement and common sense issue. if there is a large group of people who need something that i have, use, and consider a necessity, and i have the opportunity to help them get it--even if it means giving more of the money that i make--then i feel morally obligated to help them. and really, let's face it. i pay taxes for tons of things that have no affect on my life. that is how our society works. and that is why our country is pretty cool.

so i didn't cry because i was excited for myself or someone i knew. i didn't cry because i was disappointed the bill was signed. i guess i cried because i was proud that, at least for a moment, it wasn't all that bickering that always comes from politics. it wasn't about the people who were actually voting. it was about the people who voted for them. it was the fact that we decided to do something that is right.