“Health care is not a right!”

For anyone who has ever typed or uttered that statement, let me translate it for you into the phrase you should be using — its actual meaning:

“You don’t have the right to live!”

If health care isn’t a right, then that’s what these people are saying … that there are people who have no right to live, people who, one can presume, they feel are less than them in some way. That certainly sounds more harsh than simply saying health care isn’t a right, but it’s significantly more honest. If someone truly feels health care isn’t a right, and that people can and should be denied health care for any reason they personally see fit, then they should own that attitude and be honest about it.

Furthermore, I would also like to address the “I don’t want to pay for some fat slob sitting on his couch stuffing bags of Doritos, packaged of Twinkies, and six-packs of beer down this throat while slowly killing themselves with cigarettes” attitude. I can guarantee you there are fat slobs sitting on couches right now stuffing all manner of crap down their throats, chain smoking, and never exercising who do, in fact, have jobs and health insurance … and the people buying insurance from the same company as these supposed fat, unhealthy slobs are already paying for that person’s unwise health decisions and subsequent health issues.

It’s as if people seem to believe that everyone who has health insurance is out there jogging a few miles every day and eating totally organic vegan meals and would never, ever do anything that might harm their health. If this were true, America wouldn’t be one of the fattest nations on the planet, heart disease wouldn’t kill nearly as many Americans as it does, and McDonalds would have gone out of business ages ago. The poor, unemployed, and disadvantaged are not the only ones who don’t take care of their bodies as well as they should (sometimes they do a better job of it, in fact), and if someone has insurance, they are paying for their fellow insured’s bad diets and slothful ways.

I’m growing tired of all the health care debate and hate. As I said last week, no matter if a bill passes or what the bill says, it will likely not make any difference in my life at all. I will no doubt find myself in the same position I am in now with little to no health care, health issues that will never be addressed or treated, and a shorter lifespan because if it. I guess that makes me one of the people who don’t have a right to live.