First off, I use the word "dependents" to mean anyone who is financially supported by the person in question. If the person in question can't afford health care, how are they supposed to afford it for the people they support?

• Children
  (because kids should not be punished with a lack of of medical coverage because their parents cannot or choose to not provide health care insurance for their kids)
  
  
• Parents of minor children
  (because kids can't survive/thrive without parents, and if their parents are too ill to take care of them, too busy working to pay for health insurance to take care of them, or too dead to take care of them, then kids won't be getting the parenting they need and may even end up in the far-less-than-perfect foster care system or left on their own and end up making bad choices such as joining a gang or getting involved in crime and ended up in the prison system, all of which costs far more than just paying for the parents' health care)
  
  
• Elderly people and their dependents
  (because they are often disabled and unable to work, so they can't afford it, or can no longer keep up at jobs that provide health care for them, and as honored elders who often have high medical bills, they really should get a break)
  
  
• Pregnant women and their dependents
  (the baby inside is a child, and since children should get coverage, the baby by default gets coverage; plus, it's hard for women to work while pregnant, so some women may need to take a leave of absence or quit which would take away their employer paid insurance plan or leave them without enough of an income to pay for their own)
  
  
• Physically Ill, Mentally Ill, and Physically Disabled people with either chronic and acute disorders and their dependents
  (many sick and disabled people often can't work, or can't work steadily, so they can't get insurance from their employer and they can't earn enough to pay for their own insurance)
  
  
• Employed people who don't earn enough income and their dependents
  (because sometimes even though you work 80+ hours per week, you still can't earn enough to pay for health insurance if your employer(s) doesn't provide adequate coverage; people should be employed at least 20 hours per week and income limits should be determined by number of people supported by the worker, location of residence, and cost of living)
  
  
• Anyone who needs emergency care
  (if your sick or injured enough to visit an emergency room, then your health care should be covered under emergency services, just as emergency services covers 911, the police , and the fire department)
  
  

Who's going to pay for it?

Republicans often talk about wasteful spending and how we can't afford to pay for health care, but they have been in the White House for nearly 8 years now, and the wasteful spending they've done during their shopping sprees on no-bid contracts, with companies whose profits benefit the politicians personally, could easily pay for health care programs. I'm not saying that the Democrats haven't wasted money, but the Dems aren't complaining about the cost of health care.

Labels: Activism