Letter to my son on Obamacare

My love,

You may learn in a few years in a History class or on the news that in 2013 the government of the United States shut down and was almost unable to pay its debts because of a standoff between the two main party lines, the Democrats and Republicans. This standoff comes from the refusal from the Republicans to implement the Obamacare –a law actually called “The Affordable HealthCare Act” and upheld by the Supreme Court. Hopefully by the time you learn about it, this law will be the norm –and not combatted as it is now. Hopefully by the time you are an adult, people who fought Obamacare will be seen as we see people who opposed birth control and marriage between people of different colors (come to think of it, they’re probably the same if they’re over 50): bigots who wish they could go back to the “golden age” of America, which is probably around 1860 when women were not given a voice and cowboys ruled the land.

Leo, I wish you a lifetime of happiness and health, but God forbid, should you need to go the emergency room or should you have a serious illness, you won’t think twice about how this health issue will affect your budget –because it won’t. You won’t have to pay $100,000 to go through gruesome chemo. You won’t have to sell your home and claim bankruptcy because you’ve been shot randomly (let’s not even talk about the gun debate in the US). Your wife, if you have one, won’t have to carefully budget the birth of your child. You won’t think of healthcare as a financial risk. 

Right now, people do. I do. I think of our next child and fret at the idea of spending another $3,000 on delivery –that’s what we paid for you, and, my love, I had such an easy labor. I think of how much a cavity or physical therapy for your eyes could cost us. I think of all the people who cannot afford their treatment right now or don’t go to the doctor because they’re afraid of how much that will cost –and end up with more issues, sometimes death, because something preventable is now happening.

And I wish things were different. I wish people who claim they believe in a Christ of love and compassion would accept to pay a bit more to help others (and I mean anyone, not people you choose to help, such as your friends or your church. Real support for the poor and the needy doesn't include choice of beneficiary). I wish these same people would stop considering that the poor are lazy and living off their hard earned money –the poor, who sometimes work 2 full time jobs and cannot afford healthcare or child care or a decent apartment. I wish they would stop being afraid of “socialist” countries such as Canada, France, and the UK, and realize that living in harmony means sacrificing a bit of your wealth for the happiness of all. I wish people would stop being afraid of taxes –in France I paid about 40% of taxes; here your dad and I pay 37% and we have way fewer benefits. 

I hope and pray that in 20 years, when you are about to be independent and find a job you will worry about whom to date and where to live, not how you’re going to pay for your next doctor’s bill. I wish the political divisions that plague this country will be gone and, though political differences will exist forever, these differences won’t be a matter of life and death for other people –those we don’t listen to, those we prefer to judge and not help. 

I am so tired of this fight. I am tired of ignorance, bigotry, and selfishness. And I hope that the USA will be a country in which you will thrive and enjoy life to the fullest. If not… there will always be France!

Love,

Your socialist mama