Hellobee Boards

My father in law and his seven siblings put their mother in a nursing home for like the last ten years of her life. This was all the evidence I needed to internalize the reality that lots of kids does not necessarily mean you will have family support in old age. Medicaid and Medicare paid for all of her care. During this time, my father in law took at least five major vacations (Hawaii etc.) traded Cadillacs three times, etc. When his mother died her house was repoed by the government to pay off her medical bills. He retired two years early because my mother in law is a state employee and gets state benefits. In spite of this, my FIL hates Obamacare and voted for Trump because his insurance rates went up. These people are ridiculous, and frankly I have no respect for them. They have tunnel vision, can't see what benefits them. His whole life would be dramatically altered if it were not for government programs. He doesn't realize he's the one getting the handouts. If the perception around ACA is changing I'm glad. Maybe they are coming to consciousness about it. But elections have consequences and there's a part of me that wants to see the Republicans push this bill over so that people like my Fil have to feel the consequences of their destructive actions. My ILs are certainly covert racists so I have no doubt that there is a racial element to their objections to ACA but we are surrounded by poor whites in this area so I don't understand the disconnect. Also for the record my white collar husband does not get healthcare. We have used ACA for four years now. We tried to explain this to him and it had zero impact. They're beyond hope and I've lost all empathy for them.

I think things are going to have to get worse before they get better. I know a lot of people think they don't actually have anything to worry about because well, they get insurance from their employer, but this new GOP bill removes the tax incentive for employers to offer insurance, so we're all in the same boat, unfortunately.

I feel like we've missed the mark as a country. The measure of our greatness should be how we treat our weakest members.

@Mrs. Sketchbook: my dad is kind of like this. He is SO anti Obamacare but he insures both of siblings- who are 25 and 23 and graduated from college. My sister has an extraordinary gynecological issue that required weeks of hospitalization, meds, surgery, at least a dozen additional doctors visits. This will affect her for her entire life and she will likely not be able to get insurance later, not to mention she will need a LOT of medical intervention when she is ready to have kids. My DH doesn't get insurance through work and we have had ACA insurance for years. My dad voted for Trump! I'm like dude- every single one of your kids and grandkids are benefitting from this program. We are gonna be completely screwed without it.

@2littlepumpkins: Universal healthcare works great for a lot of 1st world countries... I think it's amazing more people don't favor it.