Gay Cookies and Health Care

Pardon my language....but what a fucking week?!?  People are losing their shit every which way we look and over the silliest things - such as the big, gay Oreo published earlier this week via Nabisco. 

Get your milk, kids....

This colorful stack of unhealthy delight made headline news when the image and explanation was posted on Oreo's Facebook page earlier this week.  Oreo posted the image in recognition of Pride Month and to show support for LGBT folks...like me.  We have an agenda, you know.  Shortly after the image was posted - Facebookers and other LGBT haters lost their ever-loving minds.  There was an arsenal of threatening posts towards the LGBT community, Nabisco, and Kraft (who basically owns Nabisco). 

Those who were enraged but such an image (a fucking cookie!) posted some pretty ridiculous and hateful comments via Oreo's Facebook page.  Buzzfeed captured some of the madness - go here to read it for yourself.  Ah....comparing being gay/lesbian/trans/bi to bestiality, pedophilia, and other deviant sexual behaviour....it just never gets old!  Homosexuality should be a crime - they say.  I beg to differ - being a completely unintelligent, backwoods bigot should be illegal.  As far as their petty threats of boycotting a cookie?  Well, I don't think they know the extent of such a boycott.  You see - Kraft owns A LOT of the shit you buy from the grocery store.  It ain't just Oreos, honey buns.  I happen to work for this particular corporation....I will rarely if ever again mention this little factoid.  However, I will say that they (Kraft) have been rather supportive when it comes to LGBT employees.   Enough on the big, gay cookie.

Ah...Obamacare or whatever you prefer to call it.  If the Oreo shit storm wasn't enough, I give you the Affordable Care Act.  That's the full version.  Let me bullet point some of the highlights and save the lengthy version for a little bedtime reading.
 
- Have a government run “public” health insurance option to provide low-cost, affordable health insurance for everybody, spur competition.

- Cover all Americans with affordable health insurance by requiring employers to provide health insurance to their employees. Mandating all children have health insurance
- Allow workers to keep their employer-provided health insurance if they lose their job

- This is a big one:  Outlaw the practice of insurance companies rejecting people because of pre-existing health conditions. And make insurance premiums the same for everybody regardless of health status.

Those are the key bullet points (in my opinion), but there is so much more to this act.  Individuals who currently do not have insurance OR are not provided with any health insurance options via their employer are forced to either pay extremely high costs associated with health care - including pharmaceutical prescriptions  - or do without.  Insurance and pharmaceutical corporations are getting richer and richer by taking advantage of their customers and the uninsured in a multitude of ways.

I have been fortunate enough to have health insurance through my employer but can very much empathize with those who do not have any health insurance whatsoever.  I have seen the out-of-pocket costs for some of the maintenance medication I take.  It is costly with insurance.  Prior to having any medical coverage, I frequently opted to skip the doctor in an attempt to ride it out solely because of cost.  The same applies for any potential emergency room visits.  An ambulance ride might sound entertaining until you receive the final bill.

Those opposed to the plan have proceeded to 'scare' the uneducated, uninformed, and somewhat unintelligent through their usual scare tactics, which has led to the ongoing accusation that Obama supports socialism, communism, and every other ism they pulled from Wikipedia.  They claim that universal health care will run this nation into the ground by increasing the national debt.  The rich will be subjected to higher taxes <gasp!> oh no!  It will lead to socialism and anarchy!  Hundreds (including that sorry excuse for a human being pig -  Rush Limbaugh) proclaimed that they would flee to Canada if such a plan passed...... 

Canada - a country where universal health care has been in place since the 1960s AND same-sex marriage was legalized in 2005 - two things that really piss off the radical right-wing Conservatives.  This is a humorous claim at best.  I realize the challenges associated with digging through the heaping pile of biased bullshit in order to get to the facts - both sides are to blame here. It comes down to this, folks.  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings should have the right to the basics - life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  However without health - these goals are unattainable.  

Here is the snippet from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights via the UN page:

Article 25 (1) of this declaration states: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

Yes - people do have some responsibility when it comes to maintaining good health.  However, there are many, many instances where the conditions are beyond the control of the individual.  This is where the affordable part comes in.  SHOULD an individual who has no medical coverage fall ill or become injured - they should have the RIGHT to affordable health care.  That is the bottom line.  True - it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves by not eating fast-food and other horrific foods every day, exercising regularly, and avoiding the usual vices such as drugs and alcohol.  Is it realistic to believe every single individual can or will adhere to these guidelines?  Fuck no.  The responsibility to provide affordable health care....well, that challenge falls upon the government and heath care providers AND should be free of any judgment.  That is all...