So, quite a bit after I went to bed last night, and after a lot of Chicken Little histrionics (Republican Devin Nunes says it will bring about a Socialist Utopia; gee, Utopia – how terrible would that be? And, BTW, isn’t Devin a girl’s name?) and faux outrage (and an anti-abortion executive order by that liberal scoundrel President of ours), the House passed Health Care Reform and reconciliation. So, now the Senate has to do whatever it is they have to do, and it’ll be a done deal. Yay. I guess. At least a couple of good things will come out of it. You can keep your kids on your insurance plan (assuming you have one) until they’re 26. Doesn’t do much for me, of course, but I’m sure that’ll help a lot of people. It also supposedly closes the Medicare prescription drug “doughnut hole.” Again, not much help for me, and the way I’ve been feeling lately, I’m starting to doubt I’ll live long enough to get Medicare. Hopefully it’ll make things easier for my in-laws, though.

It gives some subsidies for lower income people (up to 400% of the poverty level, which, for family of four, is $22,050) to buy insurance. Of course, it’s pretty darn good news for insurance companies, too, since it requires you to buy insurance or get fined $695 a year. That’s, what, about $58 a month. A lot less than insurance will cost you, so I’m guessing a lot of people will opt for the fine instead. I have no problem with the “mandate” part, but clearly it should be either you buy private insurance, or you enroll in Medicare (at a means-based rate). But, well, that was just too much of a threat to the for-profit middlemen known as the insurance industry. They collect your money, take their cut, ration your care and tell your doctor what they can and can’t do in order to increase their cut, and add no value to the transaction (unless you consider paperwork, phone tag, and the denial-appeal-denial process valuable).

I was asking a passionate supporter of single-payer health care whether this crappy bill is better than nothing, or if nothing would be better than this (as in, better to have nothing than to have this, not “wow, nothing is better than this!”). It’s a question I don’t have an answer to, personally. I reckon maybe for some people it’ll be better, and for others it’ll be worse. Especially when it allows insurance companies to raise their rates unckecked and still have a captive (mandated) market.

But, whatever. Maybe now that this crappy legislation is in place (once the Senate does their thing and Obama signs it, anyway), they can gradually fix things. But I kinda doubt that.

As for me, I found my insurance card yesterday, so I guess I’m good to go in terms of trying to find a podiatrist. I think I found a picture of what at least part of the deal with my foot is. Looks like, of the two heel spus I have, one is sticking into the bursa where my Achilles tendon attaches. So, it’s kind like I have a nail sticking into it (or them, or whatever they are). No wonder I can’t walk. I don’t think that’s the only thing wrong in there, but I think everything must have gotten so inflamed and swollen, everything was pushing on everything else. Kinda sucks. I’m not sure how I’m gonna be able to keep ice on it all day at work, and I think I’ll have to limit my water drinking, so as to limit trips hopping to the potty. This definitely blows.

Oh well, at least I can spend time reading all about the Sweet 16.

Have a good one.