I for the life of me can’t figure out what all of the fuss is over this health care bill, and I REALLY can’t figure out why so much hate would emanate from a particular group of people over something that was this benign. I’ve always been for it for one reason: I’m sick. Being told that you are going to be sick for the rest of your life changes your priorities, and all of a sudden you start living your life for your health care and everything else is secondary. So knowing that I now can’t be denied coverage is huge.

But is it really though? I mean, sure, if I was to ever lose my job or to want to at any given point start my own business, no insurance company could deny my coverage because of my illness. Awesome! But there were no monetary limitations put on that either, so while I can’t be denied coverage, it doesn’t stop any insurance company from charging me $1k+ in premiums a month. You want health care? Fine. But you’re going to absorb the majority of your own risk.

Other than that, I just don’t see anything life changing there. So now everyone is forced to get coverage? Whoopideedo! People my age who don’t have it can more than likely afford it, and those who can’t probably would’ve qualified for Medicaid anyway. And if they didn’t qualify for Medicaid, it’s probably because they qualify for Medicare.

“But I’m rich, Alison, and I don’t want to pay for anyone else’s health care!” That’s cool, yo, I get that. But according to USA Today, those “higher taxes” equate to roughly nothing. If you make $250k a year, you are going to pay an extra $450 a year towards Medicare, which if you do the math, is $18.75 a paycheck. So really, America, you’re going to spend all of your time going to town hall meetings and calling Obama a nazi over $19 a paycheck? Wow. Just…wow.

I think the real argument here should be over not what the bill said, but what it didn’t say. Let’s cut out some insurance red tape. Let’s try and control costs SOMEHOW. And let’s not collectively lose our shit as a nation over a “hike” in taxes and making sure sick people are taken care of. Instead, how about we lose our shit over how horrible education is in this country. If you’re an adult and can’t spell basic words at a protest rally, we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Or how about we spend over half a BILLION dollars a year lobbying on health care. Oh, so you want to take the money that I’ve given you from being sick so you can then use it to fight for your right to deny me coverage. AWESOME. Good to do business with you. But no, by all means, let’s keep having the argument over this small bill. It sounds like a really constructive way to spend our time.