The President hugged a cancer patient. Aww.
Hey, look, that’s awesome. Really, it is. He cares, he empathizes, his heart goes out to her. He’s a swell guy. He’s slightly less concerned with the life and well being of younger , barely pre-born human beings, but that’s an entirely different article for an entirely different website.
I’m pleased on a some level that the man seems to genuinely care about the health of anyone. Alas, the so called single-payer health care system being advocated by the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress (whatever they chose to call it these days) would do more damage than it would ever do good. And that’s coming from a man who has himself hugged a lot of cancer patients in his time.
The De Leeuw family is large by any standard. Nine siblings, a niece, a nephew, a sister-in-law and a brother-in-law and eleven sets of aunts and uncles and cousins on one side of the family alone. Our family reunions easily qualify for “event” status.
Whenever you’re dealing with that many people you’re bound to bounce into a health concern or two along the way. Cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease, kidney problems, mental health issues… you name it, we’ve seen it. The medical issues vary and so do the way we deal with them physically and financially.
Fiscally speaking, some receive insurance through their employer and others purchase plans for themselves. Some might prefer a mix of insurance and health savings accounts and there are those who chose to go without coverage altogether.
Physically, in this family at least, preventative measures are the norm. A significant history of heart disease, for instance, has me (and dozens of others) on the street jogging daily, rain or shine. Preventing a heart attack doesn’t just make good health sense, it saves us cash.
Not so, under the so-called “health care” plan making the rounds in Washington, DC and being celebrated by the mainstream media. By nationalizing health care individuals nationwide would be stripped not only of personal freedom, the right to make their own medical decisions and to watch their pocketbooks but they will be instantly disincentivized from taking preventative health measures. Why jog the icy streets in the middle of a Michigan winter when the government promises to pick up the slack?
But on the upside, this and future Presidents would have a lot more patients to hug.