Dear America,

Perhaps every couple of hundred years a people has to do what a people has to do... Revolution, anyone?

I got to thinking about all of this hullabaloo about health care, reform, the need for government to step in and help us poor souls and it just started making me so crazy. The politics of spin and timing and bad economics along with the prevailing winds of "the sky is falling we must do something now before it's too late" is basically creating a culture of fear. Dare I say, rushing to solve this issue from a position of fear and deprivation will only rush us into another bad new deal.

They say that the 47 million "Americans" not covered amounts to about 15% of our nation -- so 85% are covered! They also say that due to the government provisions already in place, nobody is turned away from an emergency room -- ever -- even those who are here illegally! They also say that we in America are blessed with the BEST health care in the world, hence the story goes everyone and their mother COME HERE for recovery to reap the benefits of American innovation and organization second to none.

I love that word INNOVATION. It is funny that a product today pokes fun of the very word in a television commercial...Post Shredded Wheat. Have you seen it? The spokesperson says, "we take the NO out of Innovation"...reveling in the very nature that this product doesn't need to change.

Why do they capitalize on the idea of no innovation? Because like my dad always said if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Some things started out a good idea and just kept on going being a good idea. Simple. And taking it one step further, I can't help but think of my grandmother who has been eating Shredded Wheat since the age of 10! Today, at the age of 92, she still makes a bowl of it every morning, divining a count of 22 pieces as if it were a religious experience (and maybe it is). Of course, at the risk of digressing, she is an example of what eating right and taking care of yourself is all about. Again, personal responsibility goes a long, long way. Enough said.

Our country and our fellow Americans have always been recognized for our innovation, our discoveries, our inventions, our attitude, our good Samaritans, our military who saves the world, and most importantly, our ability to year in and year out be the country where dreams can come true and anyone can grow up to be anything. When you put us all together we are this country.

So what is really happening here? Is it not the current political agenda in play that has us all bushwhacked? For really then, after careful study, doesn't this issue simply become a tool to create another bureaucracy?

By definition, a bureaucracy is "any administration in which the need to follow complex procedures impedes effective action". Just because government believes they are acting in ways which are presumably what is best for us doesn't make it so. We must think it through for ourselves and trust our own judgment otherwise we will grow to become a people dependent on the government for everything!

I just obtained health insurance for myself after leaving my previous employer and turning down the expensive option of going on Cobra. It took me three days to shop around, apply and get approved (even with pre-existing conditions). It was amazing how easy and efficient it was and, in the end, amounts to half of what I would have had to pay if choosing the Cobra option. Here's the kicker, I remain with the same health insurance I was previously on with my company, but getting even BETTER service; for with my old company I was only receiving an HMO, and now I have a PPO, allowing me even more choice when it comes to taking care of me.

I cover my daughter, too, under a separate policy and have had that ever since she was born and she is now twelve.

It was so easy and such a good experience, I will even tell you who the lucky show of health innovation and organization won my loyalty over -- Anthem Blue Cross.

Now here's another kicker, I am single too. So break those old prejudices and preconceived ideas of single mothers; even us poor single mothers can get health insurance! But let me be clear, I am certainly not rich, and currently inbetween opportunities with employers, but the point is I got insurance.

I believe that people, in general, would rather just get a free lunch out of our government; make someone else responsible for our ills and pay for it. Who really wants to pay for health insurance anyway, certainly not me. It is no fun being responsible for ourselves sometimes. No fun being the adult. And no fun in paying out each and every month for an insurance on something we hope we never really need to use, like in the catastrophic ailments.

So perhaps what we must do is revolutionize our health care system -- simplify it, extinguish waste and fraud -- and maybe even allow for the industry to ultimately prosper. You know, it is okay if our doctors and nurses and hospices and cancer centers and alternative medicine clinics all prosper from giving us such great care. It is who we are as a culture to think and grow rich and be healthy and happy as we do it. It is who we are as Americans. It is what we are made of and what dreams are made of everyday.

If we limit ourselves under this veil of fear we will not prevail. Our country will go on life support and slowly fall into a coma of no return.

Make it a good day, G