I did not see McCain’s vote as a finger to the American people. I see it as a final finger to the man who said he was NOT a hero for surviving 5 years of torture and degradation with his sanity intact. And it is hard to not get caught if your plane is shot down and you had the courage to be flying combat missions in the first place. Personal note: My late husband was a combat veteran of the Korean War, my son has done 21 years of 82nd Airborne and Special Forces and his son recently finished a year at the Monterrey Language School while in the Army.
When my husband was slowly dying of Alzheimers, we received good reasonably rapid care at the local VA hospital. This was 1999 to 2005, so the conditions may now be worse with all the Middle East war casualties. I don’t have contacts that give me a sense of what the public is paying for health care. I have insurance through his teaching job in Virginia with Kaiser Permanente, $300 a month. I don’t know if this is cheap or expensive. Every 3 months I get my thyroid medication for $15 and once a year get my blood drawn and seen for a while by my assigned doctor for a $10 copay. I also get occasional mammograms and glaucoma testing for a $10 copay. Fortunately I don’t have any significant health problems, so have no idea how much more expensive it will get with them in the future.
Aside from what I said about limiting corporate tax deductibility for outrageously high salaries, we the consumer have a responsibility to live sane and mostly sober lives. When I walk into the KP building and see a woman weighing 300 pounds, it really frosts me to think I am probably paying higher monthly rate because of people who eat junk food like pigs, smoke, drink heavily, etc.