Peace Reigns Again

Tuesday I called a driver and we went to the polls where I registered to vote. I hadn't voted in a long time, but this time, I felt I had to.  I am disabled and I receive Social Security disability.  I am on Medicare and Medicaid and extra help as well.  The Medicaid side pays for self help assistants to do the housework, cooking, and shopping that I can't do myself anymore.  Medicare is first payer on my medical costs and Medicaid picks up the difference in co-pays and premiums.

I am a female.  I am 56.  I live in a rural state in a remote location.  I have no family but for a son in Seattle who I would never ask to come back home and take care of me; he's 33 and his life is right where it should be. 

I get by happily enough.  I can live on the checks I get monthly because that check is based on my work history; on the wages I made, and I was well-paid for my skills.  I keep my spending down, of course.  I pay attention to prices and bargains.

And I saw all that about to come crumbling down around my ears.  The Republicans were talking about turning Medicare in a voucher system and turning most of the cost of medical care to the patient. They talked about abolishing Medicaid.  They talked about closing businesses that cater to the special needs of women.  They talked about impacting my world so severely that I could only hope to live a time in my car before I died.  Without Medicare, I cannot take 30 pills a day. Without Medicaid, I cannot get the help I need in my home and so at best I might hope to be warehoused in a nursing home, but without Medicare and Medicaid, how would I pay for those?

I voted this year for the first time in a long time because I wanted at least to be able to console myself with the knowledge that I had done what I could.  I voted for Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden, and they won, and I went to bed on Tuesday night in a state of lightness of being that I have not felt in a good long time.

Mr. Obama is not perfect, but at least I don't feel like he's gunning for me.

Congratulations, Mr. Obama!  Well done, Sir!