Boobs and broccoli

Yesterday, I listened to rantings from protesters outside of the Supreme Court building on the radio, and they sounded crazy.  “If we let Obama make us buy health insurance, where’s it going to end?  Next thing you know, he’ll make everyone buy a Chevy Volt.”  

 “Heh, crazy talk from the whacko fringe,” I thought. 

Today, I heard a similar thing on NPR, but sadly, it was Antonin Scalia making the argument. (Substitute broccoli for Chevy Volt, and it’s the same frothing, three-cornered hat, 'don't tread on me' stuff.)  Yes, that Scalia, the one who sits on the highest court in the land.  Not that I’ve ever been a fan of his, but still…  (I just spent a while on the internet trying to learn the name of that gesture that he used on the press, the one with curled fingers under the chin that suddenly become unfurled.  Since the gesture had no name, I decided not to write about it, but that’s the classy justice we’re dealing with.)  

I like it better when the lawyers dress the ridiculousness up in intelligent-sounding, confusing arguments, like “jurisprudence blah blah blah the courts recognize blah blah blah doctrine blah blah blah judicial extension of doctrine blah blah blah based on so and so v. so and so. It would be easier to stomach,  because our attention wanders with the mention of the word, “jurisprudence.” Broccoli, on the other hand, we understand.  We pay attention when Nina Totenberg’s report involves a common vegetable.

Because here's the deal: if you need broccoli and you don’t have it, you either go buy some, or do without.  Either way, it won’t lead to financial ruin for you, and it won’t create a strain on the other broccoli eaters.  People don’t show up in the emergency room because that was the only way they could obtain broccoli.

Health care, on the other hand, isn’t like that.  You get a terrible disease while uninsured, and ome combination of four things happen:  you receive sub-standard care, you suffer financial ruin, care providers lose money, and cost goes up for insured.  Why does trying to fix this problem promote such a vitriolic response?  

Not to mention preventative care.  Today, I went to the mammogram trailer, which by the way, was parked in front of a movie theater in Redmond.  The kindly woman flattened my boobs into a vast, single-cell-thick pancake through an excruciating maneuver that involves large pieces of Plexiglas, a vice, and a “gown” (nothing you’d wear to a ball).  Anyway, this procedure isn’t something one could access in the emergency room. “Emergency! I haven’t had a mammogram in 2 years!” 

Anyway, I’m not going to go into a long rant about the whole health care thing, because you guys already know all of that, but really, comparing the requirement to carry health insurance to buying broccoli?   It seems awkward.