It's been a long day...

And I should be going to bed. I have a doctor's appointment in the morning, and I never get enough sleep so it's very hard to get up before 10 am. Tomorrow I have to be out the door by 8:15.

But I am very happy that I get to go to the doctor tomorrow, that that visit and the lab work and prescription that accompany it are free. I don't pay a dime. I get thousands of dollars worth of drugs every year, drugs that do an amazing job at keeping Crohn's at bay. I get allergy medicines and the drugs for my ridiculously-slightly too high blood pressure (thank you endless crushing stress), and any and all the tests my doctors order for me -- the random ones everybody should get and the ones that come from having the digestive tract from hell. Two sleep studies and the machine that keeps me breathing all night. Hospital stays, ER visits, radioactive egg sandwiches. All free.

I don't pay a dime.

God damned socialized medicine at work. I don't have some cadillac health care plan, I am married to an Army guy. So all my medical care is provided by and paid for by the US government.

I know it's not always perfect. I had symptoms from Crohn's disease for 18 years before it was diagnosed, but in those 18 years, there have been great strides forward in military family health care. The US government can get it right.

My Mom almost died this Christmas. Thanks to the valiant efforts of the nurses in the Cardiac ICU, she survived. Some death panel there -- an 80-something year old woman, and they are spending lots of resources to keep her around. We are all very grateful for that. And again, it's government provided, since my Mom is on Medicare. The doctors talked about choices and issues and complications and heroic measures, but never once did they suggest that we should let her die, to preserve resources for the next person. The younger, healthier next person. So much for your death panels, Governor Palin.

But then wander over to Lou's, and he will guide you to another blog. One with a person who isn't so lucky. Start asking around, and I bet you can find lots of people who are either without insurance themselves or know somebody who is.

Health care is not a luxury. Having access to drugs that save your life, your sight, your kidneys or heart, that should not be a privilege. Dying too soon, too young, because some worthless person at an insurance company gets a bonus for denying as many claims as possible, because some heartless and thoughtless and subhuman exec thinks that making money for the shareholders is far more important than some average person's life, that should not be happening in this country.

Dear Republican Politicians. I am an American Citizen. I am married to guy who has spent the last 20-whatever years serving our country. I have spent countless hours volunteering for military families and civilian families and the communities where we have lived. I am a real American. I want health care for every single person in this country. I want health care reform. I want my friends and family to have the same "privilege" that I have -- to be able to go to the doctor when they are sick. To go to the doctor when they feel great, so that they don't die early from undiagnosed and untreated diseases. To be able to buy food and heat their homes and get their prescriptions filled.

I know I haven't been political on my blog much, because I don't want to offend. But this is who I am. I am very liberal, very progressive, very non-Republican, and I am pissed. And tired. And worried about my kids and your kids and everybody's kids.

I am a real American, and whenever somebody says that Americans don't want health care reform, well, they sure as hell are not speaking for me.