Friday, June 29, 2012

Did you think I wouldn't write anything?


Well, I was as surprised as the next person yesterday, when the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (I refuse to call it Obamacare). I'd spent most of the week tamping down my fury at what I thought would happen: they'd overturn certain provisions or even overturn it entirely and we'd have to sit around until November listening to the chortles of the Republicans and the smug strict "constitutionalists," followed by more insane wrangling by both parties and lots of ugly rhetoric and I'd still be paying exorbitant amounts of money for health insurance with no end in sight. Well, I'll still be paying insane amounts of money for health insurance with no end in sight (at least until we really get universal health coverage), but at least there's something in the monolithic act -- a small step, but one forward that directly impacts my daughter and tens of thousands, if not millions of other disabled and sick people like her.

In the end, I'm not going to thank the Supreme Court, an institution that I perhaps cynically don't trust one whit, but I am going to thank President Obama and those who came before him, as well as those who hammered out the actual act and those who voted for it. You won't find me yakking about the constitution and all the shit that I know absolutely nothing about, but I will say that certain provisions of the act and the overall attempt to rectify what is surely one of the most abysmal healthcare systems in the western industrialized world are going to improve the lives of the disabled and their families, among others. And I do know something about that.

In the meantime, when I googled "vintage nurse photo," to decorate this post, I came upon a treasure trove of books. I'll share a few of them here, so instead of being all smug-like or erroneously jubilant about the Supreme Court's decision -- hell, even if you think like some of my Facebook friends that Obama is the Pied Piper, playing his malevolent flute while we all descend to hell -- you can just politely sigh and feel relieved or start drinking heavily before the descent and then be diverted and snicker and laugh at how fantastic these are:



Evidently there were ways to cure depression before Prozac

A particularly awesome storyline, I imagine -- icy cold to flaming hot



I can't imagine who is so hateful in that beautiful town by the sea.
And probably my personal favorite:


10 comments:

  1. And I am thanking the same people after recovering from my shock!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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  2. It was a good day, that's for sure. I personally love the Supreme COurt for reasons that were demonstrated yesterday. YOu just never know when one of the nine will pivot ever so slightly and change history. I never in a million years thought it would be Roberts.

    As for your nurse photos, I posted a bunch of the Cherry Ames book covers a month or so ago. Classic stuff.

    Can't link it but here's the site. http://sfmaggie.blogspot.com/2012/05/bowl-of-cherries.html#links

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  3. Heh-heh. Maybe my grandfather was right- take away that perky little hat and that stiff white dress and underneath beats the hot heart of a prostitute! (Please, everyone, know I am kidding. I AM a nurse.) I believe that the thing that was wrong at Port Haven Hospital was that Dr. McHearthrob was gay which would explain Nurse Elsa's conflict, eh?

    As to yesterday's news- to me, it is a beginning. A barely defended beginning and for even that small step, I am grateful. Oh! To live to see universal health care in my lifetime! I am not counting on it, but it is a dream.

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  4. The thought did enter my mind earlier this morning - Elizabeth has yet to comment on the Supreme Courts ruling on the healthcare act. Why? I wondered.

    Of course now I understand. You were cheerfully distracted by vintage nurse photos.

    Which are delightful.

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  5. It makes me so glad to know that you are one step closer to getting medical care that won't leave you bankrupt. Now is the time to take a breath of thanks and then dig your heels in and start moving to Universal Health Care. One day...

    Love the nurse photos. Everyone knows we are all sluts just trying to win a doctor.

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  6. I am happy that the SCOTUS upheld the Affordable Care Act on whatever lame basis....simply and hopefully more young and old people will receive the benefits of the "great society." It will provide hope for those often forgotten...

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  7. Not perfect but a big F#%king deal. Sigh.

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  8. LOVE the nurses! I make fun of "LOL" but I really was laughing out loud - hunched over my phone, alone in the crowded lunchroom yesterday. Couldn't comment on the phone....

    But I can troll FB and I DID allow myself a paragraph of juvenile jubilant smugness thereon. Because I wanted to remind all my right-wing in laws and neighbors, before they started bemoaning the state of the nation, that MY daughter, the one they fuss over and adore, was uninsurable. And now they can suck it.

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  9. I actually cried when I heard the news.

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  10. I was on vacation and had to check the news on my phone three times to make sure I read it correctly. So glad they upheld it. Now maybe we can start adding other little steps to it.

    As for the nurse drama - isn't it lovely to see how far we've come? Although, having worked in a hospital, there are some male physicians I know who wish things were still like that - hot and horny nurses cowtowing to these handsome doctors...

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