February 8 again

2-8 again
Manuel and I were talking at dinner about the universal health care system in Spain. Well, mostly he was talking and I was trying to keep up. He said that everyone, including immigrants, gets free health care, or at most they have to pay one euro, and many people bring their families from other countries here to be cured and then leave again. People also bring boatloads of people from Africa who are dying. He said they pay 4% in taxes for the health care system, and that way there’s plenty of money to keep up with the most up to date health care. He said people in Spain would rather pay more in taxes to provide health care for everyone else who needs it, rather than save money and deny health care to anyone. It was kind of funny, because he was getting more and more adamant and started talking faster and faster, and between that and Rosaura washing dishes and the radio playing American music I was having a hard time understanding everything. But it got me thinking about that difference between Spain and America. That willingness to give of your own money to help people you don’t know who are dying just doesn’t seem to be as present in the US. Maybe I’m just being cynical, and I’m sure Dad will call me out on this, but it seems like Americans would rather not pay taxes to save lives, and the health care businesses would pull their strings to keep it from becoming universal. Now I’m not going to pretend that I know a whole lot about the health care systems of these two countries. But it seems to me that health care is something that everyone is going to need at some point in their life, and I don’t think people should have to choose between getting cured and putting food on the table. A little compassion for others when it comes to your pocketbook would go a long way if we could get this system in place. I told Manuel that this was one of the big issues in the election, and that Obama wanted to start moving toward universal health care. I said I didn’t know if it would happen, but it was being talked about. He said that Clinton wanted to do that too, and it obviously didn’t happen, and he was very skeptical that it will happen under Obama. He said it was the cowardice of the US government that would keep it from happening. At that point my American patriotism got a little offended, but he was so adamant that I didn’t want to say anything and get pulled into a conversation way over my head, politically and language-wise. But regardless, I think the opportunity to have free, or at least cheap health care would be invaluable.
I wish I hadn’t left so soon after the election. I don’t know anything that’s happened with Obama since he froze the government salaries. In the airport in Philadelphia they were making a big stink about the music at the inauguration that was taped instead of live, and I was like seriously? This is what you’re worried about? Who cares? But I don’t watch TV here, and most of the news is Spanish or European anyway. Whenever there is news about America on the radio, I can’t really understand what’s going on. I feel very out of the loop with our new government. I suppose not a whole lot has happened in only 2 weeks, but still I wish I knew. This coming from me, who usually doesn’t care much about news or politics. Maybe when I’m on the internet tomorrow at school I’ll look up cnn.com or something like that.
Sorry for the political debate. It just got me thinking.
Bethany