It might seem a little dry for blog, but to me it is simply fascinating: the big fuzz around health care reform in the US. Everyone seems to have an opinion and talks about it all the time. Actually, talking is probably the wrong word. Yelling, wrestling and screaming would probably describe it better. Anti-healthcare fanatics have actually gone so far as to bring their weapons to presidential addresses and even the representatives in congress seem to forget all their manners when it comes to that particular topic. The so called ‘public option’, which may be considered the heart of healthcare reform, is causing the biggest trouble. Honestly, I don’t understand any of it!! The ‘public option’ means no more than making sure that everybody in this country –even if they have possessions- has a possibility to be insured. A government ensures that the weakest in their society have access to health care and the costs are split up between those who can afford it. For me and probably most people coming from the Netherlands or Europe this is the most natural thing in the world. No other western civilized country spends as much money on health care for such low benefits. So, what is this really about? It took me quite a while to figure out some of it and I still don’t quite understand. But, as always, I have a vague idea. Many Americans, but especially those neo-conservatives, seem to believe that the only way their country has and will achieve anything is by following a rigid free market economy. They actually believe that this kind of social Darwinism is what will bring the biggest benefits to everybody with the well-known result that the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. Even at the university-level, where most people are pro healthcare reform you still find fanatic anti health care believers, who are seriously afraid America will become a ‘socialist’ country. What? Socialist? Are you kidding me? There might be no other country that is further away from being socialist than this one. And, by the way, if governmental regulations are soooooo evil, what about the police or the fire department- maybe there is a reason why not everything is in private hands. ‘It’s is hard to describe but something about being in control of your own fortune and misfortune is so deeply rooted in this culture, and health care reform threatens some of these foundational believes. It ties into believe about ‘socialism’ being the enemy that seems to date back to the days of the cold war. It is absolutely intriguing and a little scary what is happening. At the same time, I firmly believe that this discussion and upcoming legislation will be of enormous benefit for the US and that president Obama is actually able to do it. To cool thing is that everybody is strongly engaged in it and you can have very emotional and interesting discussions with people. Simply talking about this has opened my eyes for some deeply-rooted believes that I didn’t know about. It’s different, I don’t always understand it and sometimes totally disagree with it, but ultimately it’s fascinating and I learn to understand the country that has become my temporary home a little better, piece by piece.