Jimmy Kimmel shared a personal story and stated “No parent should ever have to decide if they can afford to save their child’s life. It just shouldn’t happen. Not here.”

He is right. It shouldn’t happen in a country that claims to be the leader of the free world.

But he followed with “If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make.” He added poignantly, “I think that’s something that whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right? … Don’t let partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants.”

And there he was wrong.

We do not all agree on this.

Some people hold a belief that not all humans are entitled to the same freedoms as others.  That the right to food, shelter, water, and health care is something that needs to be earned.  And if you can’t afford to take care of yourself or your family, well you deserve what you get.  Because it is your choices and your actions that led to the problem.

And for people who believe that we all should be totally self-sufficient – with no help from the government – providing health care or health insurance is a frivolous luxury that should not be the concern of the government.

And those with that belief are seeking to end all government programs that offer help to those that need it.  Because they do not believe in government help.  And they just took one giant step forward with the bill that passed the House today.

I claim that those people are wrong. Because America was founded on the core that all humans are created equal.  That they have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Note that the above did not have a caveat – ‘if you can afford it’

In America, health care should be a right.

And for some it isn’t.

Watch the votes on repeal of the ACA.  In that bill, are changes that make access to health care something that requires money and that removes funding to help those with less.

And it cancels the tax that FINALLY had the top 1% pay into the program that provides them with health insurance when they are older [Medicare].  The ACA tax closed a loophole that has the top 1% finally pay into Medicare like the rest of us do.  And the repeal and the proposed tax reform all remote that tax.

The top 400 income earners will get an average tax break in the millions. That likely includes our president and his family.

Republicans are cheering – some offices were overheard to be laughing in the background when constituents called to express their displeasure with the vote that their ‘representative’ placed.

Protestors shouted ‘Shame’ as they left the house completing the dastardly dead and going off to celebrations.

Shame.  That is a great taunt.  For they should feel ‘shame’.   But they don’t.  Because, to them, the people hurt by this bill are not worthy and those that it helped – the tippy top of the income scale deserve all the help they can get from the government.

I declare this action to be Un-American.

For-profit companies do not care if you can pay for their cures or their care.  They focus on the bottom line.

Corporations were cutting back on health insurance benefits before ACA.  With the ACA, that stopped.  With the new proposal, this would return.

And the promise to protect Medicare? Total BS.  Because the repeal of the ‘ACA Tax’ allows the top 1% to no longer pay into Medicare.  And that removes funding from Medicare – making the next round of ‘reform’ changes justifiable.

Until 2016, I thought we were better than this.  As a country, I thought we had ethics and values that understood the rights of the many and powerful stop when they hurt the least of us.

It is past time to stand up and stop this.

But clearly too many of us are just fine with this action.

I have watched too many ok with what is going on because it helps their pocketbook and hasn’t hurt anyone they care about.

This is a difference of values not parties.

I agree with Jimmy Kimmel.  In MY America, all people should have great health care and whether you can pay for it or not should not impact the care you are given.  And in My America, all people agree on that regardless of party or age or gender or religious belief.  We all agree that health care is a right because it is part of being human.

But today, the lesser in us all won.  And they were celebrating.

We are being tested.

If you stay silent,  you are among those that believe that not all humans are equal and that health care is a matter of ability to pay and not a right.

It is time to resist.  It is past time.