There's Almost No Such Thing as Private Insurance for these Tea Baggers

I went to the Alhambra town hall, and there were hundreds of these 'tea bag' protesters. A lot of them were afraid of "socialism" or a "government takeover."

It seemed to me like a lot of them had Medicare, which is obviously socialist. Even though it's been gutted so you have to consider buying supplemental private insurance to cover the gap, it's a big government program.

Also, I assume that most of them get insurance through their employer. I don't see how that's like "private" anything -- if you leave the job, the insurance coverage goes away (unless you pay COBRA for a few months). The only thing "private" about it is that it's the private property of the employer!

Just in the odd chance that a protester is reading this:

EMPLOYER-FUNDED INSURANCE DOES NOT BELONG TO YOU - IT BELONGS TO YOUR EMPLOYER. YOU DON'T HAVE SHIT.

What a pack of gullible folks.

One other thing - some of these loonies seem to be of the conspiracy theory set. Do they realize that insurance companies are a lot like banks?

You put money in, and sometimes, you can get money out. (You can draw on life insurance.) You put money into their "bank" and the money you get back is healthcare.

The right wing want to make the system more like banking and finance (save it, invest it, and if you run out, too bad). The left wing want to make it more like welfare (give what you can, take what you need).