Most of you are probably well aware of the fact that the healthcare reform bill passed and has been officially signed by President Obama. I am both very happy about this, and also very nervous. There are some understandable questions about the bill, and while I would like to pretend that critics, including myself, actually understand what the bill will do on the wide-scale, such a thought is really nothing more than an illusion. Very few probably know how the bill operates on the wide-scale, and I’m hesitant to listen to people who have spent the last year plus misinforming the public about the bill in an effort to scare them into opposing it.
That said, I do hope that, on a wide-scale, the bill functions well enough, with little need for significant revision. I’m nervous because it’s an enormous undertaking and something that, obviously, is remarkably contentious in this country. We’ll see what the year looks like when everything is in place.
For the record, if it isn’t already clear, I have always been for healthcare reform, but on a much grander scale. I honestly think we should have kept the public option on the original bill, but at least this is a step in the right direction.
Now, for my resolution, which is only indirectly related to the healthcare bill:
I’ve noticed over the last few months that I have been consuming an abnormal amount of garbage in the form of soda and related things. So, as an experiment, I am going to cut out all soda consumption from my diet for 30 days, starting today. I’ll be cutting out other junk foods as well (namely candy bars, though I will splurged once in a while).
Part of this is because I have been eating too much crap; part of this is because I want to see what happens to my body. If I have a heart attack, you’ll all be the second to know (since I’ll be the first).
Wish me luck!
5 Responses
Rock on, Duke! I bet watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution help you come to that resolution. Once I started cooking everything myself I started making other steps – no more salami, only turkey. No more soda, only sugar-free beverages. No more white grains (except for rice, and then sparingly). Next step – exercise!
This healthcare bill isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I don't think it will do enough to control costs, but it's going to get a hell of a lot more people coverage. Baby steps!!
Giving up soda is my go-to for Lent. I go without soda for forty days a year, and it's brutal for the first few days, but then your body normals out. I replaced soda with fruit juice and had by far more energy. Plus, fruit juice is pretty darn tasty (I can go through a gallon of apple juice in a few days). Good luck compadre.
LoopdiLou: Actually, I decided to do this before I saw that episode. I was talking with someone up in Pennsylvania and it dawned on me that I was eating way too much crap…
Baby steps indeed!
Adam: Yeah, I'm not Catholic :P. I can't drink too much juice either. Too much sugar. I have to be more mindful of the crap I put in me over the next 30 days. Hopefully I don't explode…
I'm real torn over the healthcare bill passing. I don't believe several thousand pages of law is going to make things better just more confusing. However, my 16 year old daughter has significant medical problems and now I get to keep her on my insurance until age 26 and when she needs to get her own they can't exclude her preexisting condition.
NorCal: I feel you. I have reservations, for sure. I think it's a great thing, but obviously it's an enormous bill, incredibly complicated, and I can't pretend that I know it's going to work at 100%.
Honestly, I think we should have put into law those two things you mention in the last part of your comment at the start of 2010. Seriously. The Dems and Reps should have sat down and said "these are the things we agree on, let's put these into a bundle and pass it without bickering, and then we can bicker about the other crap later." That, to me, would have saved us the year and three month hell fest over this bill.