Does anyone here not care for Jindal?

Well, me too, SF. In fact, I'm not even eligible for Medicare. I always worked, I'll have a pension and medical insurance, I save money, I own property and I have investments. Unlike you, that doesn't desensitize me to the problems of the less fortunate.

But I have to live in this country and I think charity hospitals and county clinics are for the birds. We are paying for them anyway--they are expensive and the care sucks. Insurance is a better way and it encourages the poor to take charge of their care instead of just letting a government clinic provide for them. It doesn't prevent you from buying better insurance and going to better doctors and facilities.

This insurance plan isn't for the welfare people, they already have Medicaid, it's for the working poor. Not everyone in this country that is poor is lazy. They just work in low-paying jobs. Jobs that we need like janitors, maids, food service people, and agricultural workers. Most can't afford the kind of insurance that you and I have, so they go to the charity system, that we must pay for.

If they can obtain affordable insurance, then we can scrap Charity Hospitals in this state (socialized medicine for sure!) and save a lot of cash. It ain't about liberal sensitivities for me, it's about making America a better place to live in. I don't want the maids and janitors to be diseased and crippled for lack of medical care. It endangers the rest of us and the floors will not be as clean. The yardmen in my neighborhood work hard and I don't begrudge them some health insurance.

When they see how much better the care is than at Big Charity, they might be influenced to buy into even better insurance because they will see that they get what they pay for. It's a path out of the ghetto for many of them which will be good for your grandkids someday, not to have to deal with a huge impoverished underclass ruining their schools and committing crimes.