Editor:

In response to our new health care bill, Yes Sir, Change is a’comin’, but where is the hope? I, too, have lived here my entire life. I raised my children independently, at times working three jobs to give them everything they needed, including health insurance. As tight as things were at times, I always paid my premiums. In all of that time, I never felt that it was my RIGHT to have some one else care for my kids; I knew that was my job.

What our representatives have passed is the largest entitlement bill ever passed in this country. It will not reduce the budget, but will probably bankrupt the country. The figures quoted are for only six years of partial care, but the taxation will begin immediately. Many people are not aware of this. Actual care will not begin until 2014. Total takeover of care will not be until 2019. Ironically, taxation will not begin in earnest until immediately after the 2012 elections. What a coincidence! The unions will also get a big piece of the action.

Approximately 1/3 of our physicians are expected to go out of business. Most insurance companies will be broke with in two years due to increased demands from the government. Medicare will be cut drastically (I can only imagine that this is because we are old and expected die off), but Medicaid will be expanded. This will again perpetuate the ongoing growth of generations of the dependent nation that we are rapidly becoming. Small businesses will fold because they cannot afford to cover their employees, so jobs will be lost. More change!

I have worked in Baldwin County as a registered nurse for 34 years, and I see the fear of working, tax-paying citizens, of a government takeover of our biggest industry. I wish I believed that it was to just take care of people, but I believe it is purely a power grab. There are many other options that will provide affordable health care to people who want it. Is it even constitutional for a government to force people to buy a service? That will be up to the courts to decide.

We are Americans, so far, still have the right to say what we think. Do not judge all conservatives by a few renegades as we will not judge you by your politics of entitlements and dependency.

Fairhope