Access to Healthcare and Education

[Cathy]

The democratizing affect of education is one reason I lean left. And I am personally indebted to government programs.

My father (the son of a widow) finished his college and seminary education on the GI bill. My mother (an orphan from age 9) could have gone to college on a VA grant or state grant (I don't remember which) for orphans. But she married my father instead at 18. She eventually finished college with the help of a government loan that was automatically repaid if she taught the prescribed number of years. She did teach that many years and more.

As a result of these programs my parents were able to get us through college. One of my brother married a college sweetheart and became an airline pilot after graduating from college and they put his kids through college.

I worked in medical research after college until I married and my doctor husband (the son of a widow with 6 kids) paid my way through medical school. I got a masters degree somewhere in there as well. My husband went through just two years of college with a fully paid merit scholarship. His medical degree was partially paid by a public health grant which he paid back with two years of service. My oldest went to college partially paid by her own merit scholarship but now is in graduate school entirely on our dime. Our second child is in college and we are paying. I think we have finally fully funded our third child's college fund and she can use that starting three years from now.

My sister (born with several birth defects) has struggled a bit along the way but is managing to help her daughter get through college and hopes to get her son through if he commits to the endeavor. My sister has had several intervals of disability related to her birth defects and because of recurring spinal problems may have more. She works for a state University in a very responsible technology position in part thanks to her degree. She will have a decent retirement in spite of her problems. She was born when my parents did not have health insurance. So our parents really struggled from those expenses through my teen years. But they managed because they were educated and had a reasonable income and weren't crippled by debt from my mothers education. In fact mother was able to finish her education and graduate after my sisters birth. Her finishing school helped them pay off the debt from my sisters medical bills.

I agree with Obama that everyone should have access to college. It has paid back through two generations so far in my family. With any luck it will continue to pay back with generations of successful college educated tax paying citizens. Government programs propelled my family into the snobbish tax paying types that believe all young people should be able to get a college education.

I don't mean to say everyone needs or wants a college education. But everyone committed to the challenge of higher education should have access to it. My husband and I each have a sibling that was not appropriate for college.

I don't think any family should be without health insurance so I am thankful that the US is on it's way to assuring that.

I am grateful that disability insurance and even social security helped my sister get through a couple of years of pain and disability. After which she was rehired by her previous employer. They knew her skills, education, and commitment were what they needed.

[Haruo]

Well put.