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| To be irksome many will say they're not in the same boat. |
Health care reform reveals
Again the divide separating
Americans yawns wider than
Any bridge they’re willing
To build. Health insurance, for
That matter any insurance,
Succeeds when a given class
Agrees to pay enough to help
Anybody else in the same boat
On similar risks. Obviously
Many legislators would like
To pretend certain voters are
“Not in the same boat”: men
Who clutch at subsidizing
Prenatal, maternity care, even
Breast cancer screenings.
Are not they married or fathers?
Do they get off by sticking
Their schvantzes in old mossy
Knotholes? Perhaps they still
Believe storks efficiently
Deliver only healthy, full-term
Progeny sans complications
In neat white cotton didies.
Youngsters refuse benefits
For senior care. Do they plan
On, “living fast, dying young,
And leaving pretty corpses”?
The elderly, those gobblers
Of the medical pie, refuse to
Fund abortions or contraceptives
Since in their days of wild oats
And procreation they frolicked
Without unseemly incidents:
“Just say No,” they coldly advise.
Nonsmokers pay for smokers?
And thus the vast pool of eligibles
Shrinks to the size of seven
Billionaires too stingy to pay
For the travails of any with
Less. Back then to the actuaries
Who will have to meter benefits
Not based on exposure to risks
But by how much each insured
Has kicked in. “You’ve paid
Only for the last five years. Why
Should you receive what long term
Subscribers get?” The metaphor
Fails altogether. “OK. Everybody
Out of the boat, you selfish bastards.
Not a one of you deserves saving.”
c. 2017, J.S.Manista
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