#Feminism

I borrowed the title from John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight" broadcast on HBO. I don't really know what it means, but it sure is funny when it is mentioned.

I honestly don't know if I qualify as a "feminist" or not. I know I've held some beliefs, or rather, harbored opinions or maybe, understood other's justifications for sexist beliefs. I don't know if those opinions or understandings have ever made me biased against women at any point in my life.

When I was growing up, trying to figure things out, I noticed that in the animal kingdom, females of the species weren't less regarded than their male counterparts. In relation to the males, most females were just as feared and respected as other males. Really, would it matter if a female lion was gnawing on your leg vs a male lion? It would be equally horrid.

And I wanted female attention. I like being around them. In high school, I wasn't comfortable around women until my senior year. I really liked my senior year. In college, I realized how much I liked being around smart women. I loved making them smile. I relished the idea that I could make these smart women smile. That was a bit of an ego boost for me. I really didn't have anything to offer these girls, other than my company, my wit, and my presence. And I could make them smile, even laugh sometimes.

I also thought that most of these women were smarter than me. I wasn't very good at peopling. I looked up to them for being able to navigate life better than I could. I was jealous of them and their goals. I wanted to know what they planned with their lives. I still do.

So I've a wife of almost 30 years. I have a daughter that I want to excel in every way possible. I have a sister that I've always deeply respected. I have friends, coworkers that are female, women of outstanding character. I want them all to achieve what they want to, regardless of our society's predilection to deny them freedom of action and voice.

I came across Cracked's podcast this morning, The Bizarre Hassles Women Face in a World Designed for Men. Interesting.

John Oliver's International Women's Day take.

One Example of What is Wrong

I take some medicine to help with my blood sugar and some of the effect of it. One of them is a statin to reduce my cholesterol. Not that there was much wrong with it, but type 2 tends to lead to higher cholesterol. Not a biggie.

Last time I got my prescriptions renewed, I looked at the label the pharmacy gave me. This gave me pause. It is wrong. It is wrong on so many levels. First, I know this is something either the pharmacy or the insurance dictates they put on the label. It is a form of positive feedback to make me think I'm not shoveling money to the company to null effect. Look at how expensive this medication is listed for. $665.89. That's outrageous. First, if I had to pay that out of pocket, guess who isn't getting that medicine? It isn't necessary for me to live. It just lowers a number that might have an effect on my quality or length of life. Maybe. Then the label tells me that the insurance company saved me almost $660. Look how important they are!

You know what the medicine is worth? That $6.48 at the end there. That is what everyone should be paying because that is the real cost of the drug. Most of what we pay the insurance for is to force the providers to give us actual market prices. My favorite example is that a hospital charged us $3000. The insurance said, "No, it is worth $300." We, in turn had to pay out of pocket about $60. Insurance will say that they saved us almost $2940 when really they "saved" us about $240, and that pales in relation to the $$ we and my employer pay to the insurance company each year.

Obama and the dems gave us a republican plan to try to inject the market into health care. They didn't. We still have the gatekeepers controlling the market allowing high prices to still exist. The market of healthcare in this country still doesn't exist. I've only seen a few proposals to actually let market forces work in healthcare. Most are still keeping artificial prices into the scheme. Should government be involved? I don't know. I know what we have is broken. It's been broken for a long time. I think we should rethink a lot of things.