It's Only Money, Until It Isn't

According to the extremely patient guy in Student Accounts, all my fees are up to date, so I'm financially ready to start class at the end of the month. Algebra and Ethics loom on my personal horizon. In the real world, the big story is how the majority of us spend a lot of money: health insurance.

College students are fortunate to have comparatively low-cost policies available to them through their schools. That's why I find overheard coffee shop discussions on the topic of health insurance for the uninsured fascinating. The other night, a young woman in downtown Olympia was telling her companion, "This country doesn't need health insurance -- I never need it! The government needs to do something about illegal immigration -- that's a lot more important!" Her more soft-spoken companion seemed to be encouraging her to talk at length about the topic of health insurance, so everyone in the shop heard the young woman's views while she ate her sweet roll and drank her latte' with whipped cream.

It could be that illegal immigration has an effect on the young woman's life right now -- the carbs and fats may have an effect on her life later. Health insurance, or the lack of it, can be a life-or-death issue for ordinary people, which some pundits say justifies a government subsidy to pay the premiums.

I'd like to see everyone have health insurance, but I'd also like to see everyone who wants to go to college have the means to do so. Public health and safety and infrastructure integrity are big deals too. None of these should be either/or propositions; none of these issues should be political. Surely there is a human, humane, thoughtful solution to all this.

Maybe that's why I'm going back to school.