It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world

Have you recovered from yesterday? Or do you feel you were not affected by yesterday?

I told my mother-in-law I feel like singing that Carly Simon Carol King song from years ago "I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumblin' down..."

Except I'm not singing about being in love.

I feel like something shifted yesterday and nothing will be the same. Of course, I guess you could say that about any day. No day can be the same as the last, but I feel like something big changed yesterday and we can't go back, and forward is going to be even bigger. Worse.

Maybe you think I am being dramatic, but remember this change affects me very personally, as my sole bread-winner and husband works for a Catholic hospital system? Things are going to change for us/him even if the HHS mandate gets tossed and our insurance doesn't change and Catholic hospitals, schools, universities, and charities all stay just as they are. My husband is the president of a foundation for a Catholic hospital and right now programs and people depend on those funds. Are charitable donations necessary under a national healthcare system? Hey if I am paying taxes I am already donating to the system, right?

And just for the kicks and giggles (though I'm not laughing), let's say the HHS Mandate is not turned over and we, the citizens of the United States, and Catholics, are forced to purchase health insurance that pays for birth control, sterilization procedures, and abortions. What then? Lifesite news is reporting that Catholic bishops plan to tell us to be civilly disobedient. We are not to obey a law which is unjust.

Gulp.

That's easy to say if you're young and healthy and fairly risk-free. But, what if you have little kids? Or you're not healthy yourself? Or you're elderly and insurance-free is a huge risk? Or pregnant? Or, or, or....

I can see that some people think they have it all figured out. Just drop your health insurance (saving thousands every year), pay the fines (still saving thousands) and then if you get sick, your insurance company has to accept you, pre-existing conditioned included. Seems pretty simple, right?

But what happens if you get in a car accident and are taken to the ER, need surgery, wake up in the ICU, and within 24 hours have accrued $200,000 in medical bills, all before you have a chance to sign on the dotted line for medical insurance? Yikes!

I have so many questions, and I don't know who to ask for answers. Uh, Mr. President? If I don't have a salary, is my fine the flat $95 per year or is it 1% of my family's household income? And what about the kids?

And why can't all the Catholics (and any one else who objects to paying for just contraception and abortion) get together, pool our funds and buy our own insurance sans birth control, sterilization procedures, and abortions? If we can afford the government's fine and the premiums, that seems like a no-brainer. Am I missing something? Maybe I have heat stroke (it was 105 degrees yesterday) and I can't see something really obvious. 


And now that our fair Supreme Court Justice Roberts has declared the insurance to be a tax and not a product, are all the Catholic not-for-profit charities/schools/hospitals exempt? They have tax-free status, right?


You can see why I feel the earth move. It's shaking with the weight of all these questions.


I feel the sky a tumblin' down, tumblin' down, tumblin' down...