If you’re a full-time homesteader, chances are that you either don’t have health insurance, or you pay for a private insurance plan. Alternatively, you might be on the insurance plan of your spouse. Maybe the most lucrative part of your spouse’s job is their health insurance. Homesteaders should support universal healthcare. Similar to entrepreneurship, homesteading is easier and generally more successful when you have financial and benefits support. This support could come from the government and, by extension, all taxpayers. Therefore, homesteaders have compelling reasons to advocate for universal healthcare policies.
Universal healthcare (a.k.a. single-payer healthcare, or Medicare for All) is not the same as Obamacare (a.k.a the Affordable Care Act (ACA)). Under the ACA, everyone needs to be covered by health insurance. However, if you don’t get insurance through your job, you need to buy private insurance. When considering homesteaders’ challenges, it’s clear they should support universal healthcare to alleviate these burdens.
Universal healthcare is a government insurance option that would allow everyone to be covered by government-administered health insurance. It still allows people to buy private health insurance. This is how Medicare works. Why should access to Medicare be age-restricted? Homesteaders should support changes to these age restrictions. They believe that universal healthcare offers more freedom to pursue their lifestyle without worrying about sudden health costs.
Freedom From vs. Freedom To
As an American, I’m all about freedom. Typically, I care more about freedom from many things – government tyranny, corporate monopolization and price gouging, worrying about healthcare – you get the drift. Unfortunately, many people are more concerned with their freedom to do some things – shoot guns, speak their mind, not pay to help others – etc. Understanding freedom dynamics, homesteaders should support universal healthcare. This helps maintain their lifestyle while enhancing freedom from healthcare anxieties.
So, as a liberal homesteader (but more and more of a Progressive Homesteader every day) – I think it’s important to understand that on your own property, you can do pretty much whatever you want to keep yourself busy. Especially if you live in the exurbs and more rural areas. You are most free on your homestead, but once you step foot outside, you need to shrink your freedom bubble. This is necessary so as not to impose on other people’s freedom bubbles. Makes sense, right?
With no one around, your freedom bubble is huge. You can listen to guilty pleasure songs without fear of retribution. You can sip beers to your heart’s content, but if you’re at the grocery store you can’t – or at least, you shouldn’t – do either of those things. But you know what the grocery store provides? It provides freedom from having to hunt and gather.