Taking a Stance: I Voted for Obama

One more time, I’ll use this blog for a non-fitness related subject to be on record with my political view.

I have many reasons but want to focus on the one part that is the closest to my heart, and that is healthcare.

I am from Germany and did not come to this country until 1989. During the first 5 years, I was an international assignee working for IBM, and thus I was in an environment where all my colleagues had healthcare and I did not give it any thought because, to me, that’s the way it is supposed to be. After I got married, decided to stay in the US for good, and changed careers to be in the fitness industry, I began to look around my new home in North Carolina. That’s when it started dawning on me that a significant percentage of Americans do not have healthcare coverage, that pre-existing conditions can be excluded from policies, and that preventive care does not seem to be a priority.

When the debate over healthcare raged, many arguments were made on either side, and I was dismayed to listen to people who used countries like Germany, France or the UK as a negative example. I have lived in a country with comprehensive healthcare, and I still have many friends there. I love the country I am living in right now. I became a citizen because this is my home. But the lack of health access equality to every other of my fellow citizens was always a source of pain to me. I cannot truly be happy about my own healthcare access knowing that others do not have the opportunity.

I was elated when legislation was passed towards achieving this goal, and I was grateful when it was upheld by the Supreme Court. If it was on this one issue alone, I could not vote for anybody who promises to repeal it.

Here I stand!