What I wanted to say was this: as a nation we pretty much deserve an "F" in on our report card in "Plays Well With Others." Haven't we been taught to share?
Here's what I wrote to the Ann Arbor News back in February:
Health care have-nots resent the haves
The issue of domestic partner benefits has been the subject of much debate in the Letters section. On Feb. 21, Ada T. Gardiner wrote to express her sympathy to Pam Gordon, but also reminded us that many people are not able to provide health coverage for others in their family.
Gardiner concluded her letter stating that Gordon's choices were her own responsibility and that she (Gardiner) should not be made to pay for Gordon's lifestyle choices.
Unfortunately, Gardiner's letter reveals the sad truth about how this issue has really divided us: We have become resentful of those who have health coverage or who have better health coverage than we do. In addition to complaining about our own lack of fair health coverage, many of us are also speaking out against those who have fair coverage, trying to pull them down instead of trying to pull everyone else up.
Instead of undermining each other, we should be standing by those with fair coverage and demanding that we, too, be given access to a system that lets us get coverage for our entire families, regardless of age, dependency status or sexual orientation.
Anna E. Nekola, Ann Arbor
To see the letter on their website go to:http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/index.ssf?/base/news-1/
1172677287222660.xml&coll=2
I'm particularly concerned about what's going on here in Michigan with the termination of domestic partner benefits for state employees. Read more about the recent ruling by the Michigan Court of Appeals here:
http://www.umich.edu/%7Ehraa/ssdp/index.html
http://www.hrc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=25989&
TEMPLATE=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm
