Today’s The USA Today tells the story of “Phyllis Smith, a 60-year-old uninsured seamstress in Yantis, Texas, [who] goes without medications for high blood pressure and diabetes because she can’t afford a visit to her doctor to get her prescriptions refilled.” The article quotes Smith:

With the condition this world is in right now, [Barack Obama] has his hands full.… Whether I get my high-blood-pressure medicine is not going to be high on his priority list.

Sort of argues against giving some distant ruler that much control over your life, doesn’t it?

And who knows? Were those distant rulers not doing so much to make health insurance more expensive, perhaps Smith wouldn’t be uninsured.

Were they not doing so much to make routine care so expensive, perhaps Smith could afford that doctor’s visit, or have a nurse practitioner adjust her prescription.

Were they not doing so much to make prescription drugs more expensive, perhaps Smith could better afford her medications too.