Opinionated Thought

more on the much needed Health Care

Politics - U.S.

The President and Congress would do a disservice to all to drop the public option and movement towards Universal Care for the sake of special interest money, re-election self-preservation and a party seemingly dedicated to obstructionism relying on lies, fear and a worked-up radical fringe.

The Public Option is -wanted- by a majority of Americans. And President Obama and the Democratic majorities were voted in by people wanting REAL change, not business as usual in Washington. The Public Option -is- the compromise.

It's bad enough that the health care reform debate came to the table without the Single Payer option even being on the buffet to discuss. After all, many who are distrusting of govt would lose steam or perhaps even find reassurance in knowing that all government officials, including the Congress, would have the exact same plan and healthcare realities as they.

There is not near enough attention being paid to examining the realities of for-profit insurance within this system.

US Insurance CEO's average a 11.9 MILLION salary. Their profits are up 400% from 2.4 B in 2000 to 12.7 in 2007 - while those Americans without insurance grew 19% during that same period. In the Clinton era (remember that, when we were regularly shown pictures of the insurance/HMO company CEO's gated luxurious compound estates?), 5 cents on every health care dollar went to profits. That number has risen to TWENTY CENTS per healthcare dollar. 31 cents including overhead and administrative costs, apparently. In Canada, it's 1.5 cents.

Not to mention the extraordinary amounts of money that pharmaceutical and insurance industry lobbists are pouring into our "representative process" and advertisements. Money that could and should be going to healthcare needs.

The WhiteHouse reports that insurance companies denied healthcare coverage due to for Pre-Existing Conditions to 12,600,000 citizens within the past 3 years. For those who are allowed to get that insurance, the premiums are higher - often impossibly so.

Co-ops were tried in 30's-40's and FAILED. The funding was cut off.They don't affect Insurance pricing, % of GDP or consumer price. Co-ops that become actual competition (e.g. BC/BS) are bought up & run by Insurance Industry to keep prices steady and preserve the status-quo.

Then look to the Grassley ad airing now, in which a Republican points out that people -want- a public option, including Republicans. He also points out the nearly 3 million dollars Grassley has received from insurance lobbiests and asks whose side the senator is on.

Where are the comparisons to Social Security and Medicare obstructionism? Where are the highlights on the for-profit interests driving our healthcare system, creating a situation in which the American citizen is a causality of competition instead of a benefactor of it when it comes to health care in the US?

I personally know of US citizens on disability who have to buy their medications in Canada (for a fourth the cost) because they can't afford them in the US and were having to choose which essential medication they would refill month by month. Far more US citizens go to Canada or Mexico for their healthcare than the other way around. Medical-related bankruptcies are an epidemic. We all know this system is inherently broken and people are suffering. Medical professionals included in that number.

I can't say it better than two Republicans said it just yesterday.

Bob Lupton, in an article entitled 'Republicans Want Health-Care Reform Too!', stated the following: " I am coming to believe what the rest of the modern world has concluded - that health care is a basic human right. To be last in line of industrialized nations to provide medical treatment for all our citizens is not something I am proud of....Do I like what Obama is proposing? Actually, I do!"

John Bohrer wrote "The tide is about to turn in the debate over health care reform. The lies and the screaming that captured the discussion in August have a lot of Republicans thinking they've got the Democrats right where they want 'em. They are wrong. And they are wrong because their castle is built upon a pile of sand... a pile of crazy, crazy sand.... David Brooks points to Obama losing support among independents, supposedly frightened of debt tied to his health care reform. What Brooks does not acknowledge is that they're not so much opposed to reform as they are confused as to what it will do. It's hard not to be confused with so many lies being so carelessly tossed around... But once the din dies down, and the conversation moves on to the why and the what behind the opposition, Republicans are in for a rude awakening. Because people want change -- not a restoration. And here the Republican Party is utterly unprepared. Their alternatives are lousy....Nor, as Tanenhaus suggested, have they pushed the lunatics and extremists away from the debate; if anything, they've pushed them to the front."

If TRUE reform does not happen which SERVES the American people, it only breeds MORE distrust in the government - on the left and in the middle. Is the American system of democracy broken? Should we trust it to work for us, the people?

There is a lot of talk about a 1 trillion dollar figure. According to Weiner, we could save a trillion in 10 years just by reducing costs 10%. The question is whether the politicans have the will to do what it takes to get there.

And one cannot help but look at the media's responsibility in this as well. By and large, our news coverage of this has looked like the worst of the very bad reality tv shows and highlighted mentalities and activities that shame us.

The industrialized world is filled with great examples to draw from as to what works. Where is the American spirit to learn from those models and tweak what does not work about them so we can take pride in saying truthfully that the US does it best?

We need our President and Congress to set the bar and insist on nothing less.

This is not a political game show of strategy. It is people's lives we are talking about here. People who need help yesterday and live in true fear. And the American people are watching.

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