I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to discuss the passage of the health care bill. I will admit I have not read the entire bill but I have read abbreviated highlights of the bill. Check out this link: http://docs.house.gov/energycommerce/TIMELINE.pdf . This is also a great link that will take you directly to the facts of the health care bill which was signed into law: http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform/summary. What I really want to talk about today is a two part discussion. Number one is the lies and blatant destructive and irresponsible tactics being used by the extremist in this country to incite fear and the other is the idea of social responsibility and why we need reform.
Let’s start with the lies. The vitriolic blow hard talking heads on AM radio would have you believe that the government is about to take over your health care, force you to die at a certain date and will mandate everything from abortions to severe financial penalties if you don’t buy into the health care system and of course your taxes are going to sky rocket. Lines for the doctor’s office will wrap around the building and everything will be rationed. NOT TRUE. First off there are no death panels. Second if you are uninsured you have until I believe 2014 to buy into the system. At that point if you don’t buy insurance the fine is $95 and if you can’t afford insurance there will be a lot of subsidies and government help to make it possible for you to obtain insurance. The reason for this is simple, the system will only work if everyone participates and why wouldn’t you want to? Preventive care especially for young people and middle age people is the front line in catching disease early and therefore will bring down the cost of care. There is also an element of social responsibility here that my Libertarian friends will scream about but I will touch on that in a bit. In addition there are some really good practices coming out of this bill. It will end rescission, it will stop the practice of denying people coverage because they have a preexisting condition (children included) and it will open up special financial loan programs for doctors who choose to enter into preventive care rather then specialize in areas such as surgery. This is important because most med students choose to enter specialties to make more money to pay off the mountain of student debt they rack up in med school which is causing a shortage of preventive care doctors. I could go on and on here but I will refer to the links above for more detailed information on the bill. What is most disturbing are the lies that are surrounding this bill and the people perpetrating these lies. Sara Palin yesterday actually launched a link on Facebook which maps out democratic congressional offices and pinpoints these office through the image of a rifle lens. This is beyond irresponsible and the connotation surrounding her graphic of a rifle lens is one of violence. There are enough crazy tea baggers out there that they might just think this is their call to go on a shooting rampage rather then engage in a discussion of ideas. The Party of No and their band of self created ignorant followers has no room here to complain since they never legitimately offered any alternatives or real ideas to the debate other then let the free market rule and reform malpractice suits. One is ideology the other is like trying to shore up a waterfall with a paper towel. Now let’s talk about social responsibility.
Here is where my Libertarian friends are going to scream and stamp their feet but there is truth in social responsibility and health care. Health care takes up 18% of the GDP and without reform that number is expected to continue to rise. Also, health insurance for individuals and families has been increasing at an astronomical rate year over year and it is severally hurting the middle class in this country. And then there is the problem of the 45 million people who can’t afford health care at all. You can’t tell me that these 45 million people are good for nothing slackers or that all of these 45 million people are lazy and trying to get a free ride. These 45 million people are US citizens and they deserve the opportunity to buy (as in pay for) health care. How can we as the richest nation on the planet not provide health care for our people when other countries like Canada, Spain, France and the UK can? The most ironic part of this is the people who I have seen protest against this the most are very conservative and very Christian. This is a Christian concept, this is what Jesus preached, help the poor, care for the poor. We have a responsibility as a people to care for our citizens and to try and make things better for those who have less. If you want to scream at me and call me a socialist then so be it. Reforming the health care system or really we should say reforming the private insurance companies with more regulation so they can’t gouge and mistreat people is a far cry from the socialist agenda the Tea Party and others are so afraid of. It’s our responsibility as a nation to care for its people, all of its people, not just the rich or the middle class but everyone. And if you want to get down to the bare bones of the issue whether you care about being social responsible or not, if we don’t reform health care it’s going to destroy our economy, hurt our businesses and in another decade even the middle class won’t be able to afford insurance so either way it needs to happen. The government is going to mandate it and some people are going to scream and yell, and call for a civil war, and Obama is going to be a socialist who only cares about a black agenda but slowly as the bill is enacted and people see that we are not going to become Cuba they might actually like the doors this opens for them. Time will tell but hopefully we can get back to a place of civility and discourse rather then being ruled by ignorance and fear.
