On health care reform
For Democrats: It’s time for the rubber to meet the road
For Democrats: It’s time for the rubber to meet the road
In the coming weeks, the Democrats and the Obama administration will face their biggest challenge on the biggest issue that impacts
Americans of all economic persuasions — healthcare and health insurance reform. If you listen to the likes of Mika Brzezinski, Joe
Scarborough and Rush Limbaugh, you would think that it is a lost cause. They have promulgated the tired predictable response from the AMA,
the Hospital, Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries that has been put forth to hoodwink the American public in the past. This position, which
was swallowed whole hog by the Republican Party, warns and threatens that these reforms must be defeated because no American wants to
have a bureaucrat between them and their doctors. This false line of reasoning further posits the ridiculous notion that the Democratic health
care and health insurance reform solutions are nothing more than socialism and that it will bust the budget and break the bank!
Well guess what, the 47 million Americans who HAVE NO HEALTH INSURANCE, HAVE NO ONE between themselves and their doctors
because they have none of either. They are at the mercy of emergency rooms or urgent care clinics where the cost of medical treatment is at
its extreme. Those who have some modicum of health care insurance coverage also know that they have big issues to be concerned about.
Those who represent the spectrum that goes from low to middle to slightly upper class know that they too aren’t very happy with the scope and
cost of the health care coverage that they are receiving. They know, more than others, that it is not the FEDERAL BUREAUCRAT that is making
the call on whether or not they, their children or their parents will get the quality treatment that they deserve. No! They know that the person
calling the shots between all of them and their doctors is the bureaucrat who serves THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES who will
determine whether or not any and all treatments and coverage are approved or denied!
As Frederick Douglass once said, power never gives in without a demand, it never did and it never will! The entrenched constituents
who have been the benefactors of such an unequal system will never voluntarily give up the exalted position that breads their butter for them.
In reading the tea leaves, some of them have stepped forward to offer that they are willing to SLOW THE RATE OF INCREASE in the costs of
health insurance to help the economy to forestall efforts at major reform. They have also put big bucks into their lobbying efforts BETTING ON
ALL OF THE HORSES, REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC, in an effort to buy supporters on both sides of the political aisle.
The Democrats, who now have a filibuster proof majority of 60 votes in the Senate with the addition of Al Franken from Minnesota, must
forget about trying to compromise with a party that has no interest in going there. If the so-called “Blue-Dog” Democrats and those who are in
the hip pockets of the entrenched status quo benefactors can’t find a way to go along with the program, then they should be called out and
exposed for the traitors that they have become. When I think of these individuals and their potential to solve such important and life-saving
legislation, I feel the same way I felt about those who, on ideological basis, were against the wonderful possibilities of stem cell research. I
used to feel that those who are so adamant against such promise should, once the healing miracles are put forth, be denied access to them
because they worked so hard to make sure that they were not possible. While it feels so easy and so good to say that none of these politicians
should be allowed access to universal health care for themselves or anyone in their families, my sense of humanity tells me to back away…
That’s a secondary issue and needs no more focus. The real issue is what will the Democrats do now that they are in the position to get it done
— both in terms of the Congress and President Obama? What will they do to “get her done on the health care issue?” Everyone from the
rednecks to the middle class will be all the more better off with these reforms. Those who fail to toe the line on this issue should be called out
and targeted for the 2010 elections.
Americans of all economic persuasions — healthcare and health insurance reform. If you listen to the likes of Mika Brzezinski, Joe
Scarborough and Rush Limbaugh, you would think that it is a lost cause. They have promulgated the tired predictable response from the AMA,
the Hospital, Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries that has been put forth to hoodwink the American public in the past. This position, which
was swallowed whole hog by the Republican Party, warns and threatens that these reforms must be defeated because no American wants to
have a bureaucrat between them and their doctors. This false line of reasoning further posits the ridiculous notion that the Democratic health
care and health insurance reform solutions are nothing more than socialism and that it will bust the budget and break the bank!
Well guess what, the 47 million Americans who HAVE NO HEALTH INSURANCE, HAVE NO ONE between themselves and their doctors
because they have none of either. They are at the mercy of emergency rooms or urgent care clinics where the cost of medical treatment is at
its extreme. Those who have some modicum of health care insurance coverage also know that they have big issues to be concerned about.
Those who represent the spectrum that goes from low to middle to slightly upper class know that they too aren’t very happy with the scope and
cost of the health care coverage that they are receiving. They know, more than others, that it is not the FEDERAL BUREAUCRAT that is making
the call on whether or not they, their children or their parents will get the quality treatment that they deserve. No! They know that the person
calling the shots between all of them and their doctors is the bureaucrat who serves THE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES who will
determine whether or not any and all treatments and coverage are approved or denied!
As Frederick Douglass once said, power never gives in without a demand, it never did and it never will! The entrenched constituents
who have been the benefactors of such an unequal system will never voluntarily give up the exalted position that breads their butter for them.
In reading the tea leaves, some of them have stepped forward to offer that they are willing to SLOW THE RATE OF INCREASE in the costs of
health insurance to help the economy to forestall efforts at major reform. They have also put big bucks into their lobbying efforts BETTING ON
ALL OF THE HORSES, REPUBLICAN AND DEMOCRATIC, in an effort to buy supporters on both sides of the political aisle.
The Democrats, who now have a filibuster proof majority of 60 votes in the Senate with the addition of Al Franken from Minnesota, must
forget about trying to compromise with a party that has no interest in going there. If the so-called “Blue-Dog” Democrats and those who are in
the hip pockets of the entrenched status quo benefactors can’t find a way to go along with the program, then they should be called out and
exposed for the traitors that they have become. When I think of these individuals and their potential to solve such important and life-saving
legislation, I feel the same way I felt about those who, on ideological basis, were against the wonderful possibilities of stem cell research. I
used to feel that those who are so adamant against such promise should, once the healing miracles are put forth, be denied access to them
because they worked so hard to make sure that they were not possible. While it feels so easy and so good to say that none of these politicians
should be allowed access to universal health care for themselves or anyone in their families, my sense of humanity tells me to back away…
That’s a secondary issue and needs no more focus. The real issue is what will the Democrats do now that they are in the position to get it done
— both in terms of the Congress and President Obama? What will they do to “get her done on the health care issue?” Everyone from the
rednecks to the middle class will be all the more better off with these reforms. Those who fail to toe the line on this issue should be called out
and targeted for the 2010 elections.
