I haven't written much on my thoughts concerning the current debate on health care in our nation, but I have been following the mainstream media and the blogosphere, in addition to reviewing some of the bills being considered by congress, to get a grip on what's happening with the debate and what direction we'll soon be heading in regard to how we all will access health care. Doing so hasn't been easy, and this difficulty is due to the fact that nobody seems to know what's going on, or where we are heading.
What I do know is that health care is not a partisan, conservative vs. liberal, issue. Virtually everyone agrees that there are huge inequalities in our health system and that millions of people are at the whim of profiteering insurance companies who are just as likely to reject claims of people with serious illness as they are to accept the charges and then drop their coverage. When a person's access to health care is determined by a corporation who's focus is not the health of their customers, but the health of their own bottom line, grave injustices occur and people go without adequate health care and sometimes lose their lives as a result.
Sadly, but like so many things in life, we are unable to comprehend the difficult position which people are placed in when they are unable to acquire or lose their health insurance when they need access to health care. For those who push ahead and enter into massive amounts of debt in order to be treated for serious illnesses, their lives are often left in ruin as they lose what they've worked for their entire lives; the insurance which was supposed to protect these people all too often fails. The individual loses everything, while the insurance company profits from premiums paid while their former customer was healthy.
This is the reality of the situation, and as health care costs continue to rise at a breakneck pace, this will be the reality that more and more people find themselves in. It could be you, and it could be me who find ourselves facing a diagnosis that is going to wreck our lives even if that illness is overcome.
We need health care reform, and we need it soon. The Obama Administration is making this reform a top priority while considering such reform as a large piece to their economic puzzle. President Obama has set forth guiding principles for possible health care legislation. Here they are:
- Reduce long-term growth of health care costs for businesses and government
- Protect families from bankruptcy or debt because of health care costs
- Guarantee choice of doctors and health plans
- Invest in prevention and wellness
- Improve patient safety and quality of care
- Assure affordable, quality health coverage for all Americans
- Maintain coverage when you change or lose your job
- End barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions
These are the goals of health care reform. As congress works to sort out how to accomplish these goals, through various committees and bills, a lot of confusion has emerged and this uncertainty has provided an opening for politicians, lobbyists, and others who'd prefer the status quo in regard to health care to convert the uncertainty of the people into fear through the spreading of distortions about bills being considered and the goals of the Obama Administration and the Democratic Party.
The result of this fear campaign has been the rallying and expansion of so-called "tea baggers" who've been protesting against President Obama ever since his election and inauguration. Their energies have been precisely harnessed to fight against health reform by those who have the most to gain, even if those doing the protesting have the most to lose. Their talking points are carbon copies of the distortions and outright lies being spread by the likes of Sara Palin and Newt Gingrich.
Unfortunately, it's a lot easier to drink the weak tea brewed by the "tea baggers" than to actually get the facts and enter into an intelligent debate over the complexities of health care reform. The problem is that their arguments are unsubstantive. While I am going to push for Obama's guiding principles to be followed, I don't see any reason to try to reconcile the various bills floating out there or argue one against another. The truth , and this is perhaps the most critical evidence against the "tea baggers", is that it makes no sense to get emotional over legislation when it still doesn't exist in a form worthy of a massive public debate.
The puppeteers behind the "tea baggers" are targeting health care for political gain. For them, it's not about the millions without insurance or those who stand on the every edge of losing everything if ever confronted with an illness. They don't care because they can afford not to care. The rest of us can't afford to not care, including the "tea baggers".
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