Health Care Rant

It looks like the Senate has proposed a health care bill under the heading, 'The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act'. The bill will include regulations on insurers, cover 31 million uninsured Americans and will include new Medicare benefits. This will add some relief for tax payers who, if the GOP have their way, would continue footing the bill for the millions of uninsured individuals making emergency room visits or millions spent covering lost economic output for each premature death due to lack of health insurance.

Those who are opposed to this bill don't seem clear as to what exactly it is they are opposing. All this right wing nut hype about a government takeover, socialized medicine and jail time for not ‘buying in’ are unsubstantiated opinions causing confusion in the midst of an important debate. The practice of insurance companies refusing coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and charging the sick higher premiums are issues that affect us all and need to be confronted head-on. Let's not forget the underlying premise behind the need for health care reform is to lower costs and provide coverage to more individuals.

Despite all of the fear mongering and right-wing scare tactics I think the Republican's biggest fear is that this might just succeed. There is also the fact that opponents of the bill are the recipients of millions in campaign contributions. Their main priority is not to satisfy the needs of the majority of Americans, but to do the bidding of the health and drug industries.

The debate over whether we can afford a health care bill in the $850 billion range completely misses the point. The misguided right wingers wrongly assume that doing nothing will cost nothing. In fact, Senate Republicans seem poised to fight against the bill tooth and nail yet do not offer any alternatives. I don’t recall the GOP, including many Democrats, putting up any resistance to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, both of which are projected to cost up to $1 trillion. To all of the fiscal conservatives out there, what have the American people gained in less than 10 years of unprecedented military spending?

The big question for opponents of the bill with annual incomes of less than $200,000 a year. What is it that you are opposed to?