The Bell Has Rung on Health Care

On the eve of the death of health reform its time to reflect on just what was the whole debate about. Was it a battle between another government give away program and the basic need for health care? In reality it was a battle between the haves and the have nots. It was painfully ironic that the key to the death of the bill was the election of a senator from Massachusett’s Scott Brown, an anti health reform candidate in a state whose previous senator Ted Kennedy championed the cause of health reform. Also interesting was the fact that anti-abortion groups backed Brown even though in his own words he was “a firm supporter of Roe vs Wade….” It appears the health care defeat was more important then the ideology of the groups. Even though the health care bill allows states to opt out of paying for abortions the facts seemed to be lost in the debate.
“We don’t want to pay for people to get health care.” Besides the fact this statement sounds callous many don’t understand that we all pay for it anyway. When a non-insured person goes to an emergency room who do you think pays for the care? Everyone with health insurance! You really don’t think the hospital just sucks iot up do you? They pass it on to people who have insurance.
Another fact lost in the debate is that seven insurance companies in the US make all the medical decisions for all policy holders in the US. So you thought your doctor was controlling your care? Not. Insurance companies set quality of care, approved procedures, and what tests your doctor can order. I find it especially disturbing that those oblivious Americans seem convinced that an all-inclusive, not-for-profit, government-facilitated health insurance system would be somehow worse than allowing private sector insurers to continue bilking them and denying their claims.
The biggest flaw of all in the system is the denial of people with pre-existing conditions. If you ever have a medical problem and leave your current insurer you will be denied entry into another plan for as long as you live. Even if your medical problem was cured with no chance of return you are “statistically” a risk.
I blame most of the loss of the health plan on the president and the Democratic leadership. When Nancy Pelosi announces the death of the plan Wednesday she better look in the mirror to see who to blame. The party can’t get their act together. That’s what they need to work on before attempting another bill. The president just bit off more then he could chew at once. He needs to pick his fights carefully and not start them all over the block.
So health care is dead at least for now. It will come up again make no mistake about that. Health care will become a reality but only after the arguing parties get their collective heads screwed on right. The bad point is this will only happen after many more will die from lack of adequate care. And that is the real tragedy.