Healthcare Reform Calls for Unthinkable Sacrifice
Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.
Today, there was a lot of news on the Healthcare front. It seems as if everyone is having some kind of problem or another with the way things are going. We have Corporate Democrats and Republicans who seemingly want no reform and are stalling for time, we have others calling for the states to take responsibility for a public option, and we have union middle-class workers crying foul for being expected to sacrifice even more as the drama rolls on.
First, we have Corporate Democrats and Joe Lieberman crying that they need more time before debate can be allowed in the Senate Finance Committee "to review" before even debating in the Senate Finance Committee:
Every step of the process needs to be transparent, and information regarding the bill needs to be readily available to our constituents before the Senate starts to vote on legislation that will affect the lives of every American. The legislative text and complete budget scores from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) of the health care legislation considered on the Senate floor should be made available on a website the public can access for at least 72 hours prior to the first vote to proceed to the legislation.
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/senators-ask-reid-and-...
This despite the fact that these bills have been debated endlessly in the press over and over. Every right-winger and Corporate apolegist has told us why they are voting against it even when it does not include a public option and is corporate welfare. Of course these "centrists" do not care how long it takes because they are living high on the hog on the best insurance possible provided by the very people whose own insurance and much needed savings are being delayed.
I have a great idea. Since we are so worried about "tranparancy", why do these "centrists" not devulge to the public exactly what benefits they have at the expense of the American taxpayer, how much it costs them, and better yet why do they not rescind these "government run" benefits until they can find a solution for the rest of us?? How is that for transparancy??
Better yet, Republicans on the same committee sounded mysteriously like their partners in "corporatism" in the Democratic Party:
Health care reform is a monumental task that will touch the life of every American. Before the Committee votes to report the legislation out of Committee, it is important that all Members have a thorough understanding of the cost of the legislation and how individuals, families, and businesses will be affected.
You know what I want to ask all these hypocrites in both parties?? Where was all this concern about all members understanding the cost of the legislation that many of them rubber-stamped without oversight that led us into the failed War in Iraq while dropping the ball in Afghanistan?? Where was all the concern about how much of the taxpayers money would be wasted and worse yet how many of our brave young Americans and innocent people caught in the middle across that region would die?? Of course now we know how that affected many businesses. They got no-bid contracts and fleeced the American taxpayer, and soldier out of untold hundreds of billions of dollars, all while allowing many of our injured sons and daughters to come home from that theatre and heal with the cockroaches at Walter Reed Hospital.
Where was all this concern to know how America would be affected when they jumped to vote for legislation that stole away generations of Constitutional protections with the Patriot Act and the FISA law for no other reason than to seemingly try to cover up their own incompetence in being lied to and not living up to their Constitutional mandate of providing oversight to the Executive Branch??
But now, when some money may be spent to help the working poor and the middle-class all of a sudden they are worried about knowing these things?? Give me a break!! What a bunch of complete and total hypocrites and sellouts!!! I have news for them, if the American people really paid any attention to any of this they would all be packing up to go find real jobs.
Then we have Senator Ben Nelson "warming" to a public option compromise. The compromise?? Let the already cash-strapped states deal with the responsibility of Congress:
“It all depends on the details,’’ Mr. Nelson said. “But I think there is a legitimate argument for giving the states an option to solve this problem, which is essentially an insurance problem.’’
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/senator-ben-nelson-dem...
You know, with the CHIP program, and with Medicaid it seems that the states are already dealing with much more of this problem than the Federal Government. Has Mr. Nelson and Mr. Carper honestly looked at the status of most of the state's finances?? Where are they going to get any money to deal with this crisis.
It is time that our Congress and our Executive Branch on the national level lived up to their responsibilities. The states have not the resources to solve this problem and quite frankly should not have to. What about all the Americans who are without insurance in Conservative states where this is a non-starter?? Are they just fed to the wolves while other Progressive states go further into debt to try and solve the problem?? This seems pretty cowardly and amounts to a total shirking of responsibility. That seems to be what these folks do best.
This same Ben Nelson still wants a "bi-partisan" approach to healthcare:
He said it would be difficult for him to vote for an overhaul of the health care system that does not have bipartisan support. The question, of course, is whether one or two Republican votes would make the measure acceptable enough to Mr. Nelson and other conservative Democrats.
“I see two endings,” Mr. Nelson said in the interview. “One is we find areas we can agree upon and we begin to do things incrementally, taking more of an insurance approach, not a government approach.”
http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/ben-nelson-still-wants...
Well you know something Mr. Nelson, I still want Cameron Diaz to have my love-child but somewhere along the way I figured out that it just was not going to happen. The last sentence sums up exactly what you want, either a huge giveaway to big insurance, or for everything to blow up and for you to be a hero to your corporate pals.
Lastly, we have union workers crying foul that in the Senate Finance Committee they are to be expected to foot the bill for healthcare reform. Unions, after seeing the working American sacrifice so much in wages and benefits in the last several decades are vowing to fight this:
“We will fight pretty doggedly attempts to tax benefits because we’ve paid for those benefits over the years — we’ve forgone wage increases, pension increases, days off and everything else to get those medical benefits,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told POLITICO recently.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28013.html#
And how many workers have foregone wage increases WITHOUT those benefits?? How many have foregone being able to join the middle-class and how many have lost their jobs, insurance or never had it in the first place??
For something this monumental to be achieved it will take sacrifice from all Americans. Government must sacrifice and create a plan to compete with insurers and offer affordable insurance to those who do not have it. Insurers must sacrifice and become more competitive if they hope to survive. Finally, Americans must sacrifice and take the responsibility of insuring themselves if coverage is made affordable.
However, all we seem to be hearing is that the working American will be the only ones that will be sacrificing. We will be mandated to buy insurance from the same crooks that caused a lot of the problems while those very aforementioned crooks will recieve billions upon billions of more corporate welfare they can put in their pockets and still rip off the American worker because they send just enough money to the very Republicans and Corporate Democrats who are hell bent for leather to make sure that no working person in this country gets a break, be it wages, insurance, or any other kind of benefit or fruit of their labor besides what the powers that be determine they are willing to give.
I can tell you one thing right now. Americans damn well should be mad as hell about what they are hearing. We are being insulted and told that we do not deserve the same benefits that these very folks that are raising such a fuss right now enjoy because quite simply put we are not as good as them.
The fact of the matter is that people like this have been picking this country clean and have caused a myriad of problems which includes gutting our middle-class and crashing our economy. The working man, the states, and everyone else in this country has sacrificed time and time again except the rich, the powerful and the corporations. Nobody else has anything left to give because these greedy, imbecilic folks have taken it all and now their only solution to the problems they caused is take more.
It is time THEY sacrificed with a real healthcare bill that provides a robust public option offered by the FEDERAL government. It is time they raised the money by repealing the huge tax breaks these folks have enjoyed and by demanding that the folks that have profited so much from the blood, sweat and tears of the working American gave some of it back for once. It is time that if a mandate must exist that THEY are mandated to cover the employees whose labors have borne fruit for all but themselves and their families.
Any thing less is a travesty and an insult to every American that is working hard and falling further behind. And that my friends, is way too many Americans.
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Well said
Thanks for the excellent article. I do have to say about the so called "centrist" our politicial system has moved so far to the right that back in 60s and 70s these so called "centrists" would be called conservatives. Another thing these so called "centrists" make Richard Nixon look like a progressive.
A Health Care Pledge for Conservatives
Dear fellow human being,
I wrote the below pledge to eventually publish, but I would like to get inputs and tips on how to improve it, or add things to it that might make it more effective. I would appreciate all ideas to improve this 'pledge' to drive home the ridiculousness of not having a public option and affordable health care for everyone.
My brother was a veteran of the US Air Force. He worked hard 12 hours a day to support his little 8 year old son. But my brother could not afford health insurance. And for the 'crime' of being poor, my brother was sentenced to death because he could not get the care he needed when he needed it the most.
Joseph Edward Rolirad
December 17, 1971- October 29, 2002
Veteran, US Air Force 1994-1998
My brother's fate was determined by conservatives without souls who sold out to the insurance industry in 1993 when they blocked all health care reform. These same evil people are trying to block health care reform again, and if they do, their indifference and lack of compassion for their fellow man will lead to the deaths of an additional 45,000 people who die each year because conservatives believe the poor, and people down on their luck, are as 'expendable' as my brother.
My brother's little 8 year old son lost a wonderful father. I lost the best brother a person could ever have. My parents lost a beautiful son. I have morned my brother's passing every day for the past seven years. But conservatives do not care. They only care about insurance company profits and CEO bonuses. They cite cost, but ignore their own professed beliefs that competition is the best way to bring down health care costs.
I urge anyone reading this to support a PUBLIC OPTION so that we can reign in the evil powers of corrupt and soulless insurance companies. No person who has a soul can continue to support such an evil, corrupt system where people are dying every minute so that a few can make billions.
Please remember my brother, and the 45,000 others like him, and pass a PUBLIC OPTION which will FORCE the insurance industry to behave honestly. No one in America should receive a virtual 'death sentence' because they are unable to afford quality health care. The 'crime' of poverty should not be a capital offense. Not in my country. Not in America.
I wrote the pledge below for conservatives who are against any and all reforms to the current health care system. I know the pledge would never actually be taken by any conservative, because they would never risk the lives of their loved ones by refusing government funded health care. But it serves to point out the absolute absurdity and hypocrisy in their professed conservative 'values'.
I constantly wonder why there are so many government leaders who are not speaking out forcefully for those like my brother. Why are they so silent? Is it because they have sold out to their corporate pimps? Is it because they have no regard, empathy or compassion for their fellow man? How can anyone be against reforming of a system which is so inept, so corrupt and so filled with waste and rampant greed. It does not serve our nation or our people and it needs to be changed, now.
All the best to you and please help to do something to stop the deaths of 45,000 people who are dying each year who are just like my brother.
Thank you very much. Please help save even one other person like my brother.
Sincerely;
Larry S. Rolirad
A HEALTH CARE PLEDGE FOR CONSERVATIVES
As a Conservative who DOES NOT have Health Insurance:
I, ___________, as a conservative who DOES NOT have health care insurance, do hereby refuse all health care paid for by the government. I pledge if I become sick, or a member of my family becomes sick, that I will refuse to be treated by any doctor, hospital or emergency personnel if the cost for these services will in any way be subsidized by a state or federal government.
I, ___________, as a conservative who DOES NOT have insurance, do hereby pledge to wait one year from the time of my first symptoms until I go to the emergency room of a government funded county hospital because I believe the 45,000 people who die every year because of access to health care deserve to die, because they are really deadbeats who could afford health insurance if they wanted it.
I, ___________, as a conservative who DOES NOT have insurance, do hereby pledge to never accept any medical technologies, innovations, treatments or medications that were paid for, subsidized or developed using government funds because I believe them to be 'socialistic' and therefor evil. I know capitalistic 'for profit' companies will always act in the best interests of human beings, and never attempt to profit off of a person who is sick or dying.
I, ___________, as a conservative who DOES NOT have insurance, do hereby pledge that if I am too sick to go to the hospital I will not call a government sponsored '911' program, because I believe such emergency services to be 'socialistic' and therefore 'evil. I furthermore pledge to just sit in my house and die along with the other 45,000 people who die each year due to lack of access to health care if I cannot afford life-saving medical treatment.
As a Conservative who DOES HAVE have Health Insurance:
I, ___________, a conservative who HAS health care insurance, do hereby pledge to never disagree if my insurance company refuses to pay a valid claim, for I know they would never do anything to hurt another human being for money.
I, ___________, a conservative who HAS health care insurance, do hereby pledge to remain subservient to my insurance company and will never disagree if they refuse to pay for a valid claim by stating that it is related to a 'pre-existing condition', even if the condition has nothing to do with my current illness.
I, ___________, a conservative who HAS health care insurance, do hereby pledge to always agree with my insurance company even if they use some obscure loophole intentionally inserted into my policy to deceive me and to prevent me from getting the health care I need to remain alive.
I, ___________, a conservative who HAS health care insurance, do hereby pledge that I will not accept medical treatment until such treatment is first approved by an insurance representative, even if I know that the representative is rewarded financially for denying valid services to me or my family. I will readily and eagerly accept the decisions of the thousands of current 'death panels' used by insurance companies so they can make even bigger profits off of those they victimize.
I, ___________, a conservative who HAS health care insurance and believes in tort reform, hereby pledges to never hold an insurance company liable or to seek justice in a court of law, even if their acts are criminal, deceptive or if their dishonest acts lead to the death of one of my family members.
I, ___________, a conservative who HAS health care insurance, do hereby pledge to not accept medical treatment even if I need life saving emergency treatment if those treatments are not first approved by an insurance bureaucrat. I refuse to admit that insurance companies are already using 'death panels' to kill people for profit.
FINALLY, as a CONSERVATIVE:
I, ___________, as a conservative who believes everyone should be independent and that no one ever falls on hard times in their lives, do hereby pledge that if I break any of the pledges above and receive any medical care for me or my family that I will agree to sell my house, use my retirement, sell my automobiles, cash in my children's college funds and use all of my assets to pay every dime of what I owe, even if my family and I are left destitute and homeless. I further pledge to repay every dime I make working at a burger joint or as a greeter at Walmart to first repay my medical bills before buying food or housing for my family. I further pledge to pay any interest rate on any balances due, because I believe corporations and banks should be allowed to charge anything they want, even interest rates of 30, 40 and 50%, rates even the Mafia never charged. I believe in unbridled capitalism and that companies should be allowed to do whatever they want, for I consider capitalism to be my 'god' and CEOs its disciples. I hereby further pledge to praise CEO salaries and bonuses even though I know that for every dollar they make is a dollar that doesn't go to help the sick or dying. And because I was against all minimum wage increases in the past 40 years I further pledge to accept only $1.45 an hour for working at McDonalds or as a Walmart greeter, since it was the minimum wage in February 1970.
I, ___________, as a conservative, hereby pledge to have my parents, or other loved ones, refuse all health care they are currently receiving from any government program, such as Medicare or Medicaid, and I further pledge to pay for all my parent's health bills. And I will further pledge to have my parents move in with me and give them 24 hour care instead of using any government subsidized nursing care or hospice care services, since I know such services are evil since they are 'socialistic' and therefore evil.
I, ___________, as a conservative do hereby pledge I will continue my condemnations of the poor in the Charles Dickens story, "A Christmas Carol", because I know Bob Cratchit's family were lazy deadbeats who could pay for their own health care and gotten help for their son, Tiny Tim, if they wanted to. I believe Tiny Tim should be prevented from getting health care and die, because he is poor.
I, _________, as a conservative believe in individual rights for CEOs and business owners like Ebenezer Scrooge, but not for individual rights to life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness for those who are poor, downtrodden or oppressed. Also, because I believe the poor in the Bible were deadbeats, I will continue to condemn Jesus because he was an evil socialist because he healed the sick for free, he fed the hungry for free and he lifted the spirits of the downtrodden for free. I also condemn the Good Samaritan for not charging to help that poor, beaten man who was left for dead on the side of a lonely road. I believe that the priest and the temple assistant who first found the beaten man and left him for dead without helping him did the right thing and that the Good Samaritan was an evil socialist, because not only did the Good Samaritan help the beaten man, he even gave him money so he could feed and cloth himself.
I, _________, as a conservative further condemn Jesus for always attacking the rich and praising the poor, because I know CEOs and the wealthy are the true sons of god because, after all, look at how much god has rewarded them. I believe those on Wall Street deserve to make as much money as possible by using schemes and scams, like the guy who made 3 billion in 2008 alone. As a conservative I believe it is right that a person who makes 3 billion behind a computer producing nothing for his fellow man or society. I believe that Wall Street should be paid 86,000 times more than hard working teachers, firefighters, police officers and nurses, all of whom actually contribute to society and help their fellow man.
I, _________, as a conservative who always trusts the government to start wars, trusts government to bomb people, trusts government to spy on people, trusts government to incarcerate people without charges, trusts government to torture people, trusts government to arrest people without warrants and trusts government to use secret wiretaps on people, do hereby pledge to continue to distrust government to help heal sick and dying Americans.
I fear government intrusion into my life, but I cheer on corporate intrusions on my privacy, my livelihood, and my life. I fear any government attempt to heal people, yet trust government to kill, maim, torture, arrest, incarcerate and execute people.
I, ________, as a conservative, make these pledges in the name of the 'god of unbridled, unregulated capitalism' and in the names of its disciples, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck. Amen and amen.
A Conservative's Prayer
by Larry S. Rolirad
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I bless Rush Limbaugh my soul to keep,
If I should die before I wake,
I'll rejoice in what a CEO will make.
Amen, and amen...