U.S. House of Representatives passes Healthcare Reform Bill!

It’s only taken about a hundred years to get to this point. Healthcare reform, particularly relating to health insurance has been a long time coming.

PBS-Healthcare Crisis: Healthcare Timeline gives a nice overview of exactly how long healthcare has been an issue in America. Another such timeline can be found at The New York Times website. Wikipedia covers similar information but with a strong focus on more recent activities on it’s History of health care reform in the United States page.

Health care reform in the United States, another wikipedia site, gives some interesting insights into how the U.S. health care programs compare to those of other countries. For instance:

• “The leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the United States is medical debt which is almost unknown in other countries of the developed world.” (para.1)
• “The United States spends a greater portion of total yearly income in the nation on health care than any United nations member state except for East Timor, although the actual use of health care services in the U.S., by most measures of health services use, is below the median among the world’s developed countries.” (para.1)

In paragraph 2 of that article you will find some of the discussion concerning party lines.

• “According to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the United States is the “only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage”.” (para.2)
  • Maybe, this is part of the reason why so many American companies are moving overseas? If health care is not an issue that gets included into the overall production costs, it is possible that some of those jobs going overseas would stay here in the U.S.A.

• “Those in favor of universal health care argue that the large number of uninsured Americans creates direct and hidden costs shared by all, and that extending coverage to all would lower costs and improve quality.” (para.2)
  • Anyone who has worked in hospital/clinic settings can pretty much tell you that there is no such thing as free treatment. If losses are incurred, they are spread out to everyone. Your insurance rates go up in order to pay for the unpaid bills of those who cannot afford to pay, collection company fees, and legal fees.
• “Opponents of laws requiring people to have health insurance argue that this impinges on their personal freedom.” (para.2)
  • If this is true, then work out a way to make sure that those who choose not to have health care don’t get a free ride on taxpayers or on those who do pay for health care. However, make it possible for all who want health care to be able to afford it, then it is a TRUE choice not an inability to afford what they would like to have.
  • Isn’t it infringing on personal freedom if some people are force to have to pay for the medical care received by others?
  • Oh, and how do you deal with that little issue of doctors and hospitals not being able to refuse care?
    

Why is there so much resistance to health care reform? Simply because of the amount of money to be made? (Keep in mind that Income in the United States (Wikipedia again) shows that 15.82% of households and 5.6% of individuals have an income of over $100,000 per year. Clearly the vast majority of U.S. citizens would be exempt from any increased taxes.

Now take a look at Wikipedia’s Income inequality in the United States and you will see a clear trend where income increases are directly related to where you are on the economic food-chain. Those who are in the very top brackets of income have significantly higher increases in income each year than other groups. In fact, the more someone makes, the higher their increases.

The hidden trend in all of this is that in our political system, MONEY is the key ingredient to getting elected. If the top 10 to 15% of the population hold the bulk of the money, and therefor hold the bulk of political contributions, can you really expect elected officials to take stands against those financial powers? You should be able to and many of our elected officials may do just that if they live in areas where those top 10-15% income people live.

The battle for health care for all is certainly not over. Perhaps, though, it points towards an even greater battle that should be addressed far more aggressively than it is currently being addressed, Campaign Finance Reform. I cannot help but wonder how many of these long, drawn out battles like health care reform would not exist if the playing field for candidates was equal. How much more attention would be paid to the status of all citizens if money were not being used as a lever to manipulate elected officials.

Unfortunately, it is often the amount of money behind a candidate instead of the candidates values that determine the outcome of elections. Then there is the issues of the lies and intentional misleading of people. Any elected official that intentionally distorts the truth not worthy of your vote.

Then, there is the biggest problem of all. Candidates for office are likely to take a position based upon what will get them re-elected rather than what is right for the majority. Since we have such low voter turnout in this country, we end up with minority rule. It takes a strong person to stand in opposition to the minority that voted them into office in order to do the right thing for all the people they are elected to represent. This argues for the use of term limits for ALL elected and appointed positions.

The recent battle over health care reform shows features of all of those other issues as well. Campaign finance, honesty and integrity of elected officials (intentional misrepresentation and lies), and minority rule (created by voter apathy) are all issues that are in play with every issue presented to elected and appointed officials. There are a lot of things that can be done to improve the system, but each of those things require one common denominator – that YOU the citizen take your right to vote seriously.

We need elected officials that work with facts not fear. We need honesty and integrity in our officials AND in our voters. We need open government that encourages citizen participation. We do not need ‘parental figures’ in office dictating. We need elected officials who will work in partnership with the citizens that they represent to make OUR country all it can be and to see that every citizen is treated fairly and honestly. I realize that what I hope for may be against ‘human nature’ as we have been taught to perceive human nature. However, I believe that it is possible for us to revise our perception of human nature, to set aside anger, fear, selfishness, and greed to work together for the good of all. All of the above (anger, fear, selfishness, and greed) serve to deafen ears and silence voices. With those loses, we lose the very creativity and imagination that can take seemingly insurmountable problems and turn them into new ideas and approaches to problem solving. What wonders would occur if we could but listen and speak freely.

Remember, your vote is the greatest equalizer that you have going for you. Your vote counts regardless of your income level, your health, your religion, your sex, your race, your ethnic heritage. One person – one vote – one voice that is equal to each and every other voice in the country.