Reform: has America Failed Itself?

I find myself disappointed. I think we have allowed the government to all but ruin the health care reform. The real question is, in the future when the peopleare reluctant to allow the government to fail at yet another reform, will we take any responsibility? Because, to be honest, this is a lot bigger than propaganda and party assertions: this is the future of a health care system that does not work.

FACT: ¾ of people who file for bankruptcy because of medical procedures have insurance when they get sick – they go bankrupt anyway.
FACT: Up to 11 million more people will be eligible for Medicaid under the current reform (a burden that states must take up by raising taxes in order to support).
FACT: It costs $350 billion dollars a year to pay for paperwork alone between private doctors and insurance companies – a number that would probably pay for the reform itself, if it were given half the chance.

With numbers like these, how has anyone been hustled into thinking the health care system shouldn't be reformed? The funny thing is, I was unaware of these numbers before I read a Rolling Stone magazine a few days ago. The particular article was in an issue that was a few weeks old and, with a cover that discussed the Beatles break-up, I did not even know it existed until I stumbled upon it. Here is what I learned about the so-called reform on accident:

The 'public option,' which alone had the potential to fix the system, no longer exists. The Democrats folded to the demands of the health insurance companies before the fight even began. It seems the insurance companies realized they would have to compete with the public option and probably lower their prices. Personally, I think a little healthy competition never hurt anyone, but the insurance companies do not agree. As a result: the public option will probably cost just as much as private insurance and private insurance costs will rise as a result. Pardon my use of popular text-jargon, but WTF?

So what happened to the strong position held by the Democrats after the election? It was practically given away through private compramises with insurance and drug companies alike. More recently, a little help from people like Limbaugh and Palin caused the Democrats to lose what public footing they had left.

What is the real problem here? It is the fact that we have the worst health care system of the ‘developed’ world. Despite this fact, it still all comes down to politics.
Example: of the three Republican representatives in the ‘Group of Six,’ one has received over two million dollars in campaign money from private insurance companies (the other two have garnered over half a million each). That is about three million dollars more than I have to make sure my interests are protected. How about you? (Of course, the Democrats are not innocent here either: campaign money is campaign money.)

We are, as a country, fearful of government overhaul (with which I full-heartedly agree), but what about when it comes to the monopoly of a system by a few big, greedy companies? You need only think back to the banks that single-handedly monopolized the economy, sending it flailing into the abyss, to realize how bad this could get. So when are we going to stop feeding into the smoke-in-mirrors? When are we going to realize that it has nothing to do with Socialism or Death Panels or Obama moonlighting as Hitler and everything to do with individual politics?

I am willing to bet that, just like me, most people do not realize that Obama has done nothing by way of oversight since the entire debate started. This is about Congress and the Senate and, regardless of how sincere the hopes are of the individual members, both falter when it comes to campaign politics. Technically this is what we want: Obama has stepped back and handed over the responsibility to our individual representatives. Unfortunately, we have all but forgotten that they need to be kept in check.

In Obama’s reform, a main component was employer responsibility to provide acceptable insurance to employees. This ‘choice option’ has all but disappeared as well. Employers still have to provide insurance, but it no longer has to be the acceptable kind. In addition, insurance companies may be able to reject people if they refuse the insurance offered by their employers (or charge more money than they can afford). In some forms of the bill, there may even be tax penalties for rejecting employer-based insurance and remaining without coverage. Why? This option gives employers the competitive edge by offering cheaper (and crappier) insurance, which, in turn, allows them to pay less. In the same breath, state taxes decrease because less people will be eligible for Medicaid. Of course, private insurance companies will prosper by charging higher rates for coverage – a result of competition with the public option. Everyone wins, right? Yeah: everyone except the people.

The public has technically been lied to without being lied to – the reform has, in fact, upheld both the public option and employee rights to employer-based insurance, but we haven't exactly been told the (insurance-friendly) specifics, have we? Where, might you ask, did this screw up come from? The screw up comes from the fact that President Obama decided to keep his much-needed adult supervision to a minimum. This is apparently what reform without big government looks like. As 'the people,' we have failed to ask the right questions. We forgot, somewhere along the way, that each member of the government (regardless of affiliation) has their own personal interests in mind and those interests might not necessarily jive with the public's.

Though Obama’s lack of direction is hardly the main culprit, his silence on the issue is just as much an assertion of guilt and failure as the propaganda surrounding his so-called intentions. When it comes civic duty, we have all forgotten that the members of Congress and the Senate are people, regular ol' Joe's. I think we have lost sight of the fact that it is also our job to make sure our interests are protected. We cannot just trust our representatives to do everything all at once - this is power, we are talking about; power that extends beyond party affiliation.

You know what the heart of America really is? It is not Capitalism. It is not being unwilling to apologize for the mistakes our government makes. It is not trusting the government with things like the Patriot Act to show our patriotism. It is Thomas Jefferson when he said every government needed a ‘healthy’ revolution every seven years (pun not intended). It is the fact that we, as citizens, are allowed to question the moves our government makes (and not just the president). The spirit of America, of patriotism, lies within government accountability - within each respective branch and the people it serves.

A good friend of mine, who is also a conservative, has a few pre-existing conditions that have been causing her panic in relation to insurance coverage. One of those 'conditions' requires frequent MRI's that would, by themselves, cost $4,000 each without insurance. Should she be forced to pay a ridiculously high premium and monthly expense to be covered in ways that probably still will not ensure all of her procedures are taken care of? No. She should have an financially feesable option that will not reject her (or force her to sell an arm and a leg to afford) because she has 'conditions' - we all have 'conditions.' As a result, like me, she has begun questioning the individual motives of those in charge of the reform. I owe it to her to question this reform, to write this article so that others, too, can question what they learn. We, each of us, owe it to ourselves to not get carried away with party propaganda and fear-tactics meant to distract us from the truth. What is the truth?

The truth is, we have been played like pawns by mass-media outlets who entice revolution over the wrong things. This reform is less like a reform and more like a re-run, but who is protesting that? This time, when I end my long-winded article, I am not speaking to Obama or the misguided Democrats - I am not even speaking to the Republicans who are obnoxious in their denial of the need to change the system. In essence, we hold the gavel - which is, if you think about it, the reason for all of the distracting propaganda in the first place.

Grow some cajones. Guess who I am talking to now?