A Health Care Retrospective

Health care reform is on a trajectory to become reality. When the voters spoke in the fall of 2008, they elected a Democratic President and Democratic majorities to both the US House and Senate. And those majorities are about to represent the will of the people and enact an historic first step to, as our Constitution proclaims, “provide for the common defense, (and) promote the general welfare” of our nation’s most precious resource: the strength and health of our citizens.

For those of us who have been watching the misinformation stream coming out of the Obstructionist’s Party on the right, it has been a head-scratching fight. Though the Republican Party had ten years in the majority to study and pass health care reform legislation to their liking, they did nothing. They continued to let an ever increasing portion of America’s GDP get sucked out of our hides and into the pockets of an industry whose profiteering callousness knows no bounds. Every day American families spend 18% and still rising of our household budgets on healthcare. Well, those of us lucky enough to get it. And now the right’s rallying cry is a weak “Code Red.” Indeed, they have waited until the patient is dying on the table to start their inadequate wails of “save us,” blaming those who are trying to sort through a difficult diagnosis as if we caused the disease.

Health care reform has been in the national spotlight many long months, but frankly, I’m not surprised it has taken so long to get the little distance we’ve come. Our Health Care system has been broken by a long string of policies and strategies that have weakened both our economy and our spirits. In August of last year, I wrote about this issue:

The fact is, Americans are worried about their health. That is a real fear. They worry about their kids getting asthma and autism. They worry about their parents having Alzheimer’s, debilitating arthritis, and strokes. They worry about themselves and the specter of heart disease, diabetes, or cancer. We are proud that America has the most fantastic treatment facilities and cutting edge operating rooms. But we are worried that we won’t have access to those facilities when we need them, and we are trying desperately to hang on to what we have. Or what we think we have.

Of course, it hasn’t helped America a bit that in order to gain political advantage, the Republican Party has given up all pretense of honest policy debate and dissolved itself into a mire of hypocrisy and paranoia. Their fanciest trick has been to turn Americans against each other. As we watched the town-halls of August, complete with their choreographed protests and anti-democratic mobs I wrote in this column:

When people are angry at their own government, in a self- governing country, it betrays a level of self-loathing that should not go untreated. .. We have real problems to solve ... Can government ever be the answer? Can government ever help us? Or should we always rely on our family, church, and good luck for answers when life becomes more than an individual can bear alone. The whole conversation takes off from such an unbearably misguided conceit: that we have no power in creating and directing the government and so should fear it. This is an illusion that has been brought on by something. Could it be an engineered state, designed by the corporations that profit off of a distracted and disgusted populace?

Now, as the Congress readies itself to pass legislation, we must look past the hype, the media moment of the day, the manufactured winners and losers of the horse race. No one thinks this legislation is perfect, but the Republican Party needs to start telling the truth about this issue. There is no time to start over, they had their chance, and they lost their majorities.

Perhaps we have reached the end of one battle, but this is really just another step on the long path of liberty and justice for all. Thanks to our Founding Fathers, we are no longer yoked by fealty to King or Crown, but my how the Framers would be appalled by our bent knees before the throne of Corporatism and Profiteering.

I will close the way I closed my column in October of last year, because the job is not done:

So, I hope you don’t blame me when I rub my eyes and wonder what’s coming around the corner, and hope it’s the shape of democracy. I hope that you’ll join me as I make those phone calls to Congress and spill out my 5 seconds of support for health care reform, or forward an encouraging email, or hold a hand painted sign next to a waving American flag.

Now it is We the People’s turn, and bit by bit, this country will turn back to unity and together we will renew the cause of liberty. We must take this first step toward a just and patriotic health care system as a call to all Americans to wake up and smell the coffee!