Health Care Reform That Makes Most Americans Sick
Posted: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
by Jean Purcell
OpineBooks.com
The Congressional health plan, made up now of two negotiable bills, is an increasingly pitiful and yet grand failure of an effort at health care reform. How can a reform proposed by one of the most disreputable Congresses in American history be otherwise? The outcome cannot, surely, be proudly approved by any democratic or respectable legislator or voter or citizen. If the plan receives the necessary votes in favor, it will remain a failure.
The so-called health reform plan, as it now is, will not cover enough now-uninsured Americans, in spite of its claims to do so. It might penalize people who do not use insurance as a matter of principle or conscience, such as religious or other legally recognized reasons.
It plays favorites. In penalizing so-called "Cadillac Plans," people who opt for the same level of care, no more and no less, than federal employees and Congress and the Executive Branch, the Plan assures that non-federal employees and Congress and Executive Branch insured will have to pay taxes on their superior health insurance. In other words, Congress, the Executive Office (President, Vice-President, et al.). and federal employees will not have to pay taxes on the same insurance level other Americans buy. I learned these facts from a statement by a courageous Democrat from Illinois, serving in the U. S. Congress now.
This so-called health care reform is not that at all, and further, it plays favorites. IF the auto union-member exemption goes through that will be another group to be favored. Next year, will we see threats from teacher's unions and others for the same? And where will that leave everyone else, when many over-paid workers, protected by the union life-time memberships, are given special exemptions and special privileges and the many who are underpaid are left out in the cold? What about nurses, doctors, and non-union street cleaners, garbage collectors? This federally proposed and forced health care legislation makes me sick. Even if it goes through Congress with flying colors, its effects will be unhealthy for all that a democratic process stands for and ever has stood for. A pox upon those that do not care about those who have no "special interest" standing! If we do not stand up against power that disguises actions as "for the lowly" while rewarding the powerful, who are we? How do we account for ourselves? We'll be sick, surely, if we do not speak out, write, and try to do something to keep this sham of a plan from going through. Either way, however, it's a failure as an "American reform."
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Hi Jean,I am still wondering what happened to the campaign promise that "we will all (including Congress) recieve the same health care." I don't usually discuss politics because I have a very strong opinion, but I am suffering some huge bills even with insurance for the maladies I have to live with. Thanks for the article.Love, hugs and blessings,Michelle
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