A Closer Look Here, There and Everywhere
by Trish PurcellMuch is happening in Washington right now that will affect all of us for years to come and health care reform is at the top of the list.
This is not the time to sit by and watch what is happening. It is not the time to complain to each other about the lobbyists and special interest millions pouring into Washington coffers. This is the time to counteract the effect of special interests' money and efforts with a public outcry too loud to be ignored. It is the time to deluge members of the House and Senate with phone calls, emails, and letters, letting them know what we the people want them to do about this important issue.
President Obama said, Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. What we want in the way of heath care reform will not happen if we do not take his words to heart; if we do not push and push and keep on pushing until our so called representatives actually start representing us.
We are living with the results of not pushing on important issues:
- Think about what Congress did on the Medicare prescription coverage - it put millions of dollars in Big Pharma's pockets and millions of seniors in a doughnut hole. And now they are solidifying the position of pharmaceuticals in the current health care debate by agreeing to not remove the prohibitions against negotiating drug prices and importing drugs from Canada.
- Look at The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. The provision that would have really helped families by letting judges readjust mortgages was killed by real estate industry money.
- Remember the energy bill passed by the House recently? It spread cash among oil, gas, utilities and agribusiness after 34 energy companies spent $260,000 a day lobbying members of Congress to change and compromise the bill.
- And there is a bill meant to protect us in case of terrorist attacks on chemical plants that has been altered so that hundreds of factories can skip paying to prevent the release of deadly toxins.
This is the kind of legislation we get when we leave it to our elected officials. This is what happens when we sit and watch or just complain to each other about special interest money and influence. It takes vigilance and action by the people to have responsive representatives in our government. We can not just elect these people, send them to Washington, and then assume they will serve our interests. We know from experience that it just doesn't work that way.
So start today contacting Representatives and Senators - not just your state representatives but also those on the committees writing the health care reform bill as well as the Blue Dog Democrats who talk out both sides of their mouths when it comes to health care. Remember these Blue Dog Democrats are from conservative areas - that was the only kind of Democrat that could get elected in those states. But this health care issue concerns a lot of conservatives not just progressives. The Republican Senators and Congressmen may be united against this reform but all of the Republican people are not.
This is an issue that we the people can unite on even when our bought and paid for officials can't. We need to talk to each other. We need to make sure everyone understands that the fear mongering about government dictating and limiting doctors and treatments is a bunch of you know what. The insurance companies are doing that right now but government run Medicare is not.
Those who think they have such great insurance have probably not experienced a serious illness. That is when you find out your "great" insurance can just be pulled out from under you when the insurance company decides you are too expensive to keep as a customer. Or if you reach a point where you can no longer work because of illness, you have the wonderful option of COBRA which is unaffordable if you aren't working so you wind up with no insurance. Other than the very wealthy, none of us can depend on our health insurance being there when we need it for as long as we need it.
Fear of increasing the deficit is another part of the negative rhetoric. Isn't it revealing of where the loyalty of "our" representatives' lies when they don't worry about increasing the deficit to give a huge tax cut to the wealthy, but are oh so disturbed by the idea when it is for something that serves the interests of the people.
And enough already to those who are promoting a state regulated insurance co-op as a compromise for the public option. That is acceptable to the insurance companies so you can be darn sure it is an inadequate substitute. It would delute the negotiating leverge a public option would have and that does not serve the best interests of the people. Let these elected officials know that we want real health care reform and that selling out to the health insurance companies will bring the wrath of the people down on their heads.
President Obama cannot make these reforms happen without our loud and persistent voices backing him. If we expect things to change it is up to us to help make it happen. If we want to take our country back, if we want the Washington status quo to change now is the time to demand that change - loudly, clearly, and repeatedly.
If you did not see Wendell Potter's interview on the July 31 Bill Moyer's Journal, do yourself a favor and follow the link to read the transcript. And then pass the information on to everyone you know. Potter was a senior executive in the insurance industry for 20 years. They cannot claim he is a disgruntled ex-employee because he left of his own volition when he finally saw the "human face" of people affected by the way insurance companies do business. In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Potter stated:
I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand -- or even to obtain -- information we need. As you hold hearings and discuss legislative proposals over the coming weeks, I encourage you to look very closely at the role for-profit insurance companies play in making our health care system both the most expensive and one of the most dysfunctional in the world. I hope you get a real sense of what life would be like for most of us if the kind of so-called reform the insurers are lobbying for is enacted.
We need to heed his words and make sure our lawmakers understand what selling out to the health care industry means to us and to our country.
Another nice piece of writing and when I read this line in your blog I got all fired up.... "Let these elected officials know that we want real health care reform and that selling out to the health insurance companies will bring the wrath of the people down on their heads."
My only problem, though, is that I don't know what to tell those elected officials that I want because I don't know what I want.
I'm reminded of the story of the two little mice who lived in a brewery. One day Harry discovered a leak in one of the big vats and as he lapped up some of the beer that had run out on the floor he said to himself, "Hey, this is pretty good stuff. I better go find my buddy, Al, and share this good stuff with him.
When Al tasted the beer he was equally enthusiastic and the two little mice lapped up the beer as fast as it leaked out on the floor. After a little while the beer began to sharpen their senses, as alcoholic beverages are apt to do, and Henry came up with a great idea. He turned to Al and said, "Say, tell you what we should do. We should go upstairs and write a letter to Arnie and tell him what's wrong with the way he's running Cawlyfornia." "Good idea," says Al, "but first let's just have a little more of this good stuff."
Some time passes and more beer goes down the hatch and then Al says to Henry, "Shay, tell you whats we otter do. Stead of writin to Arnie, les write a ledder to Obamer and let him know whats hes doin wrong in Washerton." "Great," says Henry, "but firs les us jiss have a little smors of this good stuff."
After a while, when time doesn't matter much to the two little mice anymore, Henry sits back on his heels, wipes the foam from his whiskers and says to Al, "Tell youse whut. Stead of writtin all them ledders, uts jist go upsteers an lay the cat!"
Now if I hadn't joined AA in 1966 that little mouse story would have been my answer to health care reform. But as it stands, I believe Obama needs to hire the finest ad agency in the country and really sell his plan to people like me. Then he should hire all the out of work real estate agents to sign people up for a chance to get The Real American Dream!
(Should be as easy as selling Cabbage Patch Dolls or Hula Hoops.)
Just off the top of my head here are a few of the things I want: insurance that pays for treatment when someone gets seriously ill instead of being withdrawn because the medical claims interfere with company profits; insurance companies that won’t withhold payment causing people to die sooner than they need to: insurance that doesn't cost so much that millions of people cannot afford it; insurance suppliers who don't try to claim pre-existing condition even when the doctor says it's not; insurance premiums that don't increase every year by double digit percentages.
Feel free to borrow any or all of these to tell your elected officials.