Health Care Reform

Congress hovers over the final action on Health Care Reform this weekend. Spinmeisters from all parts of the spectrum of opinion are spinning, but all this talk is leaving me frustrated. I wrote my letters to my Representatives, and signed my petitions, but I have no illusions. I just want a few words in the blare and noise which passes for debate and discussion.
First, to the "Do Nothings", who say we already have the best health care system in the world: We don't. By no rational measure do we have the best system in the world. Not by mortality, not by lifespan, not by teen pregnancy rates or infant mortality, not by vaccination rates, not by numbers suffering starvation and malnutrition, not by percentage of smokers, drinkers, druggies, seat belt users, and worst of all, not by access. We can all mostly agree that we have the best doctors and hospitals in the world. Just not a health care SYSTEM. Anyone who could call this a system, must, by definition, be a believer in evolution. So any fundamentalists out there, stop claiming that this mess is a system, unless you are willing to acknowledge the logic of survival of the fittest.
To the leftist "Purists", get over yourselves. Insisting on that which is politically impossible, because it is simplest, or even best, sabotages any chance of success. The people who have no insurance can live (longer, better, healthier, and not in fear of financial ruin) without your ideological purity. Even if what they have is not perfect. They have nothing now…how can an improvement on nothing soil your spotless bedsheets?
Doctors, you are generally great, and amazing. But you have been sold down river by insurance companies, and yet you cling to their tidbits, thrown to keep you in line, and dream of the days of Ozzie and Harriet. Sorry, those days are gone. But realize who the foe is. Who has separated people from all responsibility for their health? Who has removed all the forces of economics for the individual with insurance, and displaced them totally on the uninsured, and the docs and hospitals who care for them? The folks who make their money by enrolling healthy, employed people, and taking their money in advance, and then profit by denying care, and blaming doctors for being profligate orderers and prescribers. Clinging to your slavemasters, and blaming the victims is not unusual behavior in hostages. But you need to see your behavior for what it is, and make your escape.
Democrats, where is your discipline? Why is there not only no party line, but no cohesion at all? Does anyone owe the Party any allegiance at all? Does President Obama's and the Party's political future mean less than the individual sound bite for each Congress person? Whatever happened to internal debate, consensus, and then solidarity in the process? It is no wonder the Republicans are licking their chops, waiting for Midterms.
Republicans, or at least those of you who still believe in a two party system, can we hear some principled debate, acknowledge agreement when it exists, and work on consensus rather than confrontation, for its own sake? I blame Newt and followers for creating the vicious partisan divide we now suffer, but I have to admire the relative discipline. Even moderate Republicans have been whipped into line, and never even bleat when outrageous and false things are asserted by their leaders. They know better than Granny Death Panels and the rest, but say nothing. They know they will be shouted down by thugs, so better just to wink and nod.
So where does that leave us? Frustrated, for now. I know that it has become a fact of political life that health care is becoming an entitlement. How that will be managed and paid for is the question at hand. It may offend purists that this is so, but the will of the people is what should rule a democracy, and the consensus of Americans is that everyone deserves access to health care, and freedom from crushing debt, if they should become ill. It will not be acceptable to leave the choices in private hands, unless all Americans are covered, and covered to a reasonable standard, consistent with our capacity to provide the best care in the world. It will not be acceptable to leave out large groups, merely because they do not exert political power. Nor will it be acceptable to favor other groups, because they do exert their political power.
So we wait, and watch our dysfunctional representative system represent, and hope for some order from the morass. But if they fail, we need to remember who stood up, and who let us down, and then get to the polls and speak, in the only voice that matters. Maybe we can make our democracy actually represent us, instead of corporations. Our courts are not going to save us. Our current Congress seems unlikely to rise to the task. But I am always willing to be surprised...