By Mary MacElveen
December 16, 2009
As a non-paid editorialist for nine-years, I do not know how many Americans I shall reach as opposed to the main-stream media within the United States. But, here I go. At this point, I do opine that the current healthcare reform(?) bill presently before the Senate MUST be killed off and voted down. It will not help Americans by and large, but the insurance companies that some senators wish to protect at any cost. That cost is human lives. Please keep within your mind’s eye human lives through out this column.
Yes, we have heard not only from the president, and senators as well as some on-air pundits this is the best bill they can deliver at this point. To me it sounds as if they are trying to sell us all a ‘clunker’. They will cherry-pick the better highlights of this bill without delving into what is the worst this bill has to offer. Such as forcing Americans to purchase health insurance from private health insurance companies and if they do not what awaits them is a swift fine. In essence as Keith Olbermann opined turning those who refuse into “law breakers” Is this the best our elected senators can do for we the people, turning innocent Americans who are too poor to purchase these policies into law breakers? To that, I add, they have no business being in their elected offices. Besides, if someone does not have a job, how in the hell are they going to pay these insurance premiums?! Let us NOT FORGET that our national unemployment rate stands at 10.2 percent and where states such as Michigan, 15 or so percent. Exactly where are these new customers supposed to get the money to pay for these premiums. Rub a magic genie-bottle and wish for a huge windfall?
While some will solely demonize, Joe Lieberman, let us not forget others who seek to squash real healthcare reform and those are Republicans as well as Conserva-Dems. They too are to blame. What lies at the foundation of these senators voting habits within their body are those that own them and they are various insurance companies. In the case of Lieberman; Aetna. They donate and dictate how they will vote. No reform can be had until true campaign finance reform takes place, period! It must get back to we the people elect these representatives and not corporations. The sad fact is that will never occur since politics breeds greed.
Those ‘tea-party-baggers’ who seek to squash this bill are NOT doing so on behalf of suffering Americans, they are misguided fools just marching to the beat of the loudest voices within Washington, D.C. and the pundits who control their minds. Pundits such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. They are controlled by sociopaths such as Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann while turning their backs on their fellow Americans who are suffering and in so many instances dying. They will even listen to a pundit, Sarah Palin who is strikingly sounding more like a conspiracy theorist than a former governor.
While some of my readers may wish for me to take a swipe at Lieberman, here I go. Lieberman has always been a strong proponent of Israel. He has even been called, the ‘Senator from Tel Aviv’. As we all know, we give monetary aid to Israel in the billions of dollars each-and-every year. But, do you know what? Israel and not the U.S. has socialized medicine. Each-and-every Israeli citizen gets to see a doctor where Americans do not. What say you, Lieberman?
In the past nine-years, I have written for a Venezuelan news site, VHeadline.com and I can tell you that ALL Venezuelans enjoy UNIVERSAL healthcare aka socialized healthcare from birth-to-death. It may NOT be perfect, but at least they are not traumatized when they become sick. They get to see a doctor. They do not have to fret as to how they will pay for their doctor’s visit or hospital stay, it is paid for by the state. Does that occur here in the United States? No it does not and shame on all of us for not demanding the same care for our fellow citizens. Some may scream at the sheer notion of our government paying for healthcare, yet the overwhelming majority say nothing when it comes to paying for hit squads such as Blackwater. Remarkable. They will scream at how much true health reform will cost, yet fall lock-stepped behind a government who continues to wage war in the Middle East.
Point of fact: During the Bush years, the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez wished to deliver health care via eye-surgery for America’s uninsured through his ‘Mission Miracle’ program. He wished to sponsor 110,000 patients each year for ten years. Venezuela would provide the transport to Cuba and where Cuban doctors would perform the eye surgeries, but the Bush administration shut them down. Over that time-span over a million people’s sight could have been restored or aided through socialized medicine. Hey, tea-baggers: What do you say to that?
You will hear some on-air pundits state that this bill must be passed in its present form, but we must remember, they have health insurance. So, can we actually trust in their wisdom as millions go without? Please remember who signs their paychecks. Corporations. For once, I would love to hear from those who are presently uninsured or underinsured. Ask how they would feel being forced into the hands of private health insurers. Ask the thousands who have been served by the free healthcare clinics sponsored by Countdown’s, Keith Olbermann in key states to shame those who oppose real health care reform. Then again, there is no shaming those who live day-to-day while pretending to serve we the people when they do not have a conscience.
Please take time to listen to this Countdown interview between Lawrence O’Donnell and Dr. Howard Dean. Dean expressly states where health insurance companies will be allowed to charge some within our demographics higher premiums under this bill. You know the over fifty crowd who towards the end of their lives succumb to ailments such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. He also stated to pass key portions of this bill and leave the over-arching reform when the new congress comes back in 2010. While he is gambling with the fact that Republicans can take back control, still the passage of this bill is truly a gamble the American people cannot afford and does nothing to aid them.
In essence the feeling I get through this healthcare bill is that these health insurance companies are trying to claim our assets and we must all say: Claim denied.
This bill must go down to teach this Democratic majority a lesson that they were elected to change the atmosphere in Washington, D.C. and to actually change the way things are done and not a continuance of the way things have been done in years past. They were elected to by we the people in astounding numbers in the past presidential and congressional elections, yet they have not delivered when it comes to this issue or job creation. This past election cycle proved that the electoral force that voted President Obama into office did not even bother to show up as the incumbent New Jersey Governor, Jon Corzine, Nassau County Executive, Tom Suozzi, and the Democratic Virginian gubernatorial candidate went down in flames. All suffered humiliating defeats at the polls.
To those who have a strong allegiance to this president please ask yourself: To whom should your allegiance go? A sitting president or someone who is at death’s door because they could not go and see a doctor to cure them of a disease that is curable? Who deserves your allegiance as many face bankruptcy from medical bills or will be forced to pay for healthcare which can also lead to bankruptcy?
But, let us not concentrate on their elections or elections to come, let us remember what is at the heart of this debate and that is human life. Today, tonight, tomorrow, next week, next month and next year, so many people will die unless this country gets its act together to pass true health care reform. Me, I would prefer single-payer, or a bill that contains a strong public option. We who are insured are all but one pay-check away from our own healthcare crisis. The lives lost due to a person’s lack of healthcare is far greater than the numbers taken on September 11th, 2001 and we went to war for those deaths. Yet, this government fails to wage war on health insurance industries who deny claims which translates into thousands of deaths. The deaths related to a lack of health insurance still scream out for mercy. It is up to all of us to hear their voices and put pressure upon our elected officials. Until then, kill the bill in its present form.
To President Barack Obama, I ripped into your plans to send more soldiers into Afghanistan and rightfully so. Should you sign this healthcare bill in its present form into law, I will back a true progressive candidate that chooses to primary you for the 2012 presidential election. My fellow Americans who live day-to-day without health insurance are more important to me than your presidency. That equally applies to those within congress. Those who side with health insurance companies and not the American people who suffer so, are truly the enemy of the people.
Author’s email address is, xmjmac@optonline.net
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