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Jim Killebrew
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Saturday, February 19, 2011
Healthcare legitimately repaired
“The campaign goes on to bring health care in America out of the free market and into the protective custody of government. Those who brought us the postal service and Amtrak are anxious to provide medical service of the same high caliber.” —Ronald Reagan, as cited in “
Reagan In His Own Hand
.”
“We just can’t trust the American people to make these types of decisions. …Government has to make these choices for people.” —
Hillary Clinton
circa 1993, speaking to Rep. Dennis Hastert on the issue of who should control the allocation of money in her health care reform plan.
These two quotes contrasted to each other epitomize the differences between the conservative and liberal viewpoints for healthcare. These two well-respected American political leaders have articulated the heart of the issue. Now we have a new Congress that has garnered a majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives that is being pushed along by the Tea Party Movement to roll-back the Health-care Law that was enacted last year as part of the President’s premier accomplishments.
There is no question that the healthcare system is broken. The cost of illness is prohibitive, sometimes even if the person who is ill has insurance coverage. We hear horror stories of loved ones in the hospital after an auto accident, or after suffering a heart attack or stroke, and the outlandish cost of the care and treatment. There are other instances of the hospital bill being sent both to the patient after discharge and the insurance company for processing; sometimes receiving payment from both sources in effect paying twice for the same service or equipment.
For too long some insurance companies have dropped the insured after years of paying premiums after a claim or two has been made. Pre-existing illnesses have prevented others from even having insurance completely, or only with a very high premium. For those with no insurance the use of the Emergency Rooms around the country have driven the cost of health care even higher, since those who pay have to pay not only for themselves, but for those who receive services but cannot pay.
The problem seems clear enough, and the comments from Mr. Reagan and Mrs. Clinton certainly stakes out the positions on both sides of the issue. Unfortunately the issue and problem has dragged on for far too long. When the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate, in addition to the White House, the law was pushed through primarily on a partisan basis. The result of that stiff-arm tactic was the passage of a law that has been taken to court by at least twenty-two states on the grounds of part of it being unconstitutional. For sure at least two federal Appeals courts have declared that parts of the law are unconstitutional. The challenge has progressed on and will likely be heard by the United States Supreme Court sometime in the future. In the meantime the people who need medical services are caught in the middle and the suffering continues.
If the politicians in Washington DC want to serve the people in the best possible way they need to put aside their differences and come together in a bi-partisan effort to realistically and honestly examine all the facets of the health care issue and come to a consensus about the best possible plan. Perhaps the Democrats believed they did that the first time, but the law failed the cooperation, bi-partisan test. So much so that the American people recognized that the law did not pass the “smell test.” The American people took to the streets in a democratic fashion and pushed back. The message in November 2010 mid-term election sent a strong message to the Democrat lawmakers they cannot usurp the process and go it alone. Ruling against the will of the people has proven to be disastrous on many levels; beginning with those who were turned out of office by the voters.
Lawmakers, both conservative and liberal must “reason together” in a way that puts aside their philosophical views to objectively study each facet of the health care issue and construct sound solutions to include the American people’s interests in the final product. That may include everything from tort reforms to regulatory constraints on practices that have skewed the medical services conservatively or liberally. The solution may require a combination of the free market system as well as oversight of regulations enacted by the government…but always to the favor of all Americans.
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