During the Democratic Party primaries last year, there were a number of healthcare plans put forward by the candidates, as well as a lot of reaction to those plans.
The one thing to note here? The Democratic candidates actually had plans to reform healthcare in the USA. Not reform the insurance companies and their profit margins like the Republican candidates proposed. The Democratic candidates actually had somewhat detailed plans to REFORM healthcare coverage in the USA.
They all took into account the amount of Americans not covered by ANY healthcare policy. They all discussed the fact that it was a National shame to allow this to continue unabated in the future. Republican candidates said that it was OK to continue, but we needed to cut taxes on the healthcare and pharma corporations in order to bring about REAL savings. Same old shit, same wrong answer of course.
We listened to each Democratic candidates plans for healthcare and then we debated those plans. Like Democrats everywhere, we argued the merits of each plan, slammed a few shoes on the podium when we felt we were not being heard and still.....
one simple thing permeated the discussion. There is no question that healthcare REFORM must be inacted or more Americans will suffer and die that need not do so. More children will go without needed immunizations. More pregnant women will go without pre-natal care. In the end, more suffering will happen within a country that bills itself to be the most progressive and caring country in the world.
How to be the most progressive and caring country in the world when it comes to the healthcare of the people of your country isn't easily won here in the USA. Too many hands in the profit trough of capitalism are skimming off the care we should be receiving. As you've read here many times, it is murder by spreadsheet. That is not acceptable.
We are not just fodder for that haves who consider 98% of us to be the have nots. We are not just numbers. We are humans with all the same incredible dreams and hopes and cares of those that feel they should rule our existance.
Back during the Democratic primaries, TomPaine.com put forth an article that has stuck with me. Please read the following.
A MOVEMENT IS NEEDED
The one point on which all the candidates seemed to agree is that health care reform requires a movement to press opponents toward political compromise. That movement is forming, and the political leadership on display in Nevada is essential to keeping health care on the agenda and pressing for comprehensive action. Movements demand transformative change; they don’t necessarily push for 10-point policy blueprints. And so it was refreshing and inspiring to see all the candidates who came to Nevada agreeing that transformative change is the order of the day.
But when the time comes for the details to be hashed out and compromises to be made, we should remember why American health financing is in its current mess. It’s not because Americans are medical moochers—we visit the doctor and hospital less often than do people in other rich nations, despite having poorer overall health on many measures. It’s not because we burden employers with regulations—the United States is the only rich country where there isn’t a basic requirement of coverage. And it’s not because our insurance is overly generous—ask the millions of uninsured and underinsured whether they feel coddled.
The problem is that health security in the United States is hostage to the choices of insurers and employers, rather than to the choices of the American people. If and when that finally changes, affordable, quality health care for all Americans will no longer be a pipe dream. It will be the American dream.
Please be proactive and feel the need to call your representives today. Call them every day if you feel the spirit. We have to be the movement that insists on this change, or we will receive what crumbs they will allow us. Stand up, be heard!