Evan Bayh, the senator from my home state who continues to not represent me in Congress, says he is "wary" of enacting a public plan, telling the Wall Street Journal the public is tired of government solutions after the Wall Street Bailout, GM, and the stimulus.
“We’ve bumped up against the tolerance for government action,” Sen. Bayh said.
Well, I've bumped up against my tolerance for Bayh and his miserable ilk - wealthy congressional power brokers who think it's okay for their corporate buddies to suckle freely at the government teat, but suddenly they can't spare a dime when it comes to supporting the welfare of the average frickin' joe.
To me - and I know this will sound dangerously crazy to the corporate lapdogs at work in the Capitol - the real question we should be asking about health care is:
Can we afford not to?
Yesterday's census numbers - already explained here and here - clearly substantiate what we've known all along, namely that more Americans are falling into poverty - last year (the latest data available) poverty rolls grew by another 2.8 million, or a nearly 7 percent increase. One in eight Americans lived below the poverty level before the worst fallout of the recession even hit.
As noted by a news item posted to the website of the National Low Income Housing Coalition:
Even more troubling was the rise in the number of people in deep poverty. Those in households earning less than half of the federal poverty threshold rose by 7.69%, or 1.2 million people, to more than 17.0 million people.
And the Urban Institute pointed out that the number of American folks living in poverty could grow to one in seven by the end of this year. For readers who want to know more, the Institute has an outstanding series of reports that spells out the Consequences of Poverty, but I want to cite the summary here:
Homelessness, poor health, hunger—poverty’s consequences can be severe. Growing up in poverty can harm children’s well-being and development and limit their opportunities and academic success. And poverty imposes huge costs on society through lost productivity and higher spending on health care and incarceration. (emphasis mine)
And while such reports necessarily note the monetary costs, I submit the human costs are far greater. It's impossible to quantify the pain and suffering that results when just one human being is unable to receive health care because his or her family is unable to pay.
We now have the opportunity to implement programs that will reduce the number of present and future Americans who will face this dilemma. How can we afford not to act?