Amidst all the hoopla about whether or not we will have a public option within a healthcare bill there seems to be an important point that many are overlooking - we already have a public option - one that the vast majority of people value.
The teabaggers and their paid "corporate organizers" have attacked the public option at as many healthcare town halls as they could. Their agenda was simple - stop the debate and stop the discussion about healthcare reform.
We all saw the images night after night - hundreds of outraged (mostly white) citizens were up in arms - angry and frightened that the government would take over healthcare. They likened the proposed public option to socialism and an ominous portent of the creeping encroachment of government in our lives.
They lied about death panels, and the disintegration of the doctor-patient relationship. They painted an Owellian picture of faceless, nameless, unaccountable government bureaucrats making decisions that would end the lives of the old and sick. They claimed that healthcare would be "rationed" if the government were allowed into this sacred arena
And, yet, through it all, these same misled citizens proudly proclaimed their satisfaction with Medicare. In fact, they didn't want the government "messin'" with their Medicare. They were glad they had it, they didn't want to lose it, and they didn't want the government to change it. All of which is well and good, except for the fact that Medicare is a government run health program. And, much like the VA medical care system, it is a government run health program that works.
With all the talk about making a compromise in order to pass a health insurance reform bill, do our lawmakers not realize that the proposed public option plan is already a compromise? It is a compromise from comprehensive healthcare reform - Medicare for all.
Let's lower the age at which folks can qualify for Medicare. Perhaps those 62 and older can qualify next year. And let's keep dropping that age threshhold a year or two annually until all are covered. I can hardly wait until I grow old enough to qualify. I will drop my insurance "like it's hot..."