Health Care Reform

I don't discuss my personal politics very often, mostly because I prefer to discuss such things in person, face to face. Communication is so much more simpler and at the same time more nuanced under such conditions.

That said, I felt compelled to note today that today (Saturday, November 7, 2009) House Democrats passed their Healthcare Reform bill as urged by President Obama with a single Republican (Joseph Cao I believe of Louisiana) joining them for a 220-215 vote (218 were necessary for a majority). The ball is now in the Senate's court so to speak.

I'll simply say that once/if the Senate passes Health Care Reform and a final bill is signed by the President, the real work begins, both to enact the law in an effective manner as it was intended and to critically evaluate whether this law is true reform for the better. So much has happened in a relatively short period of time that it's been difficult to keep track of the content and substance of the bill that ended up going to vote since so much was in flux. Thus pressuring our Congressional representatives to vote the way that serves the people best has been a hazy venture at best. Still it's encouraging to see SOME motion happening, with the hope that it is positive motion.

Don't get me wrong, I'm totally for healthcare reform. Call me a socialist if you want to, but I believe that everyone has a right to healthcare or at least the true opportunity to obtain it. If that means a government mandate, a public option, going to a Universal or Single Payer system, so be it. We're the richest country in the world and yet there is a huge portion of our population that has no recourse if they begin to fall ill except to wait and hope it doesn't end up in a bankrupting emergency room visit. This includes children, mentally ill, single-mothers, basically everyone that can least afford to let illness go untreated. It really is time to flip the broken system and fix everything, even if it means starting from scratch.

My other issue is the mainstream TV coverage of the whole vote. CNN was far more focused on the political maneuverings of the Democrats and Republicans (such as the move to amend by the Republicans as a stalling tactic, and the Democrats bringing Rep. Dingle up to speak last), rather than talking about and dissecting the actual content of the bill so that Americans could better understand what was really at stake. Geraldo Rivera of Fox News Channel did mention some of the basics of the bill but even then it was superficial. I ended up turning the TV at the end of the coverage feeling uninformed and unsatisfied.

I could write more, especially on the Stupak Amendment regarding the prohibition of federal funding for abortion, but it's getting late and I'll save that for another time.