Harry Reid takes a courageous baby step forward...

Suddenly, the fact that my representatives in the US Senate are Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, is taking on a very personal meaning.

You see, they apparently represent more than half the population of my home state of South Carolina. Which one MIGHT take to mean that their views on important matters will reflect those of most of the state. OK, I know, this is no surprise. But with Harry Reid’s announcement that the Senate health care reform bill that will be presented to the full Senate will include a public option (YAY!!) with an “opt out” proviso for states that choose to pass on it (BOO!!), I foresee the possibility of having a year or so of health insurance coverage that will be ripped out from under me when my state “opts out”.

Since I won’t qualify for Medicare for some years to come, I’ll be forced to keep playing health care roulette, since I can’t afford the only private insurance options available to me with my pre-existing condition.

I’m not crazy enough to dream that perhaps DeMint and Graham will vote for the resulting bill. But I cling to the hope that 60 Democrats and Independents will at least allow the bill to come for an up or down vote, and then the 56 Senators will vote AYE.

At least I am uninsured (who’d ‘a’ thunk that would be an advantage?) – so I would qualify for the plan for the one-year mandate that would be required in all states before they get to opt out. The poor folks who already have a plan, no matter how crummy it is, won’t be allowed to “opt in” to the public option.

Of course, that means the “uninsurable” who are too sick to get coverage from the private industry will be the only people who sign up, and the public option will have the disadvantage of having only the most expensive clients to take care of. So the premiums will have to be higher just to cover the claims. The healthy people, who don’t make claims, will be forced to stick to the private plans, who won’t have the level of expenses that the public option has. Not exactly a level playing field.

All in all, if the reform only results in about 10 or 20 million people eligible for the public option, the potential cost control goes down. There also is word that the “government plan” won’t be allowed to use its clout to negotiate lower prices. So the plan has less chance to deliver the savings and accessibility that was the whole reason for the public option in the first place.

Sen. John Borrasso said today on The Ed Show that this bill is doomed. Americans don’t want the government to cut Medicare and take away their seniors’ benefits. What a crock! The only dollars that will be cut from Medicare are the inefficiencies and duplications that are forcing up costs today. But he spewed the Republican talking points nonetheless.

He went on to say Americans don’t want the government to take over health care, so many states (like his Wyoming) will likely opt out. Can you believe they’re still mouthing that crap?!? They are still playing the fear card that if the federal government gets involved, the delivery will be as useless and pointless as the federal government’s response to hurricane Katrina.

What balls. The Republican Party has been chanting the mantra that government can’t do anything right. They have spent virtually every year, and trillions of dollars, for the past 8 years trying to prove it. They seem to purposely mess up everything they do, and de-regulate every industry that can destroy our economy, our environment, our constitutional freedoms, and our very democracy, so whatever the government doesn’t wreck, private industry can take on. Then they tell us that it is an absolute truth that government sucks.

The absolute truth here is, any government run by people who hate government will suck.

But today, we don’t have a government that hates governing. We have an administration that wants to tackle the biggest problems we face as a nation, and do the best it can for the most people. They want to regulate industries that, left unchecked, have proved they will do unbelievable harm to all but a very elite few of the wealthy and powerful. The current White House will use the models that have historically worked, like Medicare and Social Security. And they will fund them with money that the Republicans would have gladly squandered on war and wasteful pork barrel defense spending, and un-negotiated payments for pharmaceuticals for Medicare.

No doubt it will take more than just four years to correct the damage done by the government-haters who grabbed control of government.

Nonetheless, I hope that somehow, the Senate bill will be conferenced successfully with the House, and a step forward on health care for all will be presented to President Obama for signature. The trepidation seeps in when I hear rumors the Public Option won’t start until 2013. I know House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will push for a 2010 startup, but I’m warned the President will be happy to settle for 2013. Start up the health care roulette wheel again.

So, should I take the time to call or write my Senators? My Congressman, Henry Brown? You bet. I want them to know they are on the wrong side of history on this one. And when the bill is signed into law by President Obama, I’ll start my efforts to make sure my state legislators know they won’t have a cakewalk in dismantling the public option in South Carolina.

Then I’ll start working to encourage further reform to eliminate the problems we haven’t conquered yet. Join me?

JM