What will it take to make us see..

Sad to say not much time tonight for the blog… but we can’t ignore the health care reform issues of the day. So here are a few thoughts.

Pundits abound who tell us that Congress is destined to pass a health care reform bill before Christmas, thanks to the tireless efforts of Senator Max Baucus and the incredible courage of Senator Olympia Snowe. The Finance Committee bill is held up as the model for the final version Harry Reid and company will present to the entire Senate, and negotiate in conference with the House.

The biggest complaint we hear, from diverse perspectives we might note, is that the “Baucus Bill” won’t significantly reduce costs of health care, and thus might accomplish a few good things, but won’t survive for more than a year or two.

We must agree. Without a public option, this plan will not reduce costs. Read some of our previous blogs, and you’ll learn why. The insurance companies will not fail to live up to our criticism and raise premiums and inflate care costs. The tax burden will increase, as will private plan premiums. In a few years, we will all recognize the failure as millions more can’t afford insurance and get fined $1,500 for that privilege, and the rest of us sell our RVs and time-shares and desperately seek a second job to afford coverage. And the deficit will continue to climb.

Republicans will say it was because government can’t do anything right. Democrats will say it’s because we didn’t go far enough with our reforms. The people will be screwed again, and no one will have a better idea that we didn’t already reject this time around.

As Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota pointed out, the states with the best health care have the lowest costs. Improve quality, you reduce costs. That HAS to be part of the legislation. And what could be the biggest first step to that than a strong public option that rewards quality and draws Americans to it.

Just read some of the House bills that promote REAL reform. They make sense. They will work. Please please please write to your Congressmen and Senators and tell them not to sell out.


And ultimately, a word about Colin Powell’s remarks from 2007 replayed on Keith Olberman’s Countdown on MSNBC. He warned us about the “terror-industrial complex.” Those of you who are old enough, or actually study history, will know that this is a play on the words of former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A Republican. As he left office in 1961, he warned (apparently unheeded) of the “military industrial complex.”

Powell opined that if we aren’t careful, we will go well beyond appropriate funding our anti-terror efforts. We will let the folks who make so much money “fighting terrorism” impinge upon our freedom and way of life.

How did we all miss this story back in 2007? He was absolutely right, and it has absolutely happened. Just read the Patriot Act. Just ask the people who say we can’t afford to reform health care because we have to balance the budget without touching the money we spend on fighting “terror”.

I just wish Colin Powell had had the courage to speak out beyond a college campus. I wish the press had encouraged him. But that was not to be…

JM