They Lie

 

I have written about health care before but over the past couple of months the whole dialog has turned into bizzaro land from the wacko right. Watching the people yelling “We Want Our Country Back!” while holding up posters with Obama with a Hitler’s mustache is disgraceful. These people have no ability to think for themselves or understand the difference between socialism, communism and fascism and are the same people who take as gospel the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Rush Limbaugh has been saying on every show he has done that the “New Deal is Dead” and then plays a song that makes fun of homeless people. This at the same time he signed a $400 million contract last year. Now here is a guy who really cares about the very people to whom he preaches his hate speech. Many of those listeners who don’t trust the government have no trouble collecting government funded social security, Medicare or unemployment insurance after their jobs were shipped to China.  

What side were Conservatives on when Social Security and Medicare were passed? If you said against you are correct. Even the Right Wing Icon Ronald Reagan did an Anti-Medicare commercial in the 60’s saying we were now heading down the road to socialism, a fear we now know was unfounded. What side were Conservatives on when Bush gave massive tax breaks to the top 2% income earners while the nation was at war? I’m afraid Conservatives were fine with giving $1.6 trillion in tax breaks while putting the war and everything else on the people’s credit card. Somehow Conservatives are also fine with Limbaugh saying when Obama got elected, “I want him to fail” all the while embracing their own failed policies that have brought this country to its knees.  

Yes we do need health care reform! We need to have at a minimum a public option that allows for all Americans to have affordable health care. What does it say about us as a nation where the Bush tax cuts could actually have paid for a public option? What does it say when we can put war on a credit card while the reason 55% of Americans file for bankruptcy is because of burdensome medical bills? What does it say when people truly believe that we would create Death Panels? What does it say when a local small business owner who makes around $40,000 has to pay nearly $13,000 for health insurance for his young family?  I guess for Conservatives and Right Wingnut talk show hosts that is just fine. How come we can spend trillions of dollars on our military so that we will never again lose 3,000 lives to terrorism and yet according to a recent Harvard Medical Study 45,000 deaths per year are linked to the lack of health insurance coverage? How come we do not have the willingness or for some the intelligence to do both? 

So when Sarah Palin and Senator Grassley say that Obama is going to pull the plug on granny, they lie. When they say we have the greatest health care system in the world, they lie. When they say you will not be able to see your current doctor, they lie. When they say federal dollars will be used for abortions, they lie. When they say we have a great health care system when the poor have to go to the emergency room to have a wart removed, they lie. When they say we can’t afford it, they lie. When they say the current system doesn’t put insurance companies’ profits ahead of people, they lie. Oh, I miss the old Conservatives like William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater; at least they could conduct a reasonable debate based upon intellect and civility.

As a person who has personally had serious life threatening illnesses recently, I know first hand that we have wonderful and caring people in our health care system. If I even thought for a moment that I would have to give up going to my doctor, who I know saved my life, I would be the first one demonstrating against any health care changes that would make me lose my doctor. It isn’t the health care profession that is broken; it is our current health insurance system. I do think Medicare needs to be fixed so that proper payments are given to doctors but those who say government can’t provide decent health care should take note of the high patient satisfaction of those using the Veteran Health Administration.  

Let me end with asking one question, why is it that if a person commits murder and is sentenced to life in prison, he or she will get free health care courtesy of tax payers, but 45 million citizens who have committed no crime have no health insurance at all? I guess to Conservatives Jesus shouldn’t have healed the sick because leprosy was a preexisting condition or He should have at least checked their co-pay!