Tag Archives: healthcare public option

Insuring Profits, Not People

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The villains in the healthcare reform battle are the Insurance Companies and the elected officials who accept their money because they are more concerned about getting re-elected than saving American lives.

Fortunately we have a president and some members of congress who are willing to take on these greed-based companies.

President Obama is fighting for us, and we need to do the same. Obama Saturday accurately blasted the insurance companies for airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” and being more concerned about their profits and bonuses than the American people. He is right.

Consider this, 77 percent of Americans favor the public option and more than 60 percent of doctors favor it. The obstacle to healthcare reform in my country is the insurance industry, plain and simple. Obama was spot on accurate when he said, of the insurance industry’s approach, “It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.”

Consider this too. The insurance industry squawks about the establishing of a public option, claiming it won’t work and they can do a better job of providing healthcare for Americans? Really? Do tell? If you believe them, you are wrong. Were this true, and if they really gave a damn about the health of the American family, why aren’t they asking to provide care for those currently covered  by Medicaid and Medicare, both government offerings. Answer? Those covered by Medicaid and Medicare don’t make a lot of money so the insurance companies can’t add to their profits and bonuses.

Again, I plead with all my readers to call your senators and congressmen and congresswomen and tell them one simple thing: If you don’t vote for the public option I will vote against you and I will actively make sure everyone I know votes against you.

Remember, we are fighting for our lives. And they are worth fighting for, believe me, they are.

Fighting for Our Lives: The Public Option

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The healthcare reform battle is a battle between life and death. This is not an understatement. I repeat, this is not an understatement.

The deadly enemy of the public option in the healthcare reform debate is big business. More precisely, the big insurance companies. Even more precisely, greed. It is as simple as that. While lobbyists for the big insurance companies are going all out to the muddy the waters and influence, if not actually write, the current batch of healthcare reform proposals, the whole struggle is, as MSNBC’s Keith Oberman accurately put it recently, our instinct and right to fend off the inevitable grasp of death.

The healthcare reform debate is about life and death, yours and mine. It’s about the life and death of your loved ones, your parents, your children, your grandchildren, friends, colleagues, neighbors. This is what this fight is all about. You and I are fighting for our lives and for the lives of our loved ones. The voices that decry the presence of a public option wholeheartedly (it may be the only thing they put their heart into) support the fact that the design of the current health care system is absent commitments to two key things: health and care.

If you, for even a moment, think insurance companies care about  your health, think again. If you still think it, you are probably in need of a form of healthcare your insurance company will likely not pay for. No doubt there are some individuals who work for insurance companies who do care, but the policies and protocols of these hideous giants don’t give a damn. The underlying philosophy of the current healthcare system is this: you’ve got the chance at a long life if you can afford it.

Make note of the fact that the large majority of those opposing the presence of a public option are not exactly hurting on the financial front and thus have no problem having their healthcare needs met.

Make note of the following truth too, more than 60 percent of doctors surveyed support the presence of a public option. 

And so, we are fighting for our lives. Call or write your representatives in congress and tell them one thing: If you do not vote for the public option I will tell everyone I know not to vote for you when you come up for re-election. Sadly, most, but by no means all members of congress, are more concerned about keeping their job than you keeping your health. So put them in fear of losing their jobs and they might just start fighting for your right to have healthcare.

Quality healthcare is a right, not a privilege.