Health care reform is scary if they get it wrong...

McCain wanted to tax health care benefits. That's insane, McCain. One of the myriad reasons (other than Sara Palin's being a heartbeat away from the presidency) that I did not vote for the Republican ticket. Now that scenario is back on the table. We need to make it MORE affordable, not LESS affordable. If I am taxed on my health care benefits at the absurd cost they have risen to today, I will take home a lot less than I have been living on. That kind of reform is not reform. What else do I cut out of my existence? I need to pay less than the almost $6,000 per year in medical premiums and other medical costs that I pay now. The powers that be ARE NOT LISTENING to the Nurses Union, doctors, and others who advocate a single-payer system. And there are those who are trying to scare the bejesus out of us again about how health care as we know it now will cease to exist. I certainly hope it ceases to exist in it's present expensive, elitist state. Health care now is outrageously expensive, inadequate for the uninsured, a drain on our small businesses, and unfair when insurance companies decide whether they want to pay, or not, for life and death procedures. Of course, the pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and anyone else at the table who is against logical, reasonable, sane reform, will definitely lobby the congress and if we are lucky nothing will change for the worse and real reform will just be deferred for another 30 years. If we are unlucky, the changes will be good for the medical community and MORE expensive for us. If you are young, you might think you don't really want to get involved in this discussion. If you have children you are probably mildly interested in listening to the debate. If you are close to retirement, you will soon be on Medicare and these points, you think, will be moot for you. But if you are looking at another ten years before you can retire, this may be really important. In ten years you could be working for another GM or AIG or some company that downsizes your job. The first to go are usually the older employees. After you have used up all your savings putting your children through college, and your 401K is just a piece of paper, you have been laid-off and used up all your severance pay, the spectre of having a catastrophic illness without having insurance may keep you awake at night. If your children think they are out of this loop, think again. Who is going to take care of Mom and Dad when they are sick and have no money? And remember, if it can happen to Mom and Dad today, it could happen to your children in about 20 years when they are looking toward their retirement. History has a way of repeating itself because we weren't listening the first time. Real, meaningful reform with an eye to the future seems to take a backseat when health care is treated only as a business. Care is part of health care. There are smaller, poorer countries on this planet that provide basic health care for their citizens. If we can keep sending rockets and rovers to Mars, we can provide basic health care for our people. As Yoda said, "Do or do not, there is no try." It's that simple.