Back to Square One (may not be a bad thing)

Health Care Reform is headed down a back alley of compromises in the name of bi-partisanship. That’s a fool’s errand. The loss of the Democratic Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy for about 4 decades could be a blessing in disguise for those of us who think the current iteration of the health care bill is light years from its original intent. The bill coming out of the Senate to be melded with the House version is NOT reform. It is, at its best, a bandaid to cover the uninsured and underinsured. At it’s worst, it is a giveaway to health insurance companies. We have a festering wound that is costing business and individuals in affordability, accessibility and quality health care. The insurance companies stand between me and my doctor today. Their motivation is greed. My company’s health insurance premiums just went up 15% for this next fiscal year. We probably won’t get a raise this year. Last year our premiums rose by 20%. Those increases are unsustainable by business and by individuals. We need the public option to keep insurance premiums from bankrupting us all. Actually, it would make more sense to expand Medicare. Medicare for all! If Congress wants to support business, they could take away one of the most expensive business operating costs, health care premiums. Business could then reinvest that money to grow and expand. Our national economy would grow, jobs would be added, salaries would rise, the deficit would be reduced by the collection of taxes on higher wages. It’s cyclical. We need a Congress with guts to do the right thing or they won’t have to worry about getting elected again in 2012. If the Dems screw this up, they will all wind up like Martha Coakley, defeated by a nude model, and actor who shoplifted record albums as a boy. Oh yeah, he’s a Republican from Massachusetts who wants to help defeat health care reform. Massachusetts already has universal health care thanks to former Republican Governor Mitt Romney. It’s working. Massachusetts voters focused on the economy and jobs issues because they don’t have to worry about their health care. They voted for the candidate who ran a campaign about a lack of fiscal responsibility in Washington DC. It worked! Maybe it’s a good thing. Now we may be forced back to square one to craft a real health care reform bill with at least a public option, I hope.