The Affordable Health Care for America Act was introduced in summer 2009. To say it has been hotly debated since is a gross understatement.
Amid the valid concerns raised by thinking people on both sides of the party lines (costs, possible interference by the government into private lives, etc.), Americans have had to endure pointless partisan bickering and gross misinformation (even health care experts who openly opposed the bill admitted Sarah Palin’s “death panel” scare was fabricated).
With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting 36 to 46 million uninsured Americans, even some of the Obama administration’s staunchest critics have agreed we must address the issues, especially when it comes to insurers outright refusing coverage to those with certain pre-existing conditions, which are often those most likely to fall into bankruptcy from insurmountable medical bills.
The upcoming White House health care summit Feb. 25 is an effort by an eternally optimistic President Obama to replace partisan posturing with bipartisan action that will stem the tide of chronic illness and needless deaths of Americans who have no access to preventive care and thus wait until it is too late — the final stages of a fatal disease — to seek medical help.
The longer this legislation is “discussed,” the more damage will come to uninsured individuals and families as well as our already-hemorrhaging economy.
In fact, earlier this month, Anthem Blue Cross announced plans to increase its costs for individual policies (read: small business owners, self-employed and unemployed COBRA members) up to 39 percent. Likely, other insurers will follow suit.
The Democrats constantly talk about how wrong the Republicans are, and the Republicans constantly talk about how wrong the Democrats are. Is anyone talking about how to meet intelligently in the middle?
We should write to our congressional representatives and demand they take action, whether that means passing some form of the proposed bill — or throwing it out altogether and starting over.
As for some claims that the president’s bill is too ambitious, maybe that’s true. As for other claims that Republicans are foot-dragging on purpose, maybe that’s true as well (read: Rush Limbaugh’s January 2009 comment “I hope he fails.”)
After all, in politics, as in life, usually people will disagree and have their own opinion on how and why things should be done. But the people in D.C. are paid to get things done for the American people.
Or as Elvis Presley once sang, “A little less conversation, a little more action, please.”
