My wife and I are uninsured. She is uninsurable because of pre-existing conditions. I cannot afford the $1,500 per month it would cost to insure me. We exemplify this country's problem. On Labor Day, we were in an automobile accident on Interstate 10. Our vehicle was totaled. We were, by the grace of God, unhurt. Had we been injured, we would likely have lost our house and all that we have. Had we been badly injured, we might be dead.
The health care bills before the House and Senate will solve each of our problems. They will make us both insurable; they will forbid exclusion of my wife's pre-existing conditions; they will make the premiums affordable for me. Now, tell me.... how is not enacting the proposed health care reform, with or without a robust public option, good for us or or for the country?
If liberalism means telling people like me and my wife, "Sorry, you'll have to stay uninsured because my liberal principles say a limited public option isn't good enough," then f@#k liberalism. Politics is the art of the possible, and for the liberal, it needs to be doing what's possible for the most good for the most people.
People are hurting. People like me, my wife, and 50 million other Americans. If instead of offering them a cup of cold water we engage in intellectual masturbation and political games, we can't be proud of ourselves.
To paraphrase Paul Wellstone, politics isn't about being a lefty or a righty, it's about helping people.
The bills that can be enacted, do all of the following:
• A change in the healthcare delivery system by emphasizing primary care physicians instead of specialists, preventive care as well as treatment, and compensation for results rather than number of procedures.
• Coverage of everyone, so that we don't have to rely on the "Bush system" of emergency room as healthcare.
• No more denial of coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
• No more cancelling policies because you get sick.
• A potential financial fix for Medicare so that it doesn't any longer threaten to bankrupt our country.
So if liberal purity stands in the way of dooing all that, and allowing me and my wife to get insurance and healthcare, then liberals better get prepared for the same kind of thrashing we got in 1994. And we'll deserve it, because we're supposed to be the ones who care, the ones who don't say "die quickly," or "find an emergency room," because our political philosophy doesn't allow us to help you.