Monday, August 17, 2009

It would be laughable if...except health care is so damned important




This health care debate is not a debate. The right wing attackers are part of an orchestrated disinformation campaign that avoids any real information the way vampires avoid sunlight. And for similar reasons. I say, let the sun of reason and reality shine in !

What is this oddly familiar sounding 'scary' idea of 'death panels' ? The idea that single payer health care would cause a scenario that it could actually cure? “Sometimes for the common good, you just have to say, ‘Hey, Grandpa, you’ve had a good life,’ ” as FOX news Mr. Beck said. Or the idea that public health care means a monitoring of "... treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost-effective,” Just swap out "federal government" and put in "insurance companies' and you have the present living hell of managed care. Have any of these people who we see "enraged" by the idea of government supported health coverage experienced "managed care" today? The gate keepers, now, are the profit driven health insurance companies. No one gives a sweet damn how we feel about Grandpa's life or anyone's life. We get care where the hospital must worship the bottom line.

Recently we had many conversations about the delivery of care to our terminally ill mother. We heard over and over what she could or would not rec eive based on her condition and "what the insurance companies will pay for." This is what is real. The right wing scream machine manipulates people's fears, ends debate and tries to stop people from thinking. Have these people been in a hospital or with a loved one in need of care ? Then they will know without a doubt that we already have gate keepers and patients are regularly denied even a bed and basic care because they are not "sick enough". And this is all according to the insurance guidelines based on what is profitable.

This health care debate is not a debate. The right wing attackers are part of an orchestrated disinformation campaign that avoids any real information the way vampires avoid sunlight. And for similar reasons. I say, let the sun of reason and reality shine in !