Where Goes Health Reform
Continuing to move forward. I am embarrassed to live in South Carolina, home of one Sen. Jim Demint. Demint is hell bent on defeating a health reform measure simply to hand Pres. Obama a major defeat. This is also the guy who recently compared the US to Hitler’s Germany. Yes, he’s up for re-election next year.
But I digress. The stumbling block, of course, is the cost. Personally, I have faith that the marketplace will respond quickly to the “new reality” and get on the “save” bandwagon. The mindset will shift to stopping and asking, “is this test/procedure going to make any difference?” Products are already appearing on the market that enable people to be monitored at home – anywhere outside a facility – will improves information flow and cuts costs. When companies such as General Electric (“healthymagination”) and Intel are betting big on healthcare, things will happen. Good things. We just can’t envision what they will be.
Whenever anything big happens, there is faith in our leap. The current bills in Congress reflect 60 years of discussion – there is nothing that new that requires long periods of “reading” and “understanding”. We get it. We have to be applying our best thinking and judgment, then jump. It will be messy. It will be uncomfortable. At times it will screw up. But we’re all watching now, and we will fix the problems, make adjustments, and forge forward.
There are a lot of people who are uninsured, and, more importantly, so many people who struggle to pay their co-pays, co-insurance and deductibles. Those out of pocket costs, particularly for drugs, can run into thousands of dollars out of pocket.
It is reasonable for the Democratic leadership to pause and continue to work with the Republicans in crafting the final legislation. But we can’t wait forever. So call and write your representatives – they really do pay attention to personal letters and calls.
