Health Care Debate Takes An Ugly Turn

GOP wants to preserve the staus quo.





The debate about providing health care coverage to all Americans is descending into an ugly turf war. Some Republicans, such as Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), only care about bringing down Obama. DeMint said recently, during a conference call on health care reform, "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
Some say small businesses will suffer if they have to provide health coverage to their employees or that the country can’t afford to provide a "government plan"
The simple truth is the country cannot afford to keep the status quo.
Initial costs for implementation of a national health care plan may be expensive but the benefits will far outstrip the negative. Imagine if all employees were healthy and could count on health care for them and their families when they need it. Healthy workers, with healthy families, would be more productive workers, more reliable workers and happier workers, knowing that a catastrophic illness in their family would not bankrupt them and they would be able to get needed medical care. How much is that worth?
It is clear that most folks don’t want to see their taxes go up any at all, even if it means helping the 45 million who have no health coverage. The proposed taxes would be small increases on incomes above $250,000 per year, the same folks who got eight years of tax cuts under the previous administration.
Another criticism of the health care proposals is that people will lose their insurance and be forced into a one size fits all government run plan. That is not what the President has proposed. Here is the text of an email sent from his office;
"If you already have health insurance: reform will provide you with more security and stability. It will limit your own out of pocket costs and prevent your insurance company from dropping your coverage if you get too sick. You'll also have affordable insurance options if you lose or change your job. And it will cover preventive care like check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.
If you don't have health insurance: you will finally have guaranteed access to quality, affordable health care, and you can choose the plan that best suits your family's needs. And no insurance company will be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition."
At the moment the opposition is focusing on knocking down straw men. Rick Scott heads Conservatives for Patients' Rights (CPR) and appears in many of their ads. However CPR has been running deceptive and misleading ads attacking reform as a plan to impose Canadian or British style health care systems which is patently false.
Scott is the former CEO of Columbia/HCA Healthcare. Scott's former company was the subject of a seven year investigation which charged Columbia/HCA with fraud and led to a $1.7 billion fine.
It is clear that some Republicans have a vested interest in torpedoing health care and that heir fundamental drive is to bring down Obama at all costs. Hopefully the American people can see through their ploy and help get this important objective accomplished.