Healthcare-a-plooza: America's Un-Civil War of Very Loud Shouting

Let the name-calling begin and the assorted partisan networks start airing their propagandizing banter. Their reporting sometimes resembling outright lies and at other times, a fresh dose of disingenuousness.

The so-called health care debate alas is not about health care. Instead, prominent politicians like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lash out at protesters calling them "Nazis" and other names. Bloated, pompous radio show host Rush Limbaugh retaliates by stating that Pelosi is actually more like a Nazi than any health care protester because of her belief in a centralized government. Other democratic senators have labeled the protesters "KKK members". Conservative radio show host, Mark Levin, has labeled President Obama, Pelosi, Harry Reid and others as "tyrannical Marxists" while referring to himself and the millions who listen to him as the "resistance". From his perspective (or atleast the tone that brings him very good radio ratings), the liberal politicians are all but ready to send some of us to the Stalinist gulags. While people scream, "we want our country back!" the ever so provocative Bill Maher cynically asks, "What do you want your country back from...a black guy running it?"

And on and on we go. Not debating or yelling about health care, but yelling about how much the opposing side from us is some form of radical Nazism. A legitimate political debate about how to give people quality and adequate health care at an affordable rate has de-evolved into a sideshow freakfest. The fires of this festival are being fueled by pundits from both sides of the aisle, talking heads on cable news stations, multi-millionaire radio talk show hosts, and angry, screaming citizens. In simpler terms, people are really pissed off.

I can certainly understand why people are raging mad. Some of them are getting paid and organized to be pissed. Leftist organizations like ACORN are busing people in to counter protesters. Some of the protesters at town hall meetings have been linked to national conservative groups who are, in some cases, paying people to be disruptive. Others are inspired by talk show hosts who set their minds ablaze with anger and encourage them to protest. Most people, I think, disagree with policies or where the country is headed and are making their voices heard in rather loud, obnoxious ways.

Certainly, people have a first amendment right to scream and yell whatever the hell they want but I wish that the people of America (right and left) could have a rational and thoughtful conversation about health care without all the annoying drama. One thing that both sides can agree on (I hope) is how vital this issue of health is to our country and that we would wish for everyone to have access to the best health care in the world at an affordable rate.

I don't know how to do that. I want to make that abundantly clear. There is no magical answer I have to solve our nation's health care woes. I don't even think I'm smart enough by any stretch of the imagination to solve this very complicated issue. I do have some thoughts and questions that I would like to pose, to clear my mind, and prayerfully encourage rational and healthy civic debate.

1) The insurance plan, as presented, is a public option- NOT a government takeover. Many conservatives will say that the public option is a stepping stone to a mass government intrusion and maybe that is the case. Maybe President Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Ted Kennedy all meet in some back room of the White House with maniacal smiles as they plot the coming winds of power as they instill their centralized regime. Even if that were the case, this plan- as it is presented right now- is an option. In other words, private insurance would continue. This plan would theoretically compete with private insurance. How this would affect the private industry is certainly a legitimate question and one that is good for debating?

2) How in the hell will we pay for a public insurance option? This is a very important question that I think the left glosses over or completely ignores. Some liberals seem to think that money grows on trees, as the old cliche goes. They fail to realize that money is a finite resource. There is only so much money to go around to pay for government entitlement programs. Nothing is free. Everything costs somebody something.

The Congressional Budget Office (non-partisan) has calculated that the dynamic duo of mass government spending, President Bush and President Obama, have already handed our country a $12 trillion dollar debt which is where the number will be in 10 years. Obama's budget this year is expected to top $2 trillion dollars for the first time in American history. Obama, by himself, has spent more money than the fiscal policies of President George Washington to President George W. Bush combined. Now, many want to add health care to the mix.

The first report of the CBO estimated that the health care plan would cost us $1 trillion dollars and only cover 16 million of the 46 million (this number is hotly debated) Americans who are uninsured. They have since revised this plan a few times (after Obama has met with them) but I believe it is safe to assume that this plan will cost us over a trillion dollars.

Obama has said that he will not sign a bill that adds to the federal deficit or raises taxes on middle class Americans (how he defines a "middle class American" is up to your interpretation, of course). This is an absurd comment! He HAS to do one of the other. Rich people in our country (the top 2% of wage earners per household) already pay 55% of the taxes (this according to an article in the July 20th edition of Newsweek). There won't be enough of rich people's money to tax to pay for all of this spending. There will have to be other brackets of Americans that are taxed -OR- we will have to add to the deficit. Maybe there is another way that I don't see.

3) What will a government health insurance plan cover? Will a government plan cover people for everything? Will there be certain procedures that are excluded? If so, who will decide these things? The Left and MSNBC, in particular, want us to believe that rationing will not be a part of the health care bill. While it may be true that rationing doesn't literally appear in the bill, it seems a safe assumption that where ever we have a government program with a particular allocated budget that rationing will occur, will it not? Hypothetically, what if someone has cancer that is on the government plan. Maybe some options are to try an expensive, new therapy or drug which may or may not be effective. Of course, there are less expensive options for treatment for the particular cancer available but what if the expensive new treatment looks very promising? Is the government going to pay for the more expensive treatment or relegate someone to the cheaper option? Again, if this is the case, who makes these decisions?

4) Insurance companies look at all of us through risk analysis. This comment was not stated to make all insurance companies appear evil. I think some liberals go immediately to the simplistic reasoning that all insurance companies are villains. Some insurance companies do abhorrent and evil things...there is no question about that. Other insurance companies are legitimate businesses and do very good things. But, they are businesses and I work in insurance.

Health insurers, specifically, when wanting to cover a person will look at their lifestyle choices and in many cases, will have them get a physical. This is the risk analysis. How many premium dollars can they get from the person who wants to be insured versus how much they may pay out in claims? They are looking to make a profit off of these statistics. If there is someone who has had a few heart attacks and maybe is in poor health, many health insurers will decline to offer coverage to such individuals because they analyze that they may be paying claims out very shortly. This person, who has had multiple heart attacks, may find a company willing to insure them but the premium may be astronomically high.

5) What do we do about insurance companies excluding more and more coverages? The past couple of years, before the economy went down hill, health insurance premiums were going up. With the premiums going up, insurance companies were adding more and more exclusions to their policies. Many Americans, who assume that if they have health insurance are covered for everything, have found that they may not be covered for a particular operation that they may need. Suppose someone needs a kidney transplant or they are going to die. Than this person finds out that their insurance coverage does not cover this particular operation which may cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. What will this person do?

6) Given the government's track record, how will the government run a health care program better than other programs? I'm not a fan of big government. Medicare, Medicaid and social security are all running out of money. Newsweek projects that social security will be bankrupt in 2040 or 2050. The Post Office is billions of dollars in debt (and raising stamp prices and may be stopping the delivery of mail on Saturdays). Public education, by a wide margin of opinion, is in deep trouble and in horrible shape. Why should we expect the government to do any better with health care? Can it do better? If so, how?

7) What about the poor in America who do not have access to good health care? This is a powerful question and one that conservatives are not addressing. If conservatives oppose the government getting involved in health care, what are ways that the free market can make health care available to the poor and disenfranchised in our country? This is an issue that needs to be dealt with. People can oppose a larger government which is a perfectly legitimate opinion (and one that I favor) but we have to offer alternative solutions to helping people in real need. I would like to hear the right talk more about this issue.

All in all, this issue is too large and complicated to cover every base or problem that arises with discussing it. But health care needs to be debated preferably without yelling and screaming and threatening people.

I worry about the state of our country. Liberals and conservatives are beginning to define morality, political philosophy, patriotism and other issues in increasingly different ways. They are growing farther and farther apart with any middle ground being swallowed up by partisan warfare. Both parties now have their own specific shouting platforms (MSNBC and Fox News) and other media outlets taking sides. The culture war continues to divide us as Americans and drive us farther and farther from resting on commonly held values.

I end with a quote from historian Will Durant when he was discussing the fall of Rome (which is quoted in the beginning of the film "Apocalypto"): "A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself within."