health care reform
So now the battle turns to the Senate. Like Lincoln, President Obama needs a general who is not afraid to fight.
The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should let the Republicans filibuster. The longer they filibuster while people continue to die needlessly and go bankrupt for lack of health insurance, the more the protests across the nation will grow. Eventually the swell of support for real reform will make the reactionary tea party protests seem like, well, tea parties.
And any nominal Democrats tempted to support the insurance industry-backed effort to prevent this bill from coming to a floor vote should be put on notice: we are coming after you in your next election.
When the House passed its version of a health care reform bill on Saturday night, I saw the update on television while out celebrating the 27th birthday of a friend. Almost everyone in attendance was in their mid- to late 20s and college-educated and had voted for President Obama.
But we all had different insurance plans. Some were insured by their jobs; others by their unions; and some, recently unemployed or self-employed, were not insured at all.
And while we all celebrated the president’s and the House’s achievement, not a single one of us was able to answer two seemingly basic questions — how will this bill affect my current benefits, and how will this bill affect my current payments?
My friends and I support health care reform because we believe the current system is failing. But now that change may finally be coming, we want to know exactly what that change entails.
So now the battle turns to the Senate. Like Lincoln, President Obama needs a general who is not afraid to fight.
The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, should let the Republicans filibuster. The longer they filibuster while people continue to die needlessly and go bankrupt for lack of health insurance, the more the protests across the nation will grow. Eventually the swell of support for real reform will make the reactionary tea party protests seem like, well, tea parties.
And any nominal Democrats tempted to support the insurance industry-backed effort to prevent this bill from coming to a floor vote should be put on notice: we are coming after you in your next election.
When the House passed its version of a health care reform bill on Saturday night, I saw the update on television while out celebrating the 27th birthday of a friend. Almost everyone in attendance was in their mid- to late 20s and college-educated and had voted for President Obama.
But we all had different insurance plans. Some were insured by their jobs; others by their unions; and some, recently unemployed or self-employed, were not insured at all.
And while we all celebrated the president’s and the House’s achievement, not a single one of us was able to answer two seemingly basic questions — how will this bill affect my current benefits, and how will this bill affect my current payments?
My friends and I support health care reform because we believe the current system is failing. But now that change may finally be coming, we want to know exactly what that change entails.
