So here we are. Another new year (good riddance 2010!). Another new Congress. And of course, more of the same political bullshit. I could attempt to think of a less vulgar word but it fits too well. How did the alleged "cavalry," the incoming House Republican freshmen, how did these candidates, heavily endorsed by the Tea party, get elected? By hounding the Obama administration, seemingly playing the Who-Can-Use-Obama's-Name-in-as-Many-Parts-of-Speech-in-Thirty-Seconds game. Obamacare. NObama. Obamanauts. They make the Bush puns made by misguided liberals look like the work of Rhodes scholars. Other than the president's name, they kept their arguments monosyllabic: jobs and debt. I agree that these are important issues even when conservatives adopted these words as their mantra ad nauseum.After all that harping on more jobs and less debt, what is their first order of business now that they have been officially sworn into the legislative branch of the United States of America?
Repeal the protection of citizens from predatory insurance practices (preexisting conditions). Allow people to not have health insurance causing the rise of health care costs for the rest of us who have health insurance. We all have to pay for each others health issues in one form or another. It is obvious that preventive care is cheaper than treatment for an illness in advanced stages. Is the Affordable Health Care for America Act perfect? No. Should there be amendments? Yes. Does the general public need to be better educated what the bill does and does not do? Obviously. I'll admit that I have not read the bill as the 234,812 words of BillSpeak seem too daunting as bedtime reading. That doesn't mean I won't, and if this debate extends even longer, I will.
But an all out repeal is a waste of time and not just because of the likely veto if an unlikely senate passed bill occurred. If certain sentiments made by a newly elected Republican from Florida during the House Rules Committee Hearing on Health Care Law Repeal are applicable to the rest of the party, Republicans agree that a health care reform law needs to be passed and that certain points of the current bill would be brought back (namely, preexisting condition). Why start from scratch? Get rid of the parts of this bill that are wasteful and that American people do not agree with. The legislative process is long enough as it is. Do we really need to make it longer by proposing a new bill that rehashes important parts of an already passed bill? And that is the best case scenario. That's even assuming they would make good on their promise to bring back a ban on preexisting conditions.
So why not work on the budget which is a chief responsibility of the House of Representatives or is my knowledge of the political system that flawed? We have an unwritten budget, a blank check for the government, and of course we've deployed 1,400 more of our youth to fight a misplaced war in Afghanistan (Pakistan is where it's at, yo). But ah, I digress from the more important issue of the repeal of H.R. 3962 in order to ensure (get it?) the bottom line of insurance companies which is protected even at the expense of cancer patient's lives.
Looking back at all this, I sound like a Democrat through and through and for that I am regretful. But, for once, the Dems are right and I cannot disagree that we need affordable health care for everyone especially if we want to call ourselves the greatest country on earth. This isn't just economics, people's lives, and the lives of their family are at stake.
