Self-Employment Health Care Blues

I can't believe it. People are letting the corporations scare them into complacency over changing our health care system.

Follow the money and you can see that the insurance companies and drug companies have a lot to lose. They are lobbying hard, advertising like mad, and spreading the message that a single-payer plan, a public option, expanded Medicare, or any other idea that doesn't increase the profitability of their interests - is a bad idea.
They are taking advantage of the fact that you can easily scare people into believing anything. Well, Roosevelt was right, "we have nothing to fear but fear itself". As a tool to manipulate people it has no peer.

Well, here's the deal from my vantage point:
As a self employed person who belongs to no other group I cannot get reasonably priced health insurance with any kind of real coverage. That's if I could. I have been denied because I have a condition that is not life threatening that is common to about 80% of women over 40. Ridiculous.
I believe that deciding to provide basic health care to all Americans is a moral duty of our Government. I would be thrilled it a unified Congress would just issue the statement that they believe Health Care is a right of the American Citizen and that they intend to work to make it a reality. Then they can fight all they want about how to get the job done.

There are lots of working models around the world to choose from. In the book, "The Healing of America", the 4 main models are described, pro and con. Hopefully we can take the good parts and make something that fits our American culture. But the key is reigning in the Insurance and Pharmaceutical corporations that are currently pulling all the strings. Talk about holding all the cards! These businesses can afford to pay to influence political leaders at all levels and to influence, quite successfully, the citizens as well, through advertising and what can only be called propaganda - promoting their self-interests.

Read this article for some insight about how Big Business uses Madison Avenue to control the direction of our Socio-Political future.

But I don't despair. I believe by getting the ball rolling towards Health Care reform we have an opportunity for future changes. And if we, the People, actually rise up from complacency and work actively toward what I consider part of our Nation's founding ideals. From the Preamble of the Constitution (In interpreting whether the proposed project constituted a "public use", the court pointed to the Preamble's reference to "promot[ing] the general Welfare" as evidence that "[t]he health of the people was in the minds of our forefathers". ( Ellis v. City of Grand Rapids. ) , and the Declaration of Independence as well; "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". If "Life" does not include basic Health Care protection against preventable death I think we are missing the point.

Ah well. There is a lot of information out there for everyone to see. Do the research and make up your own mind how you would like to see our nation treat it's citizens in this regard.