Health Care for All

We'd talked about it earlier in the week, but hadn't really made a definite decision to go. Then, Sunday morning I came downstairs to find this Washington Post story on the computer monitor.

On Wednesday, Oct. 7, 6-year-old Heaven Skyler Wilson dragged herself off the school bus that dropped her in front of her home on a rural road in Jetersville, just south of Richmond. The little girl, who had never had so much as an ear infection in her life, was pale and feverish and complained of an upset stomach.

The next day, Heaven's grandmother, Pat Sparrow, took her to a nearby clinic. Heaven, usually a bright, bubbly girl with blond pigtails, dimples and effusive energy, had a sore throat and a 103-degree temperature. The doctor swabbed her for the flu, and the test was positive.

It was just something going around, Sparrow said she was told. The doctor told Sparrow to take Heaven home, give her Tylenol and chicken broth, and let her rest.

By the next morning, Heaven couldn't breathe. Sparrow called 911.

...Two weeks later, on Oct. 21, ravaged with double pneumonia and a staph infection that deprived her brain of oxygen, Heaven was disconnected from the respirator. She lived for four minutes.

At 11:18 p.m., Heaven died in the arms of her mother, Sara Wilson. "You never heard such an awful scream from someone who loved her child so much," Sparrow said, her voice shaking.

He was already packing the kids lunches at that point. So I knew that after swimming lessons, we'd be headed to the H1N1 vaccine clinic held this Sunday in Montgomery County. The end of our H1N1 saga — that is, the saga of getting the kids vaccinated — was finally in sight. And, as my husband said when he asked if I saw the article, "You just want to know you've done everything you can to protect your children."

But, until Sunday, there wasn't much we could do.

more »

When Sen. Joe Lieberman first announced he would filibuster any health care bill with a public option, I noted that he lied, falsely calling it an "entitlement program" that would be "trouble ... for the national debt," when in fact it is an "option" not an entitlement which would in fact help our federal government save money.

Yesterday on Meet The Press, Lieberman didn't exactly lie, but deployed -- as his Senate colleague Al Franken coined in his old radio program's "Wait, Wait, Don't Lie To Me" game show segment -- the "Weasel."

And Lieberman's Weasel brightly illuminates the blatant insincerity on the part of the crusaders against the public option.more »

Whether the Stupak amendment ends up in the final health care reform bill or is replaced by the more moderate compromises in the Senate bill, both the passage of the amendment and the almost immediate response that women and pro-choice progressives should "take one for the team" hold a lesson and a warning for both progressives and Democrats.more »

Senator Harry Reid, the Majority Leader, has introduced the Senate's health reform bill. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (H.R. 3590), is projected to reduce the federal budget deficit by $130 billion in the first 10 years. So how does the final Senate bill stack up against the House bill in the categories I discussed in my previous post ("House Health Bill Should Be A Model For The Senate")? Pretty much as expected.

more »

After a year’s arduous work on health care reform, some progressives are throwing up their hands in exasperation: what did we really get for all the struggle and strife? Should we even support it? According to critics, Democratic legislators have compromised too often and conceded too much. The bundle of policies we’re left with is deeply flawed – imperfect half-measures unable to deliver on any of our major goals. Why bother fighting, in the end, to secure passage of a reform that’s so weak? Voices like these have been a recurring feature of U.S. healthcare debate for decades. They tend to forget – improbably enough, for people who genuinely want to transform our screwed-up health care system – that only a political victory can change that system.more »

Michelle Bachman's "Superbowl of Freedom" (or "Bachmannalia") was not the first protest with such attention grabbing signage, but merely the latest. September saw Glenn Beck's 9/12 marchers descend upon Washington. Again, they brought their message-bearing signs and posters.

And their signs made their message and motivation clear. more »

I've used this quote (attributed to Maya Angelou) before: "When people show you who they really are, believe them." I guess in periods of tremendous change people really reveal who they really are. I'll return to this in more detail post, but the news and debate leading up to and following the passage of health care reform in the House is at least worth a quick roundup, if only because it all comes together in a clear context.

First, let me reiterate that I'll be the first to say that the anger directed at the president, Congress, and the policy changes they're trying to make are not entirely rooted in racism, but have deep roots in the economic consequences of the last few decades for the people in some of the reddest states. That said, it's becoming impossible to ignore that a significant amount is also rooted in the racism and ethnocentrism conservatives have used to divert their constituents' attention — and rage — towards more convevient targets.

The House's health reform bill (H.R. 3962) should be a model for the final Senate bill in many ways, including that the Health Insurance Exchange is federally created and overseen, states cannot opt out of the public health insurance plan option, there are better consumer protections to promote transparency and accountability from health insurance companies, affordability protections are broader, there are more requirements for employer involvement, and financing is more progressive. One exception: the House bill's regressive language on abortion coverage.

more »