Tomorrow the Senate Finance Committee will vote on the public option. But you wouldn't know it from reading the diaries posted here. An argument between pragmatists and idealists has broken out. They've made themselves the story, and forgot what they were really fighting for in the first place. The fact remains that if Senators Tom Carper (D-DE) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) vote for the public option in Committee tomorrow, that the President will sign a bill that includes a public option. It's worth reminding the honorable Senators from Delaware and Arkansas, and liberals who have sadly made themselves the story, what this fight is about.
It is about the family in Oklahoma that saw their daughter nearly die of a treatable lung condition because they were told to avoid going to the doctor, lest they be labeled with the Scarlet Letter of modern America (the words "pre-existing condition"). It's about the fact that these hard-working Oklahomans have passed up promotions and raises in order to stay under the income-eligibility guidelines for Medicaid.
It's about the college graduate in Ohio who put off going to the doctor when she came down with the Swine Flu because she was worried about medical bills. Her illness took a turn for the worse, and she ended up on a life-flight before she died.
It's about the thirty-year old in Tennessee who lost her insurance, made too much of Medicaid, and couldn't afford proper treatment for her Lupus. The Lupus worsened, she developed complications, underwent 26 surgeries on the government's dime before dying of what her doctor termed "complications secondary to a failed health care system."
It's about the nurse in Texas who saved lives for a living. But when this nurse was diagnosed with breast cancer, her insurance revoked her policy because she failed to disclose a previous bout of acne. The nurse won her appeal 18 months later, but she was unable to afford treatments in the interim and her cancer spread.
And it's about the insurance executive who is sitting behind a desk, and designing a system that is intended to fail for the people listed above. It's about a system which gives five-figure bonuses and glowing performance evaluations to bean-counters who deny the asthma, cancer, and Lupus patient's care. It's about a system where insurance executives take home seven, eight, and even nine figure salaries while hard-working Americans are prevented from going to the doctor.
The Schumer level-playing field public option wouldn't put the insurance companies out of business. It would just empower Americans to choose an option where bureaucrats weren't rewarded for making it difficult to go to the doctor. It would enable Americans to choose an option where the needs of patients are put before the needs of stockholders. And it would force insurance companies to treat their policyholders not as pariah's who endanger the company's profit-margin and stock price, but as customers who are the core function of the company. In short, if Schumer's public option is adopted by the Finance Committee, things would be a lot better for chronically ill Americans.
The father of the child with the lung condition lives in Oklahoma. It is the state least friendly to the President. But he told PBS that sees health care reform as the first thing Washington has ever took up that could really effect his life in a positive manner. If Senators Lincoln and Carper have the courage to vote for a public option, that Oklahoman will probably become the kind of Democrat that sends a $30 check to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He will probably become the kind of Democrat that knocks on doors and makes phone calls for Democratic candidates. In short, he'll become the kind of Democrat that helps Senators Carper and Lincoln get re-elected.
If Senators Carper and Lincoln fail to stand up to Wall Street and their insurance executive allies, the father in Oklahoma will probably be frustrated. He will remain apolitical. He will be joined by millions of Americans who helped Democratic Senate candidates get elected from North Carolina to Alaska last year. And Senators Lincoln and Carper will be left to fight the extremist Republicans in their state alone.
Call Senator Lincoln at 202-224-4843 and Senator Carper at (202)-224-2441. Tell them to have the courage to stand up to Wall Street and the insurance industry. Tell them to help save lives by designing a system which enable people to afford doctor's visits. Tell them to vote for Schumer's level-playing field amendment in Committee.