CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS SHOW DISRESPECT TO THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Republicans in congress showed their true colors on nationwide TV, and it wasn´t pretty.

…President Obama addressing a joint Congress on health care

I think President Obama´s health care speech pretty much said it all about the demanding need for health care and insurance reform. And the Republicans in the congressional chamber, while sitting on their hands definitely showed that they aren´t changing their minds about just saying "NO". But I guess, when you have "their" personal federal health care coverage, they must selfishly feel it´s not their problem. The non-performance of the Republicans in congress over the past 30 years for any health care reform also just confirms how much the GOP is owned by the nation´s health care and drug companies.

And to have the South Carolina Representative, Joe Wilson, yell "you lie" at the US president during a joint congressional presentation was extremely embarrassing for him and the GOP. (And the president didn't lie.)

It also showed just how desperate the Republicans are and their total lack of support for US health care coverage for all American citizens. In addition, it showed their lack of respect for this particular president and the office of the US President. Even as so many people in congress had hated Bush and what he did to this country, and even though there were many times Bush actually did lie during a speech, at no time during his presidency did a congressional Democrat during a joint session speech yell "you lie" at George W. Bush!

On the other hand, we will have to admit that the Republicans are running very true-to-form. Going back to the early 1900´s, the GOP has consistently voted against ideas such as protecting America´s savings accounts (they voted against FDIC Insurance), and bank regulations, or a Minimum Wage, and Civil rights, Medicare, and Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act, etc, etc, etc.

I guess they really have earned their reputation as the party of "NO". Even when they do say "yes", such as the Medicare Plan "D" Prescription drug plan, they still said "NO" to the US government negotiating with the drug companies. We therefore now pay more for prescription drugs than any country in the world. In addition, the Republicans did nothing to pay for this prescription drug plan as, just as they did with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, they left all three of them out of their federal budgets

But the GOP Representative Wilson is just one example of those that are spreading their lies and misinformation across the country. As the president said in his speech, it´s not just the right-wing radio talk show hosts, the Internet bloggers (and FOX News), it´s also coming from a number of the actual US representatives and senators, These are the political professionals that we Americans are supposed to depend on for our, "truth, justice and the American way".

And with the pundits in the long-time, well established press, I am also getting tired of the op-ed writers that don´t get their facts straight. One example is a recent article by Michael Gerson, where he said; "Most polls show that about 80% of the public are "very" or "somewhat" satisfied with their health plans." Unfortunately, Mr. Gerson doesn´t mention that his survey assumptions are based on those surveys that include the many individuals that have never had to actually use or test their health care plans with a catastrophic illness. Many people don´t realize how useless some of their health care coverage is until they have to test it. And as the president mentioned, even when they are covered, they are sometimes dropped when the insurance companies review the individual´s application and they find some minor issues.

Another false comment that the Republicans keep making that makes me shake my head in dismay is; "Just give every family a $5000 annual medical tax credit to go get their own health care and let them start a health care savings account." As to this comment, please tell me where any family of four can get 12 months of comprehensive health care coverage for $5000? And if you have cancer or some other catastrophic illness, you probably aren´t working and you probably don´t have the cash for a health care savings account.

Even if you could afford it, you still would not be eligible for health care today due to having a pre-existing medical condition. And sending someone with cancer to the Emergency Room is not a workable option. However, today that´s all there is for someone that is catastrophically ill without health care coverage.

As another similar example to that mentioned by the president, in a recent health care law suit, it stated that a woman had been dropped by her health care provider in the middle of her cancer chemo therapy. The insurance company dropped the whole family when they found out that the woman´s husband had not mentioned on the application that he had high cholesterol. The insurance company then immediately dropped the husband, their children and the wife, in the middle of her cancer treatments. The family eventually won the case but without her treatments, the wife´s cancer had spread and she died before the trial was over. (And it was learned during the trial that the husband did not learn that he had high cholesterol until months after he had applied for the insurance.)

Another recent quote used by the GOP´s opposition to health care for all is that; "Some polls show that the majority of the public is against having a "Public Option" in the health care program." The reality of that comment is that 5 of the latest major polls show that between 53% and 77% of those polled were in favor of a "Public Option". The two polls that were less than 50% in favor of a Public Option were where the polling questions were asked as "Do you agree with the way President Obama is handling the health care plans that would have a Public Option?"

Before the president´s speech, many of us were not very happy with the way President Obama had previously been handling the health care plan proposals. But that still had nothing to do with the public´s positive attitude about whether the "plan should have a Public Option".

Now, in all the articles I have written in support of universal health care, I occasionally get that small number of reader responses that question why I am so adamant about this particular social issues.

My answer is that I am one of those that, if not for those brave individuals from the past that fought hard for today´s Social Security and Disability coverage, my life today would be very different. Had those Republicans from the past won with their "no-votes" during the 1930´s, even though I have had a good life, I currently have (in medical insurance terms) what is called a "pre-existing condition". I unfortunately came down with an incurable disease and I was forced into retirement with a permanent disability. I was fortunate that when I was diagnosed, I had good health care coverage (through my employer) and very soon I will be eligible for Medicare. However, if I had come down with this disability when I was only 35 or 40 years old, if I had not had insurance back then, I would currently be in a large world of difficulty.

As the president asked, why is the wealthiest nation in the world the only industrialized nation that does not take care of its citizen´s health? It is just not right when an American can lose their savings, their homes and sometimes their lives due to no fault of their own, but because they became tragically sick.

Today, if I lived in Canada, Germany, France, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, Switzerland, Great Britain and many other industrialized countries, my current situation would not be an issue. Yes, in those countries I might lose my savings and my home for other reasons, but it would not be because of large medical bills due to myself or a family member becoming catastrophically ill. These other countries take care of their citizens health as a basic right of every citizen. Even those countries that the US doesn´t like very much because of their unfair political systems such as Iran, Cuba, China, North Korea and Venezuela, these undemocratic countries have their own forms of universal health care. So why not the United States?

This fight for health care coverage started in 1903 under the Republican President, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt. President Obama mentioned that many presidents since "Teddy" have tried and failed to get a health care plan for all Americans. President Obama wants to be the last US president to try and to finally succeed.

I agree with the president´s goal and his desire.

Copyright G.Ater 2009

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