They don't care ...

For the last week or so, I've seen many excellent posts on the reasons we actually need health care reform now. The voices calling for a 'public option', at the very least, have debunked every rationale the anti-reform voices have put forth, both eloquently and succinctly. To an objective, thinking person, there is no reason whatsoever for us not to have a government-run plan, whether it be to compete with insurance companies or take over the health care system completely. 85% of us (me included) would gladly pay higher taxes "to ensure everyone had health insurance.*"

Most of us know the current system is unsustainable and will break us. We see the crap from the anti-reform crowd for what it is, a load of bullshit. There have been letter-writing campaigns and petitions that should (in any other free and democratic nation beside America) make our elected representatives see the peoples' will and act upon it. There is no doubt anymore.

But it won't get done and there's only one reason for it. Money.

In the America of the 21st Century, we have the potential of 50 million lives cut short thanks to the lack of availability of health care (for a variety of reasons, most pertaining to affordability). If it were a contagious disease at the root, you can bet every single resource of the U.S. government would be brought to bear to find the cure or vaccine, regardless of cost. Congresspeople and Senators would be pushing each other out of the way to proclaim they supported the efforts to contain the disease and save as many lives as they could. You'd see true bipartisanship then, you betcha.

Look at the Cold War. The threat from the Supreme Soviet was palpable and we responded with a wave of military spending and innovation that lasted 40 years. Cost? Puh! They had the ability to kill millions of Americans and no cost was too high to counter the threat.

But this isn't about an epidemic or a threat to our sovereignty. It's about the huge conglomerates who make their profits off the suffering of others. Legalized robbery; and those people have poured large amounts of money into the lobbying efforts directed at the members of Congress. It's about protecting the people who ultimately got them elected and keep them there. It's certainly not about the millions of Americans who can't afford health insurance and the millions more who forsake care in the face of unaffordable co-payments. They don't care about us. What they do care about is protecting the gravy train, the ready source of cash whenever they need it.

Did you listen to the Sunday shows yesterday? Did you hear the excuses put forth by the anti-reform puppets? They sound as lame as the ones I used when I was a kid, blaming the dog for things I did. There is no good reason for us not to have a health care system that works and is not just a welfare program for executives. We are the laughingstock of the civilized world and your representatives do not care. They care for nothing but themselves (who have government-sponsored health care, by the way) and their patrons (who can afford to pay for what they need out-of-pocket).

Don't expect 'change' any time soon.

*Quote thanks to Gord's post.