What's Wrong With Conservatives?

Is there something wrong with conservatives?  

During the healthcare debate, they were afraid that health reform would somehow give government control of their healthcare.  A government takeover of healthcare, they called it.  This, despite nearly 50 years of experience of government faithfully paying for the healthcare needs of America's most vulnerable populations -- the elderly and the poor.  Fifty years, and not a single death panel was ever convened.  To conservatives, the big hand of government is, apparently, too dangerous when it provides health insurance to those who have none.  Too dangerous when it makes life saving or pain relieving healthcare available to those who need it.

Yet conservatives like Republican Scott Brown and independent Joe Lieberman seem to have no concern at all with the big hand of government taking away the citizenship of those who may be charged with terrorist acts, even though they have yet to be tried and found guilty.  

Conservatives in Arizona are willing to allow the big hand of government to demand to see their proof of citizenship anytime a police officer has a reason, no matter how valid, to demand it. 

My last name ends in a vowel, and I don't normally carry identification that proves my citizenship, since my drivers license isn't issued with a requirement that I prove citizenship.  My Social Security card came with this warnings:  "Keep your card in a safe place to prevent loss or theft.  DO NOT CARRY THIS CARD WITH YOU."  So I don't.  I don't have a passport, or a copy of my birth certificate.  I suppose if I was foolish enough to travel to Arizona, I'd better visit the county courthouse and obtain a copy.

I hear conservatives shout they "want to take their country back."  I don't know what America they were raised in, but in my America, people could walk the streets confident that the Constitution provided protection against unreasonable search or seizure.  

In the America I was raised in, I was taught the Constitution provided protections for me if I was charged with a crime.  I didn't need to worry that the State Department could step in and remove my citizenship because the Constitution treated me as innocent until proven guilty at a trial before a jury of my peers.

I am much more afraid of the way conservatives are shredding our Constitutional rights than I am frightened of any terrorist or illegal immigrant.

If conservatives want their country back, they should start by not giving away the essential freedoms that have made America special.  Don't they understand the Constitutional rights they so eagerly would take from others, are also taken from them?

Another Look at the Cost of Delay

Billy Roy, M.D., a retired physician and former member of Congress representing Kansas, writes an excellent piece on why we need to move forward on healthcare reform.  He points out the significant costs of not passing health reform that I wrote about in The Cost of Delay.  In 1973, he co-sponsored President Nixon's health reform proposal.  Using data from the Commonwealth Fund, he points out that our health costs would be a lot closer to those of most other industrial nations if we had passed that legislation.  Imagine if we had another six or seven percent of GDP available to pay down our debt, or improve education, or finish digging out from the Great Recession.  He argues that we will have problems in healthcare until we decide, as other nations have, that healthcare should be provided privately, but financed and administered publicly.  He also points out that the reform proposed is not a government takeover of the health care industry.  The insurance industry and their lobbyists will do just fine if reform passes or fails.  You can read his thoughtful piece here.

Prescription Pricing

In one more sign that health reform legislation is not a government takeover of healthcare, the legislation which has passed the House and Senate, or which is proposed by President Obama, does not allow re-importation of drugs from other countries which negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical manufacturers.  Neither does it allow price negotiation with pharmaceutical manufacturers. A senior White House adviser, David Axelrod, was quoted as saying the White House would push for legislation to allow re-importation of pharmaceuticals in separate legislation, after the health reform bill is passed.

A Government Take-Over of Healthcare?

The President has released his proposed health reform plan. Republicans like John Boehner, R-OH, are already denouncing it as "the same massive government takeover of healthcare." Frank Luntz, a pollster and "word doctor" for conservatives, knows those words will poll well. After all, who wants a government takeover of anything? But is it true, even remotely? No!


If we truly had a government takeover, companies like Aetna and Beema would be out of business, and insurance would be provided by government. If we truly had a government takeover, Aetna wouldn't be able to delay or avoid paying for covered services, like Aetna is doing here. If we truly had a government takeover, companies like Beema would not be able to sell worthless "insurance" policies to unsuspecting and vulnerable families as Beema did here. Because the plans which passed Congress, and the plan proposed by President Obama are not a government takeover, Aetna and Beema will still be in business. Aetna will still be able to delay or deny payment based on arguments about medical necessity.  Beema will still be able to sell limited benefit health policies, although because government will impose some discipline, these sham policies will not be able to be sold on the insurance exchanges that will create a more competitive marketplace for individuals and small businesses to find coverage.