Obama’s Health Reform; The Anathema To Change Is, The Fear Factor!

Obama’s Health Reform; The Anathema To Change Is, The Fear Factor!
Written Paul I. Adujie
Lawcareer2007@aol.com
New York, United States



A public citizen, once famously proclaimed, during crises, that there was nothing to fear, but fear itself! As it happens, this famous statement is poignantly relevant to the current boisterous debates about healthcare reforms. Healthcare Reform efforts have met with attendant deluge of high din of noise and ubiquitously permeating fear-mongering.

This fear-mongering, is being perpetuated by those opposed to change and reforms of the presently antiquated, discriminatory and lopsided healthcare delivery system in America. A system which have managed to leave out over forty million uninsured citizens! Citizens who are therefore condemned to do without necessary health insurance coverage or a even suitable alternative.

In real terms, the healthcare system as currently configured leaves out these scores of millions of citizens to their own miserly devices upon being afflicted by any illness. This has resulted in avoidable deaths in the thousands, of people. This has led to financial ruin and endless debts and even, eventual bankruptcies for many more American citizens. All these, are life changing, in most profound sense.

President Obama in his journey to the presidency and the White House, wisely made structural change to and reform of American healthcare delivery system one of his core policy thrusts, in his vision of the best road to making America, a more perfect union, in which are citizens are put in proximity of good healthcare. Obama’s rationale is informed by the knowledge that good health is a prerequisite for the creation of wealth and happiness. Hence the tripartite as it were. “Health, Wealth, and Happiness” A profound understanding of the way the world works, is a major factor and one of the explanations of Obama’s popularity about healthcare, then as candidate for president of the United States. Obama came across as possessed of the understanding and empathy for all, an empathy, even a wise Latina would love! It remains the case that the provision of healthcare for all will be a remarkable policy achievement for this president and for this nation.

The way this works, the logic and rationale is even a tad too simple and rather very easy to comprehend, but for the fear-mongers. First, there is pride in America in being our sisters’ and brothers’ keeper. There is pride in being a good neighbor. And most of all, there is the realization that good health is the foundation and bedrock of all other life’s aspirations. Who in bad health or who, when steeped in deep afflictions by diseases is at her most productive? It goes without saying therefore then with good health a person can or may contemplate the world. With good health humans are able to go on their merry ways of creating wealth and happiness for self and for the rest of the world.

Expansively put, it is requires not much ruminations, that the absence of good health coverage and health care for all citizens, is clearly defeatist. It is similar to any action undertaken, which may leave out and leave more than 40 million citizens in America to lay fallow and unproductive. A resilient and resurgent American economy will of necessity, be reliant on the optimum employment of all employable citizens, in the creation of gross national product. Creating a world class GDP/GNP requires a nation’s ability to fire full throttle in productivity. In effect, leaving out a segment of the American population, as much as over forty million does not make any economic sense. Nor does it make any sense whatsoever, be it moral or good neighborliness sense.

Big Insurance Companies and their lobbyists ensured the sudden death of efforts to reform the healthcare delivery sector during Bill Clinton’s presidency. And now again, after promising and shaking hands in the White House with President Obama, in truce and co-operation with reform efforts this time, they have reneged on their promises of support and cooperation. And instead, there is an ongoing fallacious farce, perpetrated by sundry interests groups. They are spreading confusion with insinuations such as the lie that government is desirous of taking over the management of healthcare delivery systems or apparatuses and machinery as currently existing and turned it into socialized medical care system similar to Canada or some even say Cuba.

According to these corporate spin doctors, the outcome of the reform will be such that soon after such “takeover” the government will, entrench itself as monumental obstacles, impediments and worse than useless behemoth of a spoiler which will insert itself, between the citizen and healthcare providers. There are two quick truths with which to demolish and dismantle this assertion by the corporate spin-doctors. First of all, the government already positively impacts and influences very big chunks of the healthcare system in the United States and “Medicare and Medicaid” are such programs, initiated and funded by the federal government of the United States. And both programs have millions of beneficiaries. Can these programs be more cost efficient and more effective? Of course!

The second of the two truths, is that, there is already nomenclatures which regularly constitute themselves into obstacles, they constitute themselves as monumental obstacles, impediments and worse than useless behemoth of a spoiler always inserting themselves between the citizen and healthcare providers; and they are called “Health Insurance Companies” Or “Health Maintenance Organizations” or (HMOs) and the only thing the consistently maintain, is not our health, but their aggrandizing tremendous annual profit margins at our expense, and the fact that they excel in denying holders of health coverage policies, needful treatments covered by such policies. I can hear you asking, what is the purpose of a health insurance coverage, if coverage will be routinely denied by these health insurance companies? That is exactly what health insurance companies do in the main. Their egregious death inducing, death causing conducts in preventing medical care givers from providing patients needed care.

These corporate profit cretins dictate to medical care givers, how much time to spend with patients, what proprietary or generic medicines to prescribe and what medicine is determined by these insurance companies, as they please, to be merely experimental or efficacious. So, rationing already exists and is practiced now and motivated solely by profits seekers. These corporate greed hordes are splendidly uninterested in good medical care, but instead, they put their bottom-line and sumptuous profit feasts ahead of lives made precarious by diseases and ill-health. And what is worse? These corporate oligarchs are now, in the most disingenuous manner, spreading the rumor to undiscerning average Joe and Jane, that is the government which seeking to do to us, what they the companies have been inflicting upon us for years and still do! Their actions not informed by best interests of patients and not informed by best medical practice or by current medical science.

All these are reasons for all of us, interested in the reforms slated for healthcare delivery in the United States, to start spreading the news.

Knowing the facts about this healthcare reform debate is so crucial to the eventual outcome. The fear mongering which is being spread and perpetrated by these corporate vampires and their lobbyists should be effectively confronted. And these corporate representatives encapsulated in varied interest groups can and should be effectively rebutted through robust and rigorous dissemination of information, regarding the facts, the evidence and the truth about the intended reform outcome.

As for the Republicans, they are known to be perennially on the side big businesses, and the Republican Party is known to have auto response as a default position, regarding reforms and regulations as a general rule. Regulation whether the troubled financial system or as in the present case, regulating and reforming the healthcare delivery system. Republicans argue that deregulation implications stifle innovation, and stunt growth of business and the economy. This is hogwash. Ill health is the worst harbinger to creativity, business and economic growth; and besides, it is illogical and unreasonable even, to argue that a busy road traffic artery without a traffic cop is better for motorists!

Sarah Palin, the only Republic Party member, still newsworthy, but only for her silliness, is particularly notable for her paucity public policy knowledge, sadly now though, she has “weighed in” with her rather morbidly slanderous addition of “Death Panel” nonsense to this worthy debate about healthcare reforms. She has, through her “FaceBook” “contribution” to the debates, allege, falsely, that the reforms components comprise “Death Panels” for all grandmothers, as the reforms is portrayed as envisaging some outlandish circumstance, in which a panel of persons, doubling as voyeuristic Dracula, determines how long any grandmother can receive treatments cost-efficiently and when or how soon thereafter, grandmothers can be summarily dispatched to go meet their makers!

Members of the Republican Party are desperadoes in the current atmosphere in Washington D.C. They lost the White House in the last general elections. They are a minority in the House of Representatives and as well as in the United States Senate. Republicans are political orphans at best and a bunch of desperadoes at worst, and so, policy reform is not their forte. They are in essence only concerned with how to defeat members of the Democratic Party in the forthcoming midterm elections and other elections after that. And so, the Republicans have, in their desperation, resorted to mischief making. These current political orphans are doing everything to surmount the Democrats, this is somewhat understandable. But the tactics which they have deployed is unconscionably unacceptable for the future of women, men and child in America. I strongly believe that spreading the facts, the information and the truth about Obama’ healthcare reforms, will at the end of the day, ultimately win out or prevail and a desirable outcome will be attained.

Newt Gingrinch accuses reform proponents of planning to impose or forced euthanasia on unsuspecting citizens. Limbaugh chimes in with more falsehoods to the effect that the healthcare reforms will led to a “pull the plug on grandma” and similar nonsense. Republicans are against “socialized” and then quickly add Obama should keep his hands off their Medicare too! Republicans are oxymoron gifted! There are so many other inflammatory fear-mongering rumors and falsehoods, which are being spread by opponents of reforms.

The handwriting as it were, is now on the wall. The Republicans are vehemently opposed to these healthcare reform efforts, they should be pushed harder by Democrats, Republicans will in effect, put the last nails in their own coffins for opposing sensible policy reforms, which is what the healthcare reform really is. And the Democrats in order to accomplish this, successfully, must get out of the unfruitful romantic notion of bipartisanship with Republicans, it has not happened, and it is not going to happen! Recent behaviors by Republicans in crucial votes, proves my position here. Additionally, proclamations and pronouncements by overwhelming numbers of Republicans demonstrate beyond any doubt, that they are not interested in the much vaunted and so fabled bipartisanship. Democrats appear to me, to be in the process of being lured to a drunken sleep stupor as they await the Republicans in the hope for a moribund bipartisanship! The Democrats may wake up to the absence of bipartisanship, too late and to the detriment of Democrats and those of us, who ensured the election Democrats in the first place! Republicans demonstrated this during confirmation hearings of the now justice of the US Supreme Court, the Honorable Justice Sonia Sotomayor. So why does anyone still pretend otherwise?

Meanwhile, Obama and the Democrats ought to and should, do a better business of disciplining the entire Democratic Party, whether they are “Blue Dogs” “Yellow Dogs” or lively ”Pink Dogs” Democrats! Failure of this health reform would inflict damaging “body” blow to the Obama administration and presidency. It will be a watershed moment with a Waterloo quality to it, and it will manacle the entire Democratic Party for such blunder and monumental failure of policy cohesion, were that eventuality to occur, culminating into a defeat of this healthcare reform efforts.


What can be acutely observed so far, in these debates, are the unnecessary flame-throwing gymnastics gyrations with a toxic mix of accusations socialism-communism style wealth redistribution. Then, there is the appearance of racism, instigated by those who see the reform efforts as targeting historically neglected black and brown citizens for health coverage and as such, a semblance of some sorts of class warfare or class discrimination, is motivating those against the poor and or citizens not currently covered, perhaps because they are poor, unemployed or underemployed and poor or a combination of these categories. Too many code-words have been deployed or thrown-up and about; and discerning ears and eyes are quite able to grasps fear-mongers’ rhetoric, even if flung, in slants, from all directions!
Senator Edward (Ted) Moore Kennedy, that legislative tiger and the defender of all underprivileged citizens and underdogs of every imaginable issue is gone now, sadly, Kennedy, the poor persons’ ombudsman, did not live long enough to see through this healthcare reforms. I think the time is nigh now, for someone in the Democratic Party to step forward, and say, follow me, I will lead this groundbreaking healthcare reforms to a positive outcome. Supporters of Democrats and in fact, all Americans who believe in this healthcare reform deserve nothing less.
As the saying goes, if you want to kill a dog, your first step is to falsely label the poor dog a bad dog, then you can “excuse your brutality to the mongrel, and say to all the world, look, after all, she was worse than useless, never capable carrying her own weight sorts of dog! This is precisely the scatological methodologies which have been amply deployed by Republicans and corporate interest groups, seeking to malign these health reform efforts; in order to ruin it for all of us, through fear-mongering and shrill-shouting of inanities! Happily, we can counter their efforts with the welter of information at our disposals. The evidences and facts are plentiful. We can offer sound rebuttals to our opponents’ filthily dirty tactics of fear mongering and prevail through the provision of accurate and detailed reality checks. A positive outcome on healthcare reform is not only desirable, it is a necessity.

Learn more and get details by visiting the following links:

www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck


http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/


http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck


http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/realitycheck/faq


http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/denied_coverage/index.html



http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hiddencosts/index.html


http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/women/index.html


http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/hardtimes

http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/helpbottomline

http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/inaction


http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/inaction/diminishing/index.html

http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/assets/documents/CEA_Health_Care_Report.pdf


WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV