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Arkansans who speak with our Eve at the Little Rock health fair today are embarrassed that they can’t afford to go to the dentist or the doctor. They seem almost ashamed that they don’t have the finances to pay for health insurance.
We have, horribly, created an entire class of Americans who feel that they need to apologize for not having the money to meet Big Health and Big Insurance’s incessant demands for premiums and fees that have risen faster than wages or inflation. This is an awful development — no one should be apologetic for being unable to stay healthy.
The fault is with this awful system, as today’s health fair clearly demonstrates. And yet every one of the people interviewed by Eve today has conveyed to me, via body language and tone, that they feel the fault lies with them. This is wrong. This is not what America is about. This must change.
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Blanche Lincoln is mewling right now on the floor of the Senate as these constituents line up for free health care. She caws about the “people of Arkansas” but won’t acknowledge this health fair today.
this is the desired outcome of all that ‘personal responsibility’ crap that the conservatives have been pushing for decades.
I wish I could convey what it’s like to be in the midst of all these good American citizens who due to the accident of their birth or the circumstances of their life, cannot afford basic healthcare. These people, every last one of them, is a profile in courage.
The shame of unaffordable healthcare is only to be outdone by the shame of the process now underway to supposedly pursue affordable healthcare. As the healthcare debate is coming to a procedural head on the floor of the Senate tonight, news this week that the U.S. Postal Service lost money for the third year in a row—a staggering $3.8 billion, versus a loss of $2.8 billion last year—should give Middle America real concerns about government’s ability to effectively insert itself into individuals’ lives and deliver quality, affordable healthcare.
Government is not a bad thing. For those who think differently, view government as a necessary evil, whose purpose is to serve the people, not vice versa. As we were reminded by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address in 1863, “. . . this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. . .” Like it or not, government belongs to the people and it is here to stay.
The speed with which politicians are moving to rush a 2074 page healthcare bill through Congress with little debate leads Middle America to ask the obvious question, “What’s the hurry on an issue of such great importance?”
Well, the hurry is that this week Middle America picked up the scent of the rationing of healthcare with confusion over when and what women should get mammograms and pap smears. As time drags on, Americans are becoming increasingly concerned about how healthcare might be rationed, which has Democrats are as nervous as long-tailed cats in a room full of rocking chairs.
If ever there was an issue that touched every American personally, healthcare is it. Clearly, something has to give—there has to be some sort of healthcare reform, like the ability to shop for healthcare across state lines, a prohibition against rejecting pre-existing conditions, a requirement that every American have health insurance, etc. However, the need to get healthcare reform right greatly exceeds the political demands to just get “something” done and declare victory.
Middle America has been betrayed in a way, since every word of every page of the 2074 page bill isn’t being discussed and publicly debated in great detail by this administration, which campaigned on “transparency.” Sound public policy requires a lucid and thorough examination of this legislation, but it appears that once again, sound public policy is being traded for political expediency.
Obama’s advisors and Democratic consultants know that time is their enemy—the longer Congress takes to pass healthcare legislation, the less political capital they have to pass anything at all, and the more likely Middle America will thoughtfully consider how it might impact its own mammograms, pap smears, and healthcare needs.
The honeymoon period typically extended to new presidents is now coming to an end, if it hasn’t already come and gone. Unfortunately for President Obama and Democrats, they campaigned on delivering “healthcare reform” and staked their political future on it.
Middle America is not naïve, and will not allow itself to be played like a Stradivarius violin. Making healthcare reform their lynchpin issue was a very calculated decision by Democrats, not done hastily, but after much polling and many focus groups. Democrats have made healthcare a political football and Middle America is increasingly concerned about it.
Understandably, Democrats exploited the issue of healthcare reform for maximum political value during the campaign, but now the campaign is over and the wolf is almost at the door. Democrats know they have to deliver something, and this “something” really needs to be thought through with great deliberation and debate. If given a choice, Middle America would be better served with nothing, rather than “something” hastily rammed through Congress.
A. Muser
http://americanmuser.wordpress.com
Eve, you are doing a wonderful job today, it’s just like we were there.
Thank you!
Yeah, it’s not as if politicians and citizens both haven’t been talking about the problems in the health care system for 40 or 50 years or anything.
Or like Congress and presidents haven’t made these attempts before. Why you’d think all this just sprang full bore from the brow of Zeus or something and it just reached out and slapped all the beltway villagers in the face to get their attention.
Edit: And a quick check of your various talking points, seems to run 3-1 Republican talking points to obfuscate versus Dem talking points. Well done.
How many pages was the Patriot Act and the other bills BushCo and the Republican majorities rammed through Congress in the last 8 years? How much time was given to folks to read those bills.
Maybe the Republicans should actually spend some time reading the bill (and making notes in the margins provided) rather than whining about how big it is. That seems to be the job they were elected to perform after all.
And do you really want to let the insurance companies sell insurance from the state most willing to not regulate their activities. Do you really want to see every insurance company selling from Delaware or South Dakota? REally? It wouldn’t be much of reform if that happens.
Thank you for these reports. They should be on every TV channel 24/7.
At this point, nothing is better than what they’re cooking up for us. Medicare for all would be so simple. That’s all we have to do.
Republics have long pushed the so-called “personal responsibility” meme to the furthest extent. If you can’t take care of yourself, it’s all your own fault, and you should bascially eat ^%$ and die. Plus if you’re struggling, it is axiomatic that you’re lazy and deserving of condemnation.
Churches push the meme that if you’re a “good enough” Xtian and pray to Jeebus correctly, then you’ll be taken care of by god. so if you’re struggling, then you’re not a good Xtian. It’s a viscious circle.
Almost everyone in this country has imbibed this trope for far too long, and then, even in an economy like this, people feel ashamed and guilty if they need help. Very sad.
So are you saying that if the bill provides coverage to the people in this video, you’d prefer it didn’t pass?
I agree, but even if that were to happen, the teabaggers would find fault with these people and say that they are to blame for their laziness, etc.
One added benefit of the free clinics is that they provide a venue for these stories.
I’d sure like to see more coverage of how many free clinics we could buy with all the $$$$ the health insurance companies & drug companies are spending DAILY on lobbying.
I blame St. Ronnie and the whole “welfare queen in a Cadillac” meme that he marketed so successfully.
I’d like to see that changed to “hedge fund manager in Lexus” — to identify of those receiving “corporate welfare,” and in far greater amounts than that going to traditional welfare.
This is so different from how I’ve heard people describe what it was like during the Great Depression. I saw a great video of a woman who said, “It wasn’t anyone’s fault, the system was broken. We were all poor.” No one was stigmatized.
Now, I think it’s broken again, but oh no being poor is nasty, being sick is distasteful, the fault must lie within us if we’re poor and sick. NO. We’re HUMAN. We need care, we can’t afford it, and to make the country great we must receive it and not go broke in the meantime.
Eve,
Thank you for giving us this glimpse into what you’re experiencing there.
Most folks wouldn’t get it that the Lexus is a luxury car. More like hedge fund manager in a BMW/Mercedes/Porsche (that is cars that folks easily recognize are way out of the price range of most working people)
It is exactly the way it was in the Great Depression. The Secretary of Treasury (Andrew Melon)saying that there were plenty of jobs. It is just that “some people would rather beg.”. And all the sociologists saying it was just bad genes. Famous Jukes and Kallikaks study. And of course those who thought those of us in that fix should be sterilized. In fact I later grew up to care for some who were sterilized. Almost eighty, I still recall my father’s hollow eyes.
GREAT reporting. We must keep it up.
DK, kickin asses and takin names . .
That was beOOOOOOOOtiful.
Rawhk on, hoss . . .
Disingenuous question.
Not valid.
Nice try though.
The teabaggers don’t count for shit.
What’s yer point?
And I DO like your comment at #9.
And here I thought you actually had to have arguments to support your statements.
Pups, any of you never read Studs Terkel’s treatsie on The Great Depression, please do.
An Oral History.
One of the most eye opening realities of how far back the corruption in our country on behalf of the 1% goes.
I’ve a hard copy of this, my father gave me.
You can’t put it down, even if you WERE in the streets in The South for Civil Rights, or in The Bay Area for Vietnam.
Or anywhere else in the streets for human rights, coal miners, women’s rights, and more.
This is a book that tells who, and why. From the people, who lived it.
Where is our Studs Terkel truth teller today? Eve is on it in Arkansas . . . that’s one.
Mz. Hamsher’s been there, and is tellin it.
But for how long it’s been going on? Check out Studs Terkel.
Course, history is our guide, too. It’s all there anymore, to recall.
The Toobz, ya know, got info.
*G*
And for effect, I offer Come Back, Woody Guthrie, It’s XMAS In Washington
Damn, that makes me cry. Steve Earle.
Nope, not in your case.
A simple rejection notice suffices.
But thanks for squat.
Hmm, these one’s are weak.
Must not get paid enough.
Work’s hard to come by, I’d think if ya HAD a job, you’d do it with ruthless abandon.
Why, when WE were young . . . . insert work ethic, getting up at 5am, yadda yadda.
These days, even the trolls are lazier n fuck.
‘Pity the phool’.
Agreed, TalkingStick – my own mother used to rant about how lazy and useless people were in the “Great” Depression, and that they just didn’t “feel like” working. Then would rant about how her extended family helped her father, etc, and that “others” should have gone to their families – not the gov’t – if they needed help.
My mom’s family wasn’t rich, but they had money. Her dad lost everything in the Depression and died teetering on the edge of poverty, despite having 2 jobs until he died, plus my grandmother also worked. My grandparents were barely able to cope financially and only because my great-grandparents assisted and supported them until they (great-grands) died.
My mother somehow believed that other poor people either chose to be lazy, and therefore poor, or chose not to beleive in Jesus, and therefore deserved to be poor, or chose not to get a helping hand from their better off relatives, and therefore deserved to be poor. She never could really grasp that just maybe there were people out there who didn’t have any relatives who could help them.
I dunno; beats me. All the footage of the dust bowl, Dorethea Lange’s photos, and news footage to the contrary, my mother (and most of her friends) managed to put their hands over their eyes & ears during the Depression and go “la la la la la.”
They were outraged by the various public works projects, no matter how much good they created on so many levels and will never accept that the people weren’t anything but lazy cadillac welfare kings and queens.
Quite amazing, isn’t it? But I can remember my mother bitching about this back in the 1950s, and her bitching only got intensified under Sainted Ronaldus Magnus, as you can imagine.
So, no, not everyone has a different attitude during the Depression. Many thought and behaved just as they are now. If you’re poor: too bad, so sad, get used to it, and furthermore, you deserve it, eat &&^% and die.
Agreed so much! That trope is so old and was never really accurate, but sadly I still see it being used today far too often.
For ex: http://www.sacbee.com/624/story/2334381.html
A review of the movie “Precious” describes the mother of Precious as “…Ronald Reagan’s nightmare vision of a “welfare queen” come to life…” This just published on 11/20/09, and I cringed to see it, even though the movie (& book) character is meant to be quite a horrid person.
I am so tired of the uber-rich, the country club set, and Glenn Beck teabaggers villifying poor people happily, while ignoring who’s really responsible for ripping us off. But not holding my breath for this to change anytime soon.
Yes. You describe it well. I have to say there were many then that remind me of the current tea baggers, a number in my own family. It is I know their way of avoiding that shame. In fact I think we should be reaching out to the Tea Baggers but how in the world? I do try one at a time but their pride is so great. In fact it is all too many had then and now.
Shame the greatest tool of the Republicans, then and now..
You talk like middle america is the land of the saints. Middle America is more worried about abortion, gays, and their christianity then human beings, the their fellow men or good Government. They supported the wars, GW and His crowd, and voted Republican most of the time. Middle america are mostly hicks who don’t know what’s good for themselves and the country.
Middle america has a poor record on keeping good Government for all, but has been great at milking Government for their good.
We act like the south is the problem but look at election results in middle america and you will see the problem.