I've had lots of people congratulating me on my star turn on the teevee this week -- and a few snide remarks from the teabaggers here in the office -- but also lots of questions from people that actually highlight one of the weaknesses in our crusade. Here we are, rallying for health care reform, and I still have people who ostensibly agreed with the idea asking me, "What is the plan?" To that end, I will acknowledge that a 1000-page bill can be a daunting, complex document, not to mention that it's ripe to be picked apart by opponents, but the bottom line is this: The current system is ineffective, unjust and unsustainable.
Daily Kos had an excellent post up this morning that helps explain just what "health care reform" would mean and how it would look once achieved. You can check it out here, with a succinct five-minute video and a chart showing how every American fits into the big picture.
In the interest of helping people make a simple pitch in favor of health care reform, here are a few bullet points I try to hit when I talk about this issue:
1. Health care, in the wealthiest and most egalitarian nation on Earth, is a human right and not a privilege.
2. Under the Obama plan, no one will be forced to give up their existing insurance plan. If you like your current coverage, you are entitled to keep it.
3. We already have "health care rationing." It comes when insurance company bureaucrats make cost/benefit decisions that ultimately dictate whether they will pay for medical care you need.
4. Medicare is a government-run health care plan!
5. A health care system that compels the un- and under-insured to seek treatment in local emergency rooms is financially unsustainable.
6. The time for reform is now. If we don't use the momentum generated with the election of Barack Obama, it will be another 20 years before anyone ever attempts to fix the system again.
What are we waiting for?
Daily Kos had an excellent post up this morning that helps explain just what "health care reform" would mean and how it would look once achieved. You can check it out here, with a succinct five-minute video and a chart showing how every American fits into the big picture.
In the interest of helping people make a simple pitch in favor of health care reform, here are a few bullet points I try to hit when I talk about this issue:
1. Health care, in the wealthiest and most egalitarian nation on Earth, is a human right and not a privilege.
2. Under the Obama plan, no one will be forced to give up their existing insurance plan. If you like your current coverage, you are entitled to keep it.
3. We already have "health care rationing." It comes when insurance company bureaucrats make cost/benefit decisions that ultimately dictate whether they will pay for medical care you need.
4. Medicare is a government-run health care plan!
5. A health care system that compels the un- and under-insured to seek treatment in local emergency rooms is financially unsustainable.
6. The time for reform is now. If we don't use the momentum generated with the election of Barack Obama, it will be another 20 years before anyone ever attempts to fix the system again.
What are we waiting for?
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