Health Care stirs debate for Oskaloosans and Iowans even still.

Congressman Boswell Townhall Meeting at Sigourney, Iowa August 13, 2009

Health care has been a national debate since the town halls erupted, in the summer of 2009, with those in opposition and those in favor of the national health care overhaul. I was one of the multitudes of people that became more active in directly attempting to understand and participate in that debate.

Flash forward nearly 6 months; it appears the health care overhaul is dead. Then, after some very heated and not polite debate, congress passes into law the  health care reform down political lines. This single event did just as much to polarize the nation, as any other event, in decades and/or possibly the last century.

The recent elections have shown that the electorate still has great displeasure with Washington. Republicans ran heavily on the repeal of what has been coined Obamacare. The house swung and took on a more conservative look than it had had in four years under Democratic control.

On January 19, 2011 Republicans passed a repeal of the law, in nearly identical fashion that the Democrats passed the law initially, on what was basically party lines.

Once again the partisan talk erupted. Liberals and Democrats scoffed, at what they say is a futile attempt by the Republicans who  only currently control the house. The Republicans made their statement, as promised to the American people, by repealing the health care law.

An example of even further raised hostility came from Rep. Steve Cohen (a Democrat from Tennessee) who, on the floor of the nearly empty House, used the same wording of blood libel that Sarah Palin had used, not but a week ago, that had generated outcry from the opposing side of the isle.

Cohen then ratcheted up the rhetoric even more by comparing Republicans to the Nazi’s and their techniques they used to spread lies. His quote from the floor is as follows: “They say it’s a government takeover of health care. A big lie just like (Joseph) Goebbels. You say it enough and you repeat the lie, repeat the lie, repeat the lie until eventually people believe it. Like blood libel, that’s the same kind of thing.”

This type of talk, from the same side of the debate, that not only a week earlier had tried to tie the Tucson shooting to conservatives and Republicans.

The fact of the matter is, they have all gone beyond what is considered civil debate. It is the atmosphere that is generated when 2 kids disagree and the argument continues to get louder and louder and others eventually get annoyed with the argument and either stop it, or it erupts into an all out fistfight. Where will this argument end?

The real teeth to the Republicans controlling the house is being able to de-fund the health care law. One might say that, at the very least, the Republicans did follow up with a campaign promise to do exactly what they did. This is the same that Obama did. He ran upon health care reform, and both parties have attempted and, in cases, accomplished some of what they promised the voters.

Now we are stuck once again with members of both parties taking broadsides at the opposition once again. Iowa’s congressmen are no different.

Iowa Congressman Steve King (R) stated Wednesday, “When ObamaCare passed, I made a pledge to work to uproot the law from the U.S. Code. To fulfill this promise, I drafted and introduced language to repeal ObamaCare ‘as if such Act had not been enacted.’ Today, the House of Representatives passed this language, and we are one step closer to fully repealing the law.”

But even before Kings statement came out, Congressman Boswell (D) had stated, “Instead of focusing on what Iowans really care about, which is jobs and the economy, the new Republican majority is wasting taxpayers’ dollars on repealing laws that helps more Iowans afford health insurance and prevents insurance companies from taking advantage of consumers when they are at their most vulnerable. H.R. 2 is playing politics at its worst – on the public dime.”

“The health care law is full of new government mandates and taxes that will raise premiums, destroy jobs and further weaken our country’s fiscal standing,” Congressman Latham said following the vote. “Striking this massive policy failure from the books is a necessary step so we can enact real reform that makes premiums more affordable and encourages job growth. Those are the reforms the American people have been demanding all along.” stated Iowa’s 4th Congressional District Representative Tom Latham.

Iowa Senator Harkin, who had no vote in the current piece of legislation Wednesday, took an opportunity to chime in with his opinion on the vote coming before the House. “The report released today by the Department of Health and Human Services reconfirms the vital importance of the Affordable Care Act’s broad consumer protections. The Department’s analysis shows that up to 129 million Americans under the age of 65 have a preexisting condition, and millions more are likely to develop such a condition in the next eight years. If Congressional Republicans had their way, these Americans would face denial or restriction of health benefits. This report makes clear that we can’t afford to deprive half of Americans under the age of 65 of this vital protection.” Harkin, being in the Senate, will most likely not see the bill because that chamber is still under control of the Democrats.

Gallup poll recently asked American’s on their confidence in Congress. It is currently at 11%. That is down from 42% in 1973. So my question on this number is: Is Congress truly listening to the American people? Do they see these numbers? Maybe it’s time they come back to we the people, sit and talk and find out what we think. But before that happens, We the people need to have honest conversations with each other.

Was this vote on the repeal of health care a waste? Was this vote only symbolic? If so, then symbolism aside, the problems of the bill and/or the lack of protections for Americans in an extremely broken health care system that now seems more interested in serving the bottom line, and not following the Hippocratic Oath the wonderful care takers themselves do, than helping their fellow man.

Maybe our attention should be more focused on why medical inflation is far exceeding that of the normal inflation in our country. Everyone wants to point at the ‘evil’ insurance companies for increasing costs, but are they just the easy target?

Health care is a business. Maybe the business needs to fix itself and not rely on government money for it’s survival. If it can’t, just like everything else in America, someone will come along with a solution to the problem. We just need to let freedom of choice for the consumer direct how the future will be. If free people were not allowed to innovate, we would not have cars, airplanes, and the internet.  The things that most shaped our modern world and made things better came at a time when the government had little to do with it. We the people have the solution.

If we were honest and we looked at the problem and fixed the real problem, instead of continuing to add layers of complexity to a problem which in turn makes even more problems that will then require more ‘fixes’.

I have a friend that see’s things completely different than I. For the most part we can have honest debate, and if we really listen to each other, and when we drop the partisan nonsense, we will find we have far more in common than not. I would encourage honest and open conversation with those of opposite views. Be open, be willing to accept you might not be completely correct.

America is at a crossroads, fear, partisanship, and an evolving government for the good or bad make for an uneasy population. It is time for honest conversation with your neighbor, your friend, your pastor, your city council, your representative.

There will be an Eggs and Issues at Smokey Row this Saturday morning starting at 8:30. It’s the perfect opportunity to start understanding the local issues, becoming involved and expressing your opinions and concerns. When your done, buy them a cup of coffee and shake the hand of the one that debated you the most, because as much as your there to protect your family and your way of life, they are there with the same thing in mind for theirs.

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