August 2009 Archives

The wonderful people we send to Washington to represent us are so pure, so lacking in human frailties, they cannot be influenced by campaign contributions or their private investment interests. Despite receiving millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the health care industry and despite their personal investment portfolios with these companies, they are not influenced to vote for the interests of the industry. Just ask them, they'll tell you. Never since Christ walked the earth have we seen such examples of unadulterated goodness.

Max Baucus (D-Montana) is an example of this goodness. As head of the Senate Finance Committee he is working very hard (we are told) on health care reform. Baucus, who was sent to Washington to represent the people of Montana, is willing to give away the public option but insists on having a bipartisan plan. We all agree, don't we, that bipartisanship takes precedence over getting real health care reform? Within Montana, 47 percent of the public supports creating a "public health insurance option," while 43 percent oppose it. Looking closer at the numbers, almost one-quarter of Republicans (23 percent) support a public plan. Forty-eight percent of independents and 78 percent of Democrats support the public option. So one wonders, what Montanas is he representing? Could the $3.9 million in health and insurance company money that he has received caused him to represent their interests instead of those of Montanas? Oh! I forgot, he is so pure and lacking in human frailties, he cannot be influenced by contributions - just ask him - though this seems to be a conflict of interests it couldn't be. Not for Saint Baucus

Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is another case in point. As ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee he is supposed to be negotiating a bipartisan health care reform plan. At the same time he is using his stance against health care reform in his 2010 re-election materials. How do you stand against and negotiate for a thing simultaneously? Grassley represents Iowans but 56% of them support a public option and he calls it a "deal breaker." He used a Lewin group study to support his opposition but when told that Lewin is a subsidiary of a big health care company he said "I didn't know that." Shouldn't he know that if he is using them as a source for his opposition? You don't suppose that the $2.9 million he has received from health and insurance companies could be influencing his decision do you? Of course not! This good God-fearing man is above such human frailties. He wouldn't allow mere money to influence him - just ask him - no matter how it looks, we just have to believe he is too pure, too good to ever put money before his duty to Iowans.

Baucus and Grassley are not alone in their saintliness. There are others who also, contrary to appearances, do not have an allegiance to the health care industry. The Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) has found that legislators hold significant investments in pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Amgen. "Nearly one in four current members of Congress invested some money in health companies during 2007, the most recent year CRP calculated lawmakers' extensive personal finances." Through 2008 - the most recent year for which any lawmakers filed this information - many congressional members' personal funds were also invested in big-time insurers Aetna, UnitedHealth Group and Metlife, among others. We must give thanks that all these legislators are such good men and women and loyal representatives of the people that they do not allow their investments to influence their decisions.

In a July 9, 2009 article, the Washington Post pointed out that 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress have been hired by insurers, hospitals and medical groups to lobby against health care reform. We know that our saintly representatives will not be diverted from their pledge to work for the good of the people by allowing the access and influence of their former colleagues to affect their commitment to passing real health care reform.

Time and time again legislation that would have served the common good has been delayed, diluted, and defeated. But our elected representatives assure us that they are not influenced by money and lobbying by former colleagues. In that case how is it that the corporations repeatedly profit at the expense of the people? Are our representatives saintly but stupid? Too inept to write good legislation? Too confused to understand the consequences of the bills they pass? I don't think so!

And for once we need to get off our duffs and let it be known that we will not tolerate betrayal on this issue. No empty threats, just a promise. The promise that any Democrat who does not support health care reform including a public option, will find us crossing state lines with our dollars and our activists to campaign against them when they come up for re-election.

Then we need to go to work on public financing for all elected officials. That is the only way we will get special interest money out of our elections and out of our government.

There are many definitions for the word "idiot" and far too many of us fall under one or several of them.

Idiot: person who is void of understanding. A good description for a large number of the people we elect and send to Washington to run our country. It is particularly apt right now for those who are set on defeating health care reform. They are totally void of any understanding of what it means to actually represent the people of this country; totally void of understanding the economic consequences of defeating health care reform; and totally void of understanding that when they sell out the American people they are also selling their own souls.

This definition also fits many for-profit corporations. It has become, not only acceptable but legal for these companies to put increasing profits before everything else including the common good of the people and the welfare of our country. Because making profits for stockholders is their legal purpose, they have become void of understanding there is a moral and ethical responsibility to the people, communities and countries that make those profits possible.

Idiot: insanely irresponsible person. An apt definition for those of us who keep re-electing the same people; keep sending them back to Washington expecting them to do things differently; keep allowing them to do the bidding of big money to the detriment of the people without raising a deafening chorus of disapproval that cannot be ignored. It is surely insanity giving credence to the mindless blather of politicians mouthing talking points written by political strategists and greedy insurance industry lobbyists.

And who but the insanely irresponsible would defend the standard operating procedures of businesses that undermine the security of their jobs, their health care, and their pensions? Why would any sane person fight to keep in power a business model that not only works against their personal interests but against the economic interests of their country.

Idiot: foolish or senseless person. A fitting characterization of those who say that government run programs are an abomination apparently unaware that what they are saying applies to: Medicare, Congressional medical coverage, and Medicaid; Veterans Administration - benefits and hospitals; Social Security and SSI; Public schools and universities; Firefighters, policeman, sheriffs, and forest rangers; FBI and CIA; U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corp., Air Force, and Coast Guard; and The United States Post Office.

Some of these older foolish and senseless people are biting off their own noses to spite their faces by ranting and raving about government control of health care without apparently realizing their Medicare and VA coverage are government run.

Idiot: a person lacking common sense. A definition suitable for those who think a for-profit corporation with no real competition is the best choice for supplying health care coverage; for those who believe that such a business will put the health and welfare of customers before the goal of ever increasing profits; for those who ignore the thousands of horror stories about cancelled policies, delayed and denied claims, and refusals of coverage, because it has not happened to them... yet. It is an appropriate description for people who don't bother to seek truth but simply swallow whatever TV or radio personalities say and then repeat it as if it is fact rather than the opinion and bias of someone else. And that brings us to a particular category of idiots - useful idiots.

Useful idiots are persons who naïvely think themselves allies of manipulative entities (political parties, organizations, corporations) but are actually held in contempt and cynically used by them; those who are ignorant (uninformed of the facts) and thus easily swayed (made 'useful') toward causes that are against their own interests, or what they would consider to be for the greater good, if they were better informed. Those who are insanely irresponsible, foolish and senseless, and lacking in common sense frequently become useful idiots for those who are void of understanding.

On a brighter note, just because that is what we have been doing doesn't mean we have to continue that way. We can change what we are doing whenever we want. Now is the ideal time to make that change. Health care reform is in our best interests, let's not be idiots about it.

Much is happening in Washington right now that will affect all of us for years to come and health care reform is at the top of the list.

This is not the time to sit by and watch what is happening. It is not the time to complain to each other about the lobbyists and special interest millions pouring into Washington coffers. This is the time to counteract the effect of special interests' money and efforts with a public outcry too loud to be ignored. It is the time to deluge members of the House and Senate with phone calls, emails, and letters, letting them know what we the people want them to do about this important issue.

President Obama said, Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. What we want in the way of heath care reform will not happen if we do not take his words to heart; if we do not push and push and keep on pushing until our so called representatives actually start representing us.

We are living with the results of not pushing on important issues:

• Think about what Congress did on the Medicare prescription coverage - it put millions of dollars in Big Pharma's pockets and millions of seniors in a doughnut hole. And now they are solidifying the position of pharmaceuticals in the current health care debate by agreeing to not remove the prohibitions against negotiating drug prices and importing drugs from Canada.


• Look at The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. The provision that would have really helped families by letting judges readjust mortgages was killed by real estate industry money.


• Remember the energy bill passed by the House recently? It spread cash among oil, gas, utilities and agribusiness after 34 energy companies spent $260,000 a day lobbying members of Congress to change and compromise the bill.


• And there is a bill meant to protect us in case of terrorist attacks on chemical plants that has been altered so that hundreds of factories can skip paying to prevent the release of deadly toxins.

This is the kind of legislation we get when we leave it to our elected officials. This is what happens when we sit and watch or just complain to each other about special interest money and influence. It takes vigilance and action by the people to have responsive representatives in our government. We can not just elect these people, send them to Washington, and then assume they will serve our interests. We know from experience that it just doesn't work that way.

So start today contacting Representatives and Senators - not just your state representatives but also those on the committees writing the health care reform bill as well as the Blue Dog Democrats who talk out both sides of their mouths when it comes to health care. Remember these Blue Dog Democrats are from conservative areas - that was the only kind of Democrat that could get elected in those states. But this health care issue concerns a lot of conservatives not just progressives. The Republican Senators and Congressmen may be united against this reform but all of the Republican people are not.

This is an issue that we the people can unite on even when our bought and paid for officials can't. We need to talk to each other. We need to make sure everyone understands that the fear mongering about government dictating and limiting doctors and treatments is a bunch of you know what. The insurance companies are doing that right now but government run Medicare is not.

Those who think they have such great insurance have probably not experienced a serious illness. That is when you find out your "great" insurance can just be pulled out from under you when the insurance company decides you are too expensive to keep as a customer. Or if you reach a point where you can no longer work because of illness, you have the wonderful option of COBRA which is unaffordable if you aren't working so you wind up with no insurance. Other than the very wealthy, none of us can depend on our health insurance being there when we need it for as long as we need it.

Fear of increasing the deficit is another part of the negative rhetoric. Isn't it revealing of where the loyalty of "our" representatives' lies when they don't worry about increasing the deficit to give a huge tax cut to the wealthy, but are oh so disturbed by the idea when it is for something that serves the interests of the people.

And enough already to those who are promoting a state regulated insurance co-op as a compromise for the public option. That is acceptable to the insurance companies so you can be darn sure it is an inadequate substitute. It would delute the negotiating leverge a public option would have and that does not serve the best interests of the people. Let these elected officials know that we want real health care reform and that selling out to the health insurance companies will bring the wrath of the people down on their heads.

President Obama cannot make these reforms happen without our loud and persistent voices backing him. If we expect things to change it is up to us to help make it happen. If we want to take our country back, if we want the Washington status quo to change now is the time to demand that change - loudly, clearly, and repeatedly.

If you did not see Wendell Potter's interview on the July 31 Bill Moyer's Journal, do yourself a favor and follow the link to read the transcript. And then pass the information on to everyone you know. Potter was a senior executive in the insurance industry for 20 years. They cannot claim he is a disgruntled ex-employee because he left of his own volition when he finally saw the "human face" of people affected by the way insurance companies do business. In his testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Potter stated:

I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry. Insurers make promises they have no intention of keeping, they flout regulations designed to protect consumers, and they make it nearly impossible to understand -- or even to obtain -- information we need. As you hold hearings and discuss legislative proposals over the coming weeks, I encourage you to look very closely at the role for-profit insurance companies play in making our health care system both the most expensive and one of the most dysfunctional in the world. I hope you get a real sense of what life would be like for most of us if the kind of so-called reform the insurers are lobbying for is enacted.

We need to heed his words and make sure our lawmakers understand what selling out to the health care industry means to us and to our country.