Rich Lowry and the Republicans may be right to point out flaws in the current health care bill. I believe I speak for many Democrats and progressives when I say that I worry about the bill as well. However, it is precisely because of Republican tactics and columnists like Lowry that we have a less than ideal health care bill.
Consider the last tirade by Lowry, "Democrats Choice: Suicide or Death?" In it, Lowry argues that the Democrats shouldn't pass the current health care bill, because "it only covers half the uninsured." I thought Republicans were A-OK with leaving millions of people uninsured--after all, isn't that why we haven't seen ANY real proposals on health care reform from that side of the aisle?
The truth is, the elephants want it both ways. They want to whine about the flaws in any bill, pointing to factors like cost (our current system spends 16% of the GDP), and the number of uninsured (now around 40-50 million, depending on estimates); yet, they refuse to take part in the process because they see reform as a political victory for Obama and the Democratic party.
Personally, I would like to see a single-payer system. It would be the cleanest, most effective, simple way to fix our health care system. Unfortunately, it is not a political reality, because the health care industry, its lobbyists, conservative media outlets, and Republicans have thrown all of their weight against any kind of reform for reasons most foul: personal and private profit at the expense of the sick and dying, and political gain at the expense of our country.
Lets not forget who the real enemies of health care reform are: Lowry, the Republican party, and the "for profit off of sick and dying people" health care industry.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/11/democrats_choice_suicide_or_de.html
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