Health Care

Earlier today the Senate Finance Committee voted to send a health bill to the full Senate with one Republican vote, from Olympia Snowe, of Maine. Is the bill perfect? No. Will it be passed in the US Senate as is? No. Will it survive a conference committee as is? No.

But, it is still an accomplishment. This country has been working on passing comprehensive health care reform since FDR or earlier. We must not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

The bill passed out of the Finance Committee today ends pre-existing conditions and disallows insurance companies from dropping covered individuals when they need the coverage the most - when they are sick. This is a good start. It will not solve all of our health care problems and challenges, but it is a good start.

In the richest country in the world, is it acceptable that we have so many people without health care coverage? I think not. And, this pre-existing condition thing hits home with me... you see, about a year ago my wife, Gloria, got a great new job that provides us both with health care. That's wonderful. But, I had to stop getting my allergy shots, because that was/is a pre-existing condition. So, now I've spent a year or more with no shots and my hearing has worsened a little bit more, but soon I'll be able to start up the allergy shots again because we've waited a year. I should be grateful, right?

Grateful that I had to wait a year to continue treatment that is critically important to my health?

I could not afford to continue those treatments without health insurance covering them, but I had to simply forego them for a year because I changed insurers. Do you not think our system needs fixing? Do you think that nothing is wrong with this picture? The bill that passed out of the Senate Finance committee today is far from perfect, but it's a good start. It will end pre-existing conditions. That, in and of itself, is reason enough to support it. We will - they will - make it better in sessions to come. But we simply MUST have health care reform soon.

Namaste.