PROBABLY NOT ONLY IN SOUTH CAROLINA

From the letters to the editor in The State in South Carolina:

Health bill price too high for America
The health care bill is unprecedented in requiring Americans to buy something that should be optional and voluntary.
The bill's proponents claim they want to help uninsured millions who are "denied" care, but I myself am uninsured and recently received excellent care for a back injury at MUSC. The hospital's private charity covered 95 percent of my cost, and my friends, family and church community helped with living expenses until I returned to work.
This kind of private solution is what Americans need, not government interference and control. I am healthy and rarely visit a doctor; I don't want to be forced to buy insurance, wasting a percentage of my income to effectively pay for sick people for whom I am not responsible. It is more efficient for me to pay out of pocket and be helped by my private community. Let the private sector work; more government bureaucracy is the last thing we need. This disastrous bill will only further bankrupt America.
REBEKAH ACKERMAN

Lenix in the comments gets it:

LENIX wrote on 03/16/2010 12:32:58 PM:
So Rebecca, its okay for you to not choose to have your self insured, but then beg for that handout when it is convenient to you??? Hahahahahaha!! And then you have those on here who actually condone your behavior/double standard!!! Hahahahahahaha!!! Only in SC, only in SC.....

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

"MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION" ON HEALTH CARE

From the National Catholic Reporter:

Twenty-five pro-life Catholic theologians and Evangelical leaders yesterday sent letters to members of Congress urging them not to let misleading information about abortion provisions in the Senate health care bill block passage of sorely-needed reform.

Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, a Washington-based advocacy group, said that the Senate health bill upholds abortion funding restrictions and supports pregnant women.
The letter included a page by page analysis of the Senate bill as it pertains to abortion.
The group asked members of Congress “to make an informed decision about this legislation based on careful deliberation guided by facts.”

“We believe that the provisions below provide extensive evidence that longstanding restrictions on federal funding of abortion have been maintained. Furthermore, this bill provides new and important supports for vulnerable pregnant women,” the letter states.

From the letter:

Dear Member of Congress,

As Christians committed to a consistent ethic of life, and deeply concerned with the health and well-being of all people, we want to see health care reform enacted. Our nation has a rare and historic opportunity to expand coverage to tens of millions of people, make coverage more affordable for all families, and crack down on many of the most harmful practices of the health insurance industry.
We are writing because of our concern about the lack of clear and accurate information regarding abortion provisions in the health care reform bill passed by the Senate on December 24, 2009.

Read the rest of the letter and see the names of the signatories at the NCR.

I believe that the letter is a big deal, especially coming from pro-life group leaders, both in contributing to an accurate understanding of what's in the bill regarding abortion and in countering misinformation that is promulgated by Republicans and others who do not want to see a health reform bill pass. Also, I'd hope that the letter would be helpful to the members of Congress to make an informed moral choice to support a bill that will help so many people and save lives.

Now Is The Time For Universal Health Care

Paul Krugman in the New York Times:

The whole world is in recession. But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care.

Which raises a question: Why has the Obama administration been silent, at least so far, about one of President Obama’s key promises during last year’s campaign — the promise of guaranteed health care for all Americans?

Good question. I've been wondering about that myself. When my son lost his job a couple of years ago, he tried to start a small business. The COBRA premiums on the health insurance from his former employer were too expensive, so he bought private health insurance. That was during the year after his divorce, and his blood pressure went up, no doubt due to the twin catastrophes, and the private plan doubled his premiums. He was forced to abandon the idea of a small business and take a job with health-care benefits. I wonder how many small businesses do not succeed or are never started due to health insurance issues. It seems to me that our country, where capitalism is valued next to God (or even higher than God!), entrepreneurship is too often stifled because of the pathetic state of our country's health care.

If you're wealthy, or elderly with Medicare coverage, of if you're well-covered by your employer's health care plan, you do all right. But if that's not the case, then you're in a pretty bad way.

Krugman lists several reasons why Obama's advisers may be cautioning him against moving forward on universal health care, which you can read if you click the link. Of the final possible reason, Krugman says:

Finally — and this is, I suspect, the real reason for the administration’s health care silence — there’s the political argument that this is a bad time to be pushing fundamental health care reform, because the nation’s attention is focused on the economic crisis. But if history is any guide, this argument is precisely wrong.

Don’t take my word for it. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, has declared that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Indeed. F.D.R. was able to enact Social Security in part because the Great Depression highlighted the need for a stronger social safety net. And the current crisis presents a real opportunity to fix the gaping holes that remain in that safety net, especially with regard to health care.

I believe that Krugman is correct in his analysis.