by Francoise Farron   

One woman’s opinion.
The sorry spectacle of what is supposed to pass for a “health care debate” actually turns out to be a marathon of bickering. Wonder why the congress can’t get its act together? After all - how difficult can it be? The Canadians are able to care for every one of their citizens when they become ill; the Cubans have universal health care; the British do, the Germans do, the French, the Swedes, the Swiss, they all can do it; only the nation that prides itself on its “know-how” cannot?
The President of course hit the nail right on the head - what is occurring is not a debate at all, it is shouting passed one another “talking points,” over and over again, without ever taking the slightest notice of what the other side is saying.
That is the perfect recipe for getting strictly nowhere . . and that - it would appear - is exactly what Republicans want. The reason is not complicated. They are beholden - and unfortunately so are many Democrats - to those who bankroll their election campaigns - and they must deliver. NOT to the people who were persuaded - using those bankrolls to elect them, but to those who pony up.
Besides, most concerns are red herrings anyway, like tort reform to do away with "frivolous lawsuits" for instance.
What percentage of the obscene health care costs in this country is due to malpractice claims? In addition, as all those lawyers in the Senate ought to know, no “trivial” suit ever reaches the regular court calender. The courts have a procedure known as demurrer, that eliminates claims without a proper case in law within days of filing.
The tragic facts are, that while the Congress is squabbling, tens of thousands of Americans die every year for lack of timely care, and have been dying for all those decades that the congress has been carrying on this charade . This is criminal, my friends; this is genocide!
Notice that many of the opponents of health care reform are “pro-life” advocates. Is it not bizarre that they would hold up a bill that would save literally thousands of lives in order to make sure that abortions not be paid with funds allocated to health care - as if we did not already have the Hyde Amendment that outlaws using public funds for abortions. Another red herring. Is it not bizarre that their tender care for human life is reserved strictly for the unborn of the species? Once they have seen the light of day, those tender cares vanish utterly and completely. Have any of you heard the members of the press/media ask this question?
I haven’t. That is another aspect of this tragedy: where is our vaunted free press? If members of Congress are tongue-tied because of all the millions they receive to get themselves elected and re-elected, is the press muzzled too and afraid to ask these questions?
I would like to ask everyone who is holding up a bill that would guarantee every citizen the benefit of timely care whether any of their objections to the proposal before them are more important than the lives of thousands of human beings every single year?
I would like to ask every one who is holding up this most urgent legislation whether they would press their concerns with the same insistence if their own health, or that of their loved ones depended on the passage of this bill?
Francoise Farron