Denying The Medically Disadvantaged's Very Humanity

'YOU'D DENY MY HUMANITY JUST TO SAVE MONEY ANDSCORE POLITICAL POINTS?'

By

Matthew Lucas Beckett

The mood at the joint session of the new Republican Controlled Congress was contentious.
“You can't undo Health Care Reform,” said the minority leader of the senate. “It has helped millions who previously were unable to purchase health insurance under the old system.”
“But at what cost?” shot back the new Speaker of The House. “It's costing us millions of dollars every day and it's only helping those who were too lazy to help themselves.”
Outraged, Thomas Sanctrom stood up. “My brother is not lazy. He worked as hard as anyone in this room and harder than most. When our insurance refused to pay for his treatment the hospital wouldn't treat him and you know the rest.”
“If you'd gotten up off your fat ass and. . .” the senate majority leader stopped as Thomas shot him a look of flaming daggers.
“If you'll remember, sir, I have worked hard my entire life, and so did he. I am one of the wealthiest people in this country, as you well know considering how many extremely large contributions I once made to you and most of your colleagues' campaigns before you turned against us. I would have been happy to pay for my brother's treatment entirely out of my own pocket, my accountant would probably not have even noticed so comparatively small a deduction from my considerable holdings, but the hospital wouldn't take private funds, which is why I wrote to many of you encouraging you to change your position on Health Care Reform, as I did, and why when you refused, I switched my funds and transferred them to your opponents. This past election it did not sway things but there's another election in two years. So don't talk to me about laziness.”
“Well,” said the Speaker. “OK., so it's not all lazy creatures that are using the new law to their advantage, but it is mostly lazy people, and why should tax payers pay for lazy creatures' health care?”
“And how exactly is telling private insurance companies that they can't deny coverage based on preexisting conditions even doing that?” asked the former Speaker of the house. “It's still the private companies paying, it's just that they can't deny payments based on ludicrous criteria any more.”
“And why should they be compelled to pay for the treatment of those whom it is not profitable to pay for? Or if they must, why should they not be allowed to charge such patients premiums that cover such costs, or not have to pay for anything related to that condition?”
“Because,” said Charlie Moodcinkunk. “If they don't pay for treatment related to such injuries or illnesses, those people's human rights are violated, because according to The U.N. Charter, decent, affordable health care is a basic human right.”
“And those legs you're walking on?” asked The Senate Majority leader. “Are they flesh and bone?”
“No,”said Charlie. “My natural legs were crushed in my fall and had to be amputated. These are prosthetics. But I don't see what that has to do with...”
“So you're not exactly human, are you? Not entirely, at least?”
For a moment Charlie was too stunned by this statement to speak, and indeed all in attendance by those seated on the right side of the congressional isle, audience, testifiers from the public and those on the other side of the isle, gave a collective, stunned gasp at this remark.
Finally,Charlie found his voice, although he spoke strangely, as if seeing the man before him clearly for the first time. “You'd deny my humanity just to score political points?”
“No,” said the Senate Minority leader. “I point out your non humanity to save the tax payers from a needless burden.”
Charlie went white as he stared at the being before him. “You'd deny my humanity to score political points and save money?”
Before the Senate Majority leader could respond, Mrs. McCall stood up. “Even if you are going to accept such a ridiculous and ludicrous argument, and it is totally ridiculous and ludicrous, my precious little boy had no artificial limbs, so his basic human rights were absolutely violated by 'Our Policy is Profit.'”
“Except that he had bad kidneys,” shot back another G.O.P. House member. “And since that's not something that should happen in a normal human, I've never heard of kidney failure at eleven before, so he was a sub-normal human, thus not entitled to basic human rights.”
At these words, Mrs. McCall gasped and fainted and Mr. McCall gave the man an even more poisonous look than Thomas had earlier given the new speaker of The House.
“And I didn't have artificial legs at the time of my fall, they came about as result of my fall,” shouted Charlie.
Then the gavel came down so hard that it shattered.
“Enough,” said the Speaker of The House, as many others whom the old system had failed either personally or with a loved one started to stand. “Thomas,I'm sorry your brother suffered, but a man takes care of his own needs.”
“Then,” said Thomas in a tone of deadly calm. “From now on it's Mr. Sanctrom to you and everyone else on your side of the isle, and I'm canceling all of the un-cashed checks you have from me right now.” As he spoke, he pressed a few buttons on his laptop, and the words' CHECKS CANCELED' appeared on his screen.
The Speaker recovered quickly from the momentary shock at these words. “Charlie, you're not fully human and so do not have the basic human right to decent, affordable health care, and your son, Mr. And Mrs. McCall, was subnormal and so was also not entitled to basic human rights. Anyone who does not take care of themselves and their own is not worthy of being called human because humanity takes care of itself and all those for whom the old system did or would not have worked were and are subhuman and so are and were not entitled to the U.N., a horrible organization it is anyway, basic human right of decent, affordable health care. Now, unless there is anyone here TRULY worth hearing, let's get on with the vote to undo this ill-conceived law for a problem that did not exist.”
“So I guess clones are definitely out, since we're absolutely not human,” said a voice that sounded in way oddly familiar to Mr. and Mrs. McCall.
“Who are you?” demanded the speaker, outraged at being interrupted once again, anxious to get on with this vote so that he could go to his insurance company funded twelve course dinner.
“I'm a clone,” said the man. “My name is Mark...” he caught a glance at Mr. and Mrs. McCall and paused.
'Mark what, and why are you wasting our time?” demanded the speaker.
But Mr. and Mrs. McCall suddenly stood up.
“What's going on here?” demanded Mr. McCall.
“Yes,” echoed his wife. “You sound exactly like our son, only a little older than he was when he died.”
“Well,” said the clone, seeming more than a bit uneasy and already scanning the room for the nearest doors. “I did get your son's heart, more or less. It's not his heart that beats in my breast, but my heart was cloned and grown from a piece of his heart.”
“So that's what 'lost in transit' meant,” said Mr. McCall, his face scarlet, his fists white, and his wife looking much the same. “So what scientific firm stole our son's heart from the van and is doing human cloning, two crimes at least.”
“Oh no, it wasn't stolen,” said the clone. “Our Policy Is Profit sold it to Dolly The Sheep One Better pri---er--upon your son's death.”
But the couple both heard what the clone had started to say, and flaming daggers doesn't begin to describe what was in their eyes as they glanced for a long time at every Republican in the room, House, Senate, and those in the audience they knew were.
“You see?” said Mrs. McCall in a voice of lethal calm and barely held back venom. “You see what you want to return? You see what happened in the system you all say needed no reform? I thought 'Our policy is Profit' let Mark die just to save money, but now it is clear that they let him die so that they could give his heart to this 'Dolli The Sheep One Better' firm. THAT is the system that you say needed no reform.”
Without another word, she sat back down.
Everyone in the room looked aghast at the actions of this 'Dolli The Sheep One Better' firm, and with the looks on the McCalls' faces, for a very long time no one dared speak.
After nearly an hour, the speaker said in a quiet voice, “why have you come here today, clone?”
With a very nervous glance at his benefactor's parents, the clone answered in a quiet voice. “The thing is, not all of me started from as high quality material as the boy's heart. I came here today hoping to quietly request funding for growing some new kidneys and a new liver, but obviously ..well...”
“You'll have your funds,” said Mr. McCall. “How you came into being is not your fault, and at least a part of our son lives on in you, which while in a way is abhorrent, in another is more than we expected o hoped, so you will have and live the life that our Mark was robbed of, because you're merely the one who benefited from others crimes and had no say in it and not the one who committed the crime. Therefore, you'll have a full life, although other than what is needed to keep you alive, we're going to sue the pans off of both companies. And there will be full Congressional and legal inquiries into these matters, but you will be able to live a full life on our Mark's behalf.” He looked up at the speaker, a look beyond anything mere words can describe in his eyes. “Won't there and won't he.” It was not a question, it was not even a request.
The Speaker nodded dumbly, totally at a loss for words.
“And repealing Health Care Reform or doing anything at all to weaken or curtail it will never even come up in a single thought again, ever, will it,” said Mrs. McCall in a similar voice. Again, it was not a question or even a request.
Everyone in the chamber, Democrat, Republican, Independent, House, Senate, Testifiers and audience members shook their heads and promised in their hearts to keep their word to the grave and convince all they knew to do the same.
After another long silence, the session was quietly ended and all left in silence to go think and then act on all that they had witnessed on this most unusual day.