Dialogue Over Diatribes

LETTER IN RESPONSE TO NIGHTLINE’S CLOSING ARGUMENT ON FRIDAY, AUGUST SEVENTH, 2009.

QUESTION: WERE THE PROTESTERS AT HEALTH CARE REFORM RALLIES THAT SHOUT SO LOUD ABOUT NO REFORM OR EVEN PROGRESS THAT NO ACTUAL DIALOGUE CAN EVEN TAKE PLACE ORGANIZED FROM THE HIGHER UPS OF THE RANKS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OR TRULY GRASS ROOTS?

ANSWER: THEY WERE ORGANIZED FROM THE HIGHER UPS OF THE RANKS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. THIS IS THE U.S.A., PEOPLE HAVE A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO PROTEST, BUT SINCE THE BILLS HAD AT THAT POINT AT MOST BEEN WRITTEN A WEEK AND ARE I’M SURE EACH SEVERAL HUNDRED PAGES LONG, NO ONE OUTSIDE OF CONGRESS COULD POSSIBLY HAVE READ THEM ALL OR EVEN MOST OF EITHER YET. PEOPLE WERE REACTING TO THE DELIBERATE MISINFORMATION PUT OUT THERE BY THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY BUREAUCRATS.

MAYBE THE THEN CURRENT PROPOSALS AND NOW ON THURSDAY, APRIL FOURTEENTH, 2011, ACTUAL LAW ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT LET US DISCUSS THEM IN A CIVIL MANNER RATHER THAN SHOUTING “NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE POOR! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE CRITICALLY ILL! NO HEALTH CARE FOR THE SELF EMPLOYED!” SO LOUDLY THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN EVEN BE HEARD. WE’RE A NATION OF LAWS, NOT OF MOB RULE, SO LET THE MOBS BE CIVIL AND MAYBE WE CAN GET SOMETHING DONE. NOW, IF ANY OF THESE PEOPLE WATCHED ANY NEWS CASTER OTHER THAN BILL ORYLEE THEY WOULD KNOW THAT IF THEY ARE SATISFIED WITH THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY THEY WILL BE ABLE TO KEEP IT UNDER ALL PROPOSALS THEN CURRENTLY IN DISCUSSION AND NOW ACTUAL LAW, BUT OF COURSE BILL ORILLEE AND HIS ILK WILL INSIST ON SAYING THAT EVERYTHING BEING PROPOSED IS A CANADA STYLE SYSTEM, WHICH IS SIMPLY NOT TRUE.

AS SOMEONE WHO HAS A PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITION, I AM UNABLE TO GET PRIVATE COVERAGE UNDER THE OLD SYSTEM, ALTHOUGH IN TEXAS WHERE I LIVE THERE IS A LAW REQUIRING PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES, OR AT LEAST ONE, TO GIVE COVERAGE UNDER WHAT IS CALLED THE RISK POOL, BUT THIS LAW ALSO REQUIRES THAT MY PREMIUM BE AT LEAST TWICE AS MUCH AS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COMPARABLE PRIVATE COVERAGE, WHICH FOR ME PERSONALLY IS MANAGEABLE BUT FOR MANY TEXANS IS NOT. SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS MAKING PRIVATE COMPANIES UNABLE BY LAW TO DENY COVERAGE FOR PRE-EXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, WHICH IN MY CASE IS GETTING HIT BY A CAR WHEN I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD, A CONDITION WHICH AT THIRTY-FIVE HAS MOST DEFINITELY NOT PROVED IN NEED OF ONGOING MEDICAL TREATMENT IN MY CASE, MIGHT BE SUFFICIENT, BUT A PUBLIC OPTION MIGHT ALSO HAVE WORKED. FOR ONE THING, A PUBLIC OPTION WOULD HAVE GIVEN PEOPE LIKE ME A PLACE TO GO IF PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES FOUND A WAY TO GO BACK TO THEIR OLD TRICKS, WHICHWOULD SIMPLY HAVE ENSURED THAT THEY DID NOT DO SO.

ANYONE WHO IS ON MEDICARE, MEDICAID OR IS A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE ALREADY HAS GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE, AND I DO NOT HEAR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COMPLAINING ABOUT HAVING THEIR CHOICE OF DOCTORS LIMITED, ANOTHER LIE THAT THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY AND ITS CONSERVATIVE ALLIES/LACKIES IN CONGRESS HAD PUT OUT THERE. THAT IS OF COURSE A LARGE PART OF THE PROBLEM, REALLY, THE HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY, BECAUSE WHEN WE’RE TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE’S LIVES AND HEALTH, THE BUSINESS MODEL IS THE WRONG MODEL. BUSINESS PEOPLE THINK IN TERMS OF WHAT WILL MAKE MONEY, WHEN IN HEALTH CARE THE CONCERN SHOULD BE MAKING PEOPLE HEALTHY WHEN THEY SUFFER FROM INJURY OR ILLNESS, OR PREVENTING ILLNESS IN THE FIRST PLACE, SO THE BUSINESS MODEL IS CLEARLY THE WRONG MODEL IN THIS INSTANCE. NOW, OF COURSE, THE BUSINESSMEN THAT RUN HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL NOT LIKE HEARING THIS, BUT ON THE OTHER HAND IF THERE HAD BEEN A PUBLIC OPTION THEN THEY COULD HAVE KEPT ONLY COVERING THE PEOPLE THAT WILL MAKE THEM RICHER ANDS LET THE GOVERNMENT TAKE CARE OF THOSE OF US WHO AT SOME POINT THERE IS AT LEAST A SLIGHTLY ELEVATED RISK MIGHT SOMEDAY NEED SOME KIND OF MEDICAL TREATMENT.

BUT THE POINT IS, THERE IS/WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, EVERYONE KNOWS THERE IS/WAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN THIS COUNTRY, AND IF WE JUST TALK ABOUT IT CIVILLY WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO SOLVE IT, WHILE IF PEOPLE KEEP SHOWING UP AT RALLIES AND NOW EVENTS PROTESTING THE NEW LAW THAT GIVES EVERY AMERICAN, EVEN THOSE OF US WITH PREEXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS, ACHANCE AT DECENT, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE, AND BEHAVING LIKE BARBARIANS BY SHOUTING SO LOUDLY THAT NO INTELLIGENT DISCUSSION CAN BE HAD, WE MAY GET NORTHING OR WE MAY GET SOMETHING BUT IT MAY NOT BE AS GOOD AS IT COULD HAVE BEEN IF ALL SIDES HAD HAD INTELLIGENT AND CIVIL INPUT, AND NOW THOSE OF US WITH PREEXISTING CODITIONS MAY GET A WIFF OF JUSTICE IN HEALTH CARE ONLY TO HAVE IT SNATCHED AWAY BEFORE WE EVEN TASTE IT IF WE'RE ADULTS AND WHEN WE'VE BARELY TASTED IT IF WE'RE MINORS. IF ANY OF THESE ORAL THUGS READ THIS, I CHALLENGE THEM TO PROVE THEIR COURAGE BY BEHAVING IN A CIVIL MANNER AND ENGAGING IN DIALOGUE AT THESE MEETINGS AND EVENTS RATHER THAN ORAL THUGGARY AND ENCOURAGING THEIR COMPANIONS TO DO THE SAME, BECAUSE SHOUTING SO LOUD THAT NO VIEW BUT ONE’S OWN CAN BE HEARD IS ONLY A SIGN OF COWARDICE, SO ANY WHO READ OR HEAR THIS AND JUST KEEP SHOUTING ARE COWARDS, AND I CHALLENGE THEM TO PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOT COWARDS.

SINCERELY,

MATTHEW L. BECKETT

FREE LANCE FICTION WRITER AND FOUNDER AND C.E.O. OF TRIPLE-BLADE PICTURES AND avoiceinthewilderness-wildvoicenet.blogspot.com AND THUS THE VOICE OF THE VOICELESS IN THIS AND OTHER MATTERS.