The Case For Laying It Out

Earlier today I mentioned that I thought Obama needed to firmly make his case for health care reform to the people. Filling in for the Double G, Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend has an excellent column on just that subject.

In our current system nearly everyone has horror stories about waiting for insurance to approve the most basic common sense things -- like one extra day in the hospital after a c-section, or trying to get a medication not yet in generic form that you and your doctor know works and the insurance company insists on a different generic substitute or you pay outright. The number and type of what I call "drive-by" surgeries, where they kick you to the curb a couple of hours after you've been opened up on the table is astonishing -- they wanted to do that for my gall bladder surgery and I begged to stay overnight because I've had complications after ambulatory surgery before that landed me back in the ER the next day. Thankfully it was approved, because I was right -- I developed a fever and had serious difficulties that I wouldn't have been able to manage at home.

But what if the insurance company had said no. That happens all the time. It happened to me several years ago, I wasn't able to stay overnight and went into the drive-through surgery; I developed a serious staph infection. It required a second surgery a couple of weeks later. A little time and attention would have saved everyone a lot of grief.

A lot of average people out there just want to see the basics laid out in a clear manner by the administration (and the other side, which, sadly and predictably, has nothing rational to offer given the gravity of the situation). The President has traveled the country, and now members of Congress are back home in their districts to address the concerns of people who do have coverage, and citizens wonder what will happen to employer-based, private plans with an overhaul of the system. Obviously we need to do something -- the system is broken even for those of us with coverage; it's painfully apparent. While getting care for the uninsured is a major problem, the urgency of addressing the under-insured, who think they are in the clear until the insurance company rejections start coming -- and the bills threaten to bankrupt them -- is clear.

However, I don't see how we can get to a public option any time soon with one side skittish and the other completely opposed to the point of acting like jackbooted thugs at town halls -- it would be optimal if the U.S. could do it right. We already do it with Medicare; the GOP seems to ignore it exists in its screams about "socialism", and I'm sure they wouldn't want it taken away from their grandmas and grandpas.

And that's true. People are scared. When there is lack of specific information, the other side has filled in the blanks with scare tactics, and it's working.

Until the President gets up in front of America and really, forcefully lays down what his idea of health care reform entails, he can't win this battle, and health care reform will not happen. The insurance companies are in business to deny care, it's how they make profit. If the President would just lay out a specific alternative, it would go along way towards convincing people what needs to be done.

"It costs too much, let's not do anything right now" cannot be the only option. We need something else, and it's painfully clear that the alternative has to come from the top. Letting Congress dick around for months on end is not the answer.

(Also, while you're over at Double G's, check out Digby's guest column on Tasers.)