Dear Blue Dogs:
Next year you will be forced to run on your actions for health care, and why you failed to have it pass into law. Without Public Option. People will want answers, and I'm betting there will be quite a few primaries on the Democratic side. That can only strengthen the Republicans.
Doesn't anyone understand that repairing the economy requires us to put the American people in a better economic position, in order to ad another stimulus to the economy?
And just how much negotiating power will you give to doctors? Will you be givng away the store?
If we exempt 86% of small businesses, won't that mean that 30,000,000 people won't be insured.
What scares me is this idea od co-ops is too risky.
A retail co-op invites the possibiliy of one or two of it's members making under-the-table deals with one or two insurers that could diminioh the quality of care given by the co-op. What if the co-op had to fight a lawsuit? How would that affect my coverage?
In a mixed membership co-op the corporate member could wind up running the show.
Consumer cooperatives could be open to scams and swindles. Their success will depend on the knowledge and streetsmarts of each individual member.
And who is going to form these co-ops? Who will have the time to organize them? Most will be retail co-ops who will writew their rules to suit them, not the patient.
If the consumer has to move to a different state, will he or she be able to carry their coverage with them? What about the transmission of records?
And won't the choice of weak co-ops leave the insurance companies free to set the cost of premiums and allow then to continue their irresponsible behavior?
It's too much of a risk. The Wild Wild West of healthcare! Public Option at least offers the protection of government enforcement of standards, portability of coverage, nationwide access to records and the knowledge that your health provider won't go belly up. It's social safety net we are all in need of.
If we lose healthcare this year, people, even the constituents of your districts will want an explanation of why with a Democratic majority was healthcare defeated. That being the case, do you really think that your championing of the co-op choice will exonerate you in the inevitable primary challenge?
I understand how life in your districts may be different from more urban diatricts like mine. You place a great reliance on self-sufficiency where you are more sparcely populated. You own your own businesses, keep rifles on the rack, hunt and fish. And you trust the government very little if you can do it by yourself. But we don't have that luxury. You can sink a well, but we need a utility.
But if you think that your friends and neighbors will help you when your insurance stops paying for your leukemia treatments you are wrong. That's a lesson we more urbanized folk understand. We are all interconnected, even by threads that you don't see. And if the laws we enact are ones that you will have live ubder, than so be it. I have to think of mine before I think of yours. And it truly ain't democracy if the people in your districts get to tell the majority of Americans how they must live.
After all, my family's right to decent health is the same as yours. And I would not take away your rights under Big Brother healthcare. No one will come to your house and tell you to euthanize Grandma, or Uncle Joe. Don't believe the lies!
remember that though you do represent your people, sometimes you do that best by listening to your conscience.
K
