The Infinite Sadness of the Healthcare Debate

It was a great victory for the improvement of the healthcare system of our country.  It's certainly not the final answer, but hopefully the beginning of a path to a more universal and moral system of access to what could be the greatest healthcare on the Earth.  But that is not what is weighing on this morning.  That is not what is filling me with such quiet despair.

I see the reactions of my conservative friends online and it just upsets me to the core.  People that have been good friends and I care about deeply are exchanging posts and pictures on Facebook that make me wonder if there are really any common bonds there.  Yes, I understand all about political differences.  I have had close conservative friends all my life.  But for some reason, the current attitude has me very depressed.

I will not go deeply into why they feel this way.  Why it is okay to have a system that leaves so many in the shadows.  Why it is okay to exclude people based on pre-existing conditions.  Why we are willing to pay twice as much per person as other countries' healthcare systems and somehow all our system needs is a little tweaking.  Why it's okay for some people to be deadbeats and not carry insurance and in essence stick you with the bill.  Why it's okay for families to go bankrupt trying to cover the medical bills for their family.  Why you are not saddened by the fact that people have to have fundraisers and leave jars in convenience stores just to save a loved one's life. Why we have to cling to a private insurance system that is NOT a lifelong, centuries long system, but a stopgap measure that was primarily not in huge existence until the seventies.  Why you are rejecting and spitting on a bill that is primarily based on Republican ideas.

So please, explain to me what your problem is.  Why are you turning your back, and for many of you in a sneering and derisive fashion, on something that is so infinitely important - the basic, fundamental right of every person to decent healthcare.  And what exactly do you want to replace it with?  In this country, we have supposedly handed our citizens a great deal of power and responsibility.  It is not enough to trash something.  You have to have a replacement in mind.

Senator McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader in the Senate, said last Sunday on a Sunday talk show that the 30 million people that would be brought into the system under this bill were not the issue.  Really?  Shame on you, Senator McConnell.  And frankly, shame on any of you who agree.