Capitulating on Health Reform Makes No Sense
Posted January 26th, 2010 by Jocelyn GuyerOne of the toughest things about being a mom is that you can’t always make things right in your kids’ lives, nor in the world.
The first time I learned this lesson was when my water broke well before my twin boys were supposed to be born. We couldn’t stop them from coming, and they arrived six weeks early. In retrospect, they were never at serious risk of major complications – our medical system has gotten unbelievably good at helping pre-term babies and six weeks early is considered a modest issue. But, at the time, it was simply awful. One of our sons got out of the NICU after a few days, but his twin brother developed respiratory distress syndrome and was put on oxygen to ease his breathing. There wasn’t a darn thing I could do to speed up the development of his lungs. The only things we could do were hold him, offer love and prayers, and get him excellent medical care.
This episode in our lives is a big part of why as a mom, I am simply unwilling to accept the ominous signs from Congress that this country might yet again throw up its hands and decide it cannot fix our health care system. There are so many things we can’t do for our kids… we can’t stop the bad luck that results in pre-term birth, asthma, autism, or, in rare cases, the heart-rending diagnosis of cancer. We can’t stop the fact that the people in their lives who they love and rely on…parents, teachers, coaches can get sick, be in car accidents and need medical care, leaving us to explain that life is unfair. But, as a country, we can set it up so that if any of those things happen to our kids or to the people in their lives, that at least they have access to affordable insurance. We can make our health care system more compassionate and fair so families have access to coverage that allows them to catch autism, asthma or diabetes earlier and get the help they need.
During the workweek, I spend much of my time analyzing health policy issues at Georgetown University, dissecting the research on trends in children’s coverage, identifying policy options and projecting the impact on children’s coverage. But, in the last week, I feel as though I’ve been spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere as I watched in dismay as Congress and the White House have flirted with the prospect of allowing health reform go down. Or, they might allow it to be so significantly scaled back that it fails at the fundamental goal of providing affordable coverage. As a policy analyst and political junkie, I find this bewildering and not particularly strategic. But, it is mostly as a mom that I’ve been reacting, thinking that we can and must do this for our kids. It has been tough enough to explain the earthquake in Haiti to my twins and their little brother. How can I ever explain to them that we let slip through our fingertips the opportunity to begin to address the entirely fixable disaster in this country that millions of our family members, friends, and neighbors can’t get affordable health insurance?
Author's twin boys who were fortunate to receive good medical care after pre-term delivery.
5 Comments
January 29, 2010 at 9:11 am by Aimee OssmanI completely agree with Jocelyn on a personal and professional level. My eight year old can’t understand why we cannot get this done for children. To him it should be an easy feat, it should be for our country as well.
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January 27, 2010 at 11:55 am by MoJoThanks for this insightful article. Another sure reason to keep moving forward. I hope our congress get the message. I have dealt with layoffs that have left me without insurance and could not afford to see a doctor for the routine exams that are necessary for women. As Ted Kennedy stated in his book “what we do for the least of them” (a bible verse) is at the heart of this matter. Yes we can if we don’t give up!
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January 27, 2010 at 10:48 am by Jeni Hill ErtmerI heard/read someplace that back in the 30s, when FDR initially proposed Social Security and it was passed, many said it was a poor thing, unaffordable by the government, unnecessary, yadda, yadda and in the 60s, when LBJ got the Medicare pushed through, those same complaints resurfaced. Today, I guess you could say we are hearing the same naysayers mantras about health care -it’s too expensive, it’s not thorough enough, it’s this, it’s that, it’s government controlled health care and who wants the govt. controlling that aspect of our lives. All kinds of complaints, yes, but how many of those who are doing the complaining have ever had to go without any health care insurance at all -for themselves, for their family, their children? Or if they had no insurance, for whatever reason, did they perhaps have an income that was enough to cover emergency medical expenses as simple as just a routine office visit, much less a trip to the emergency room or a hospital stay?
I just don’t understand at all why this has to be such a terribly difficult thing to get set up and put into law and into effect for everyone to have some type of health care protection that is, first and foremost, affordable to ALL! Not just to those who have jobs that pay a good, living wage, but to those many who labor at the low-paying job level and grovel to find funds to just be able to see a physician for checkups, innoculations that can ward off or even prevent at times, the spread of the dire illnesses that were in the past, always killers and still are -if no medical care of the preventive or early detection type is available.
If Canada, Sweden, Great Britain and other countries can do things like this for their citizens, why then can’t we do likewise?
It’s something that should be a right, not just a privilege extended to the wealthy and well-to-do.
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January 26, 2010 at 11:25 pm by AmyI share Jocelyn’s concerns on such a deeply personal level. My kids are 5 and 2, and every time they are sick I am so thankful that they get high-quality care right away — care that relieves their pain and minimizes their discomfort. I have on more than one occasion found myself literally in tears when I think about the mom who lacks the access or resources she needs to do the same for her kids. This bill must be passed so that all of us — no matter who we work for or what illnesses our family members may have — can get health care. We really need to make sure we are talking to our friends, reaching out to our Members of Congress and writing letters to our local papers so that we can make the case for Congress to pass a comprehensive health care bill NOW!
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January 26, 2010 at 4:37 pm by CathyWe’re on the five yard line. Let’s get her done! If those who voted for health reform give up now, the debate will end and voters will think the absurd claims by health reform opponents were accurate. Let’s rise to the challenge and go out and defend this plan to make our health care system more equitable.
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