Health Care Reform for Everybody -- Including Our Fearless Leaders

Where I come from, what’s good for one is good for another. If, perchance, one of my kids gets in trouble for using a bad word – my nine-year-old called me a dumbass (during scripture reading, no less) this weekend – I should get in trouble too, because I’ve used the word too, probably in front of said nine-year-old. (One of my most enduring memories of parenting will always be hearing this same kid, as a two-year-old, following me around the back yard saying “Shit! Shit! Shit!” because he heard his Dad say it.)

So why is the concept that senators, the president, and all associated staff should have to sign up for the public healthcare option if it becomes law a bad idea, or, at best, a “political feel-good stunt” motivated by Republicans. Read more about it here.

One of the amendment’s sponsors makes a good point:

Coburn, a medical doctor, said that his amendment isn't a gimmick, but rather a serious attempt to mitigate the harms he believes would come about through the existence of a public option. If the president and other political heavyweights are enrolled in it, his thinking goes, they'll make sure it runs well.

I just know that those in government have it pretty sweet when it comes to health care, pensions and such. They’re not lacking, I know that. If they think a government-sponsored public health care option is great for the average uninsured or underinsured or fully insured American, then surely it ought to be good enough for them?

I’d like to see health care reform. I’d like to see the public option become part of our choice. I’d also like to see those in government who are getting great health care at the moment take the same kind of medicine they’re offering us proles. But of course what we’re getting isn’t real health care reform. We need price controls and equal access, not competition in the currently broken field of health insurance. We’re getting a band-aid when what we need is a transfusion. But that’s just my little idea.