Healthcare and Politics in America

A 12 year old boy's death in Maryland underscores the dire need for healthcare reform in this nation.

Unless things significantly change under new federal leadership in 2008, "a rise in out-of-pocket expenses, such as the copays for medicine, from about $850 this year to about $1,400 in 2016, a 5.3 percent annual increase. The cost of health insurance is projected to rise even more quickly during that same time -- 6.4 percent annually. Over the coming decade, spending on healthcare will continue to outpace the overall economy." [source: Boston Globe]

Mark Green makes the important point that, in order for our government to represent the large majorities in favor of universal healthcare, it's essential that "progressive patriots erect stronger levees to withstand the oceans of money, lobbyists and lawless officials threatening to drown America's constitutional traditions." Theocrats and plutocrats posing as populists will continue to undermine our now-sick (and getting sicker) democracy and will undermine any honest effort for the healthcare reform the majority of Americans desire as long as we allow them to maintain their not-so-clever disguises. Mr. Green says:

At a December colloquium on this subject in New York City, Bill Moyers (in a speech published in the January 22 Nation) observed that what America needs is not just a "must do" list from liberals but "a different story," one with the power to inspire us and challenge the prevailing conservative narrative of private = good, public = bad.