"Universal" Health Care a Reality?

Well, it looks inevitable. After months and months and months (ad infinitum) Congress has finally bribed, conjured, finagled, and bullied the votes. I don't care what political position you hold, this bill will siginificantly impact how the US looks at health care. This entry is not about getting into the minutiae of details on health care, it's just an overall look at what WE now have to confront. I think we've seen the dirtiness of politics, and how divided we are in this country. We have lost sight of OUR common agenda. An agenda that put America first, an agenda that maintained a standard in the world that became (note past tense) the envy of the world. Both parties are more about the parties than they are about US. We effectively have (although it's not exactly set in stone yet) closed the book on traditional health care and ushered in a progressive system that will alter how we do health care business in this country.

First let me say, both sides of the aisle have failed us. For eight years an impotent Republican party had an opportunity to modify, tweak, or otherwise address the impending health care crisis. Yes, they and President Bush attempted (thus I say, impotently) to work on health care but the party of "look who's calling the kettle black" was able to thwart these independent, market driven, capitalist alterations in favor of saying, "It doesn't do enough." But again, because the Republicans lack backbone they cowered for the sake of political correctness and being perceived as insensitive to the needs of 100% of Americans. Therefore, the Democrats won the day because they were the fox in waiting, and once total power was seized, they seized the day.

Conversely, you look at what the Democrats have done over the last year. It was an all out assault on getting this thing passed regardless of what was in it. Yeah, that doesn't sound too attractive, but it's about letting the monster in the door. Once he gets in it's tough to get him out. The Democrats know full well, because they are shrewd politicians, that if they get their footprint on something like this it would take an act of the all powerful to repeal it, or else another sweep in the elections. I do not support one party holding Congress and the Presidency, it is not healthy for the country, and tends to divide the country even more. But make no mistake, there will be a heavy price to pay for all this equality and insuring the numbers they say they want to cover. Again, I do not want to get into all the details because it's utterly insane to do so. Suffice to say, only time will tell. This plan will either create a level playing ground in the health insurance industry, leading to continued excellent care and a more balanced system, or it truly will become the albatross that will weigh us down to an unimaginable depth that as a country we will see many dark, dark days. I hope for the best, but plan for the worst.