EDITORIAL:
President Barack Obama gave his health care speech this past Wednesday. It was disappointing to hear a Republican Congressman yell out “You lie!” when Obama said no illegal immigrants would receive benefits under his plan, as well as the boos and hissing during parts of his speech by the Republican side the room. The question now is, how long before we start seeing congressmen reach across the aisle, taking a swing at someone who disagrees with them.
Is this the type of politics we now tolerate, where a politician has no problem in calling the President of the United States a liar, on national television no-less! Have we deteriorated to the point that character of a person is no longer relevant?
The health care debate has started down the path of low moral character and divisive politics.
The Republicans are characterizing this debate as one between socialized medicine versus profit for the private insurers. Meanwhile, the President considers that providing health care for all Americans is a moral issue.
Hispanics continue to have the highest un-insurance rate of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S. In 2008, nearly one in three (30.7%) Hispanics had no health coverage, compared to about one in nine (10.8%) non-Hispanic Whites, nearly one in five (19%) non-Hispanic Blacks, more than one in six (17.6%) Asians.
Hispanics who do have jobs with benefits, those benefits, including health insurance, have been dwindling over the years. Choices of which health plan to choose become less and less attractive as employers seek the cheapest plans available.
For many Hispanic families, it is about doing the right thing for aging parents, who have to suffer through long illnesses with little support and outrageous prices on their medication. For our children who have to deal with the every day maladies that all children suffer through. For the middle aged it is about staying healthy so that we can go to work and provide for our families. These are the things that drive the conversation about health care.
For Hispanics, socialized medicine is not an evil description of a health plan. Watching children suffer because they can’t afford to take them to the hospital is evil. Not being able to afford the care their parents need is evil.
Paying for the health care plan with a $900 billion dollar price tag is less than the total amount spent on the war against terror. The bigger question is how nations such as England, Canada, Switzerland and many others have the will and the money to pay for their universal health care? No, paying for health care is not the problem, for families not being able to afford health care is the problem.
As one of the richest, most powerful countries in the world it should be a goal for all our legislators to work toward providing health care for all. Fighting, yelling, and calling each other names is not the answer. Working together to solve our mutual problems and overcoming the hurdles placed before us, that is the American way.
President Obama is providing a plan, an opportunity to deal with one of the most difficult problems facing our country. It is not likely – but let us hope – that the legislators can put aside their partisan politics and take up the challenge of providing health care for all Americans.