Voice of the People | On health care reform

Spratt supported liberal House bill

On the evening of Nov. 7, Congressman John Spratt, with help from his liberal House allies, President Obama and Nancy Pelosi finally got what they have been creating behind closed doors these past months — a government-run health care bill passage that will increase families’ health care costs, increase the deficit, increase taxes on small businesses and the middle class and cut Medicare.

As the elections in Virginia and New Jersey clearly showed, the American people oppose bigger government, more federal spending and higher taxes.

Broad, bipartisan opposition to this bill was on full display during debate, and Congressman Spratt ultimately voted for Nancy Pelosi’s liberal health care bill, and he will have to answer to the constituents of South Carolina’s 5th Congressional District in 2010. South Carolinians in the 5th Congressional District wanted a common-sense bipartisan approach to health care reform, not President Obama’s and Nancy Pelosi’s costly, 1,990-page, government-run plan.

However, Spratt and Pelosi had no interest in bipartisanship, choosing instead to force their liberal, costly government-run plan on the citizens of South Carolina 5th Congressional District.

Glenn McCall

Chairman

York County Republican Party

House bill, though not perfect, advances reform

Mojo and I were listening to the radio as we drove down to Columbia for the state cross country meet. All of a sudden, Mojo began to chuckle — well, it was more like a series of subdued barks. He had been paying more attention to the radio than I had. I tuned in and heard the best country music line I’ve ever heard: “I just got flipped off by a little old lady with a ‘Honk if you love Jesus’ sticker on the bumper of her car.”

Now, I have nothing against little old ladies; after all, I’m a little old man married to a little old lady.What really got my attention was that this line sums up what is at the heart of some of the opposition to health care reform. In our churches on Sunday morning, we sing songs like, “Jesus loves the little children, all the little children of the world...” In our professions of faith we lift up values such as fairness. And yet, when the rubber hits the road, as in the health care debate, there is often a disconnect between what we say we believe and what we actually say and do.

At the heart of the health care debate is the notion that in the wealthiest country in the world, everyone, particularly ever child, should have access to affordable, quality health care. That notion is based on faith and values. And yet the opposition to health care reform often seems to come from fear, based on the notion that I’ve got mine and nobody is going to take it away.

Ironically, the best way for all of us to ensure that we all have health care that will be affordable is for all of us to be covered by health insurance. The health risk and cost is thereby spread around. The emphasis becomes primary care and prevention. No longer will emergency rooms look at sore throats and earaches. The movement will be toward medical bundling (pay for treatment of a specific problem) rather than fee for service ($20 for a plastic bed pan).

If we do not have health care reform, costs will continue to spiral until no one will be able to afford coverage. The Affordable Health Care Choices Act recently passed by the U.S. House is not perfect, but it keeps the process going. I am convinced that we will have health care reform that will improve the quality of life for us all.

The Rev. Jim Watkins

Chairman

York County Democratic Party

A view from below the poverty line

I’m 58 years old and haven’t had health insurance in 13 years. Applying a modest $300/month, I have avoided paying greedy insurance companies $46,800. In that time I’ve probably spent $1,000 out of pocket when doctor visits seemed unavoidable. Being uninsured and living below the poverty line, I’m forced to look at health care as if I were on a wagon train in 1840 a thousand miles from a doctor. If something major happens, I will die. I deal with minor problems by ignoring them or by self-treatment. People who are lucky enough to have a job that provides them health insurance have no idea how much it is costing them and their employer. They take it for granted. If they lost their insurance, they would no longer view universal, single-payer coverage as a “socialist take-over of health care.”