"Get that weak-ass legislation out of my house"
- Sen. Dikembe Mutombo (R-CO)"Sen. Mutombo's arms are so long that if legislation is introduced anywhere in his vicinity, he's probably going to knock it away. There's no way we are going to get health care through with Mutombo out there"- Sen. John Kerry (D-MA)
"Sometimes I get the impression that he'll block something just because it's introduced by a Democrat or, quite frankly, just because he's taller than the rest of us. Why else would he reject a resolution supporting stability in Sudan?"
-Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA)In this fictional article, The Onion satirizes the stalemate between the Democrats and the Republicans on Capitol Hill, using Dikembe Mutombo as a symbol to represent the Right Wing effort to deny any health care reform bill the Left Wing proposes. The Onion manages to highlight the incompetence of the Democrats to pass a bill (John Kerry quote), along with the belief that the Republicans are just rejecting the bill because the Democrats proposed it (Arlen Specter quote), even though Meet the Press reported that Republicans supported 80% of the bill.
I think both parties are at fault here on this health care crisis, but I'll like to take the Democrats side on the issue, and not just because I'm a "hardcore liberal" (according to that political spectrum test we took in class), but because I agree with most of Obama's new proposed health care plan.
The article by politico.com (Yes, I did two articles which both intertwine) can basically be summed up in a sentence: Republicans are saying that it's the same bill all over again, Democrats are unsure to support it, Obama saying he'll sign a bill without a public option, and experts stating a few facts about the proposed plan. There are good ideas on Obama's plan, such as allowing people to keep their preexisting medical insurance, investing in health centers, giving tax credits for families with medium income, fixing medicare, increasing taxes on large businesses but leaving small businesses alone, not providing a public option, and making insurance more affordable. All of the above sounds great, especially the removal of the public option, meaning the government doesn't have to interfere in a delicate private sector by creating its own health insurance agency. Allowing private companies to run health care is the smart way to go, because large government-run programs are usually poorly run (with the exception of some, like Medicare).
However, I believe the major fault of Obama's plan is the subtle mention that Obama is trying to make health care coverage mandatory. In Obama's plan, it states that the people who choose to be uninsured will still have to make a payment to "offset the cost of care they will inevitably need". In other words, "you still have to pay for health care, even if you don't want it". This seems more of a command to me, since it seems that you must pay for "future" coverage even if you don't have it. Those who choose not to have medical insurance shouldn't be expected to pay for it.
The availability of affordable medical insurance for all Americans is an unwritten but necessary and appropriate right. "All men and women must have health care even if they don't want it" isn't. It's like if the Second Amendment was written as "all people must bear and keep arms" instead of "all people have the right to bear and keep arms"- It wouldn't be a right anymore, but just another law.
Still, Obama's health care proposal is a step forward from the previous bills. All he needs to do is stop appealing to the super far, John Kerry left and drop his attempt of mandated health care, since Republicans will never approve of it (unless of course, they are secret Democrats). Hopefully, Dikembe Mutombo will suffer a session-ending injury soon, allowing Congress to pass the bill, or a similar one, in the near future.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/senator_dikembe_mutombo_blocks
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33322_Page3.html
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