So what’s the status of the healthcare reform debate- I come home afternoons thinking this exact question. It may not be how you spend your weekday afternoons, but I spent last week sick and just hoping it would go away- and wishing I could go to the doctor. I’m college educated and take good care of myself, but I’m also a freelance writer and that means the health care coverage I do have will protect me probably 80/20 if I fall off a building into oncoming traffic because of an undiagnosed seizure disorder- maybe. Point being, I’m healthy with no insurance beyond catastrophic, so my interest in the status of the healthcare reform debate and progress or lack thereof is more than just for the journalistic purposes of an afternoon op-ed: it’s personal.

Do I support a public health care option? Yes. I think it’s a responsible thing for a rich country to do. Do I understand the misgivings of the private insurance industry? I do, even as I put my hand on their shoulder and say, “Get over it, guys.” Because the argument that they will be put out of business by someone (the government) who can offer the same service they do for cheaper is the essence of free market capitalism- so deal with it, boys. At the same time I don’t think there is any way the public option will put the private insurance market out of business- it may bring them back to dealing with financials in the stratosphere rather than in outer space, but regardless- they will be dealing with the fact that Americans cannot continue to pay rising health rates for diminishing coverage.

Health care may not be human right, it may be a privilege but it is surely not a luxury.

As for the debate, President Obama called once again this weekend for us to calm down in his reassuring “I’ve got this covered, just work with me on this” kind of way- which is reassuring, that he’s got it covered. I’ll work with him on it.

He said:

"The time for games has passed. Now is the time for action. Now is the time to deliver on healthcare.”
And followed that up with a lot about how not to give in to “scare tactics” and scary stories about how Medicare and Medicaid are going to dissolve. Again, he’s got it covered.

Another interesting statistic from Reuters is that 63%of doctors surveyed support a mix of public and private options for people. It seems that large organizations oppose the public-private blend of insurance largely on existing alliance lines rather than ideological lines- it’s hard to line up the fact that 3 out of 5 doctors support a public option but that the American Medical Association does not support a public-private mix.  

This fits with the general outlook of doctors, though, that they should be helping, that they should do no harm, and reflects the equally high stat that 73% of doctors believe they should care for the uninsured and under-insured anyway.

The Hippocratic oath runs strong in this country for the health care workers, if not for those who insure that the care can be done.