Do You Believe? Part II

by: KayStreet

Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 14:15:43 PM EDT

Dear Sen. Snowe, Sen. Collins, and Rep. Michaud:

I'd like to talk to you, once again, about health care reform. I have decided to include each of you in all my future correspondence, and I would welcome any reply that each of you care to make.

Do you believe the following words to be true?

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the governed, - That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."
- Declaration of Independence

I believe they are not true. Though written and signed by men of great courage and foresight, they still failed.  At that time, they failed include more than 50% of the population.

I believe these words have slowly become more accurate over the years.  Today they include most of the population, but not all... so these words are indeed more accurate, but ultimately they are still not true. We have failed to fully realize what Lincoln called "our Grand Experiment." By which he meant a true representative democracy, or as he put it "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people."

Why point this out? What does it have to do with health care reform? Everything. Like it or not, and most don't like it, the insurance industry is a form of government. A government accountable, not to the people, but only to profit.

The insurance companies decide how much these taxes will be, and how they will be used.

The insurance companies decide who gets the benefits of these taxes making them the American people's gateway to all forms of medical care.

The insurance companies decide how much and for how long the American people will receive medical care.

The insurance companies decide who will be covered and who will not.

The insurance companies even, at times, decide who will live and who will die.

All this might be acceptable - if this government were accountable to the American people whom it is supposed to serve. But it is not.

The insurance companies use the taxes levied not to enrich the lives of the American people, but to enrich themselves and their investors.

The insurance companies use their gateway not to ensure access to all, but to deny access to as many as possible.

In short, it is, as the Declaration of Independence says a "form of government that has become destructive of the ends" of the American people's "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

It is therefore our right to "alter or abolish it." Given that this for-profit government has proven to be a dismal failure, it is high time we abolish it.

Congress says that it wants a chance to "fix" it. Here's another self-evident truth: This service is vital to the people's right to life, liberty and happiness -- to have profit and greed as it's primary motivation ensures that the goals of the insurance companies and the people are inherently at odds.

It's not complicated:
1.Insurance companies exist to make a profit.
2.Paying benefits costs money thereby decreasing profit.
3.Therefore the goal of insurance companies is not to pay benefits, but to deny them.

1.Consumers buy insurance in order to have access to medical care.
2.Medical care costs money.
3.Therefore the consumer needs the insurance companies to pay benefits, not deny them.

Anyone else see the conflict of interest here?

Not to mention that it is morally wrong to profit from the suffering of others.

You can regulate it, but you can't change the current system's inherent conflict of interest. We must have a non-profit solution.

It is time to replace it with a proven system. It is time for Medicare for all. It is time for H.R. 676.

Note: "Do You Believe?" is a series of correspondence that asks the question: "Do you believe in the fundamental principles of government upon our nation was founded?" It is intended both as a reminder, and an effort to show relevance in the debates of today.