by Joyce Bueter

Created on: January 20, 2010   Last Updated: January 22, 2010

The Health care bill in its present form is indeed “doa” dead on arrival.  However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This does not mean that it will not resurrect in some form in the future. What Massachusetts did for the rest of the country on January 19th was convey the message “we are mad as hell and we aren’t going to take it anymore!”

I have never believed that Americans wanted a Nanny State. We have always been people who are proud to stand on our own two feet. Do I think there are problems with the current health care system? Of course I do, but I don’t think we need a system that punishes people for not having insurance by fining them or putting them in jail! 

I don’t think we need a system that rations health care! I don’t think we need a system that will put us in debt for even more trillions of dollars! Do Americans want “womb to the tomb” care and entitlement programs? I heard a resounding “NO!”  from the good people in Massachusetts which echoes the entire United States of America.

As I understood it, the program was being overhauled for the benefit of the uninsured which in the long run would not have insured everyone. Perhaps we only need some tweaks to the insurance industry. Maybe a little tort reform is in order. I am sure there are minor surgeries we can do for the ailing health care system before first having to kill it.

I know of no government run programs that are resounding successes. The postal system comes to mind which always runs in the red. Medicare and Medicaid are already broke. We don’t even have any good ideas on how to fix them.  

Americans are among the most giving people in the world and none of us want to see people falling through the cracks. What we need to do is find the cracks and fix those; we don’t need to rebuild the whole house.

We need to be ever vigilant and not let our freedoms be taken away from us even though the goal may be an honorable one. There are always alternative ways to do things and they should be talked about, discussed in the open where everyone can hear and take part in those discussions. After all, it is our future as well as the future of our children and grandchildren that are at stake.

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