TheLoop21.com

By: Devona Walker (Add to your loop)
Tue, 08/25/2009 - 01:44

Can Sen. Ted Kennedy save health care reform?

Though suffering from a brain tumor and grieving the death of his sister, it's been rumored that Sen. Ted Kennedy plans to make it back to the Senate to fight for health care reform. 

Nothing has divided this country as decidedly as this battle over health care. I have argued that I think it's somewhat of a subterfuge for a different division we aren't willing to address. But what is important is that substantial reform is passed.  

Minorities are woefully over-represented among the ranks of the uninsured and under-insured. So we are disproportionately saddled with a host of entirely preventable health care issues, including AIDS.

Historically speaking, minorities have not had many allies in this country. But the Kennedy family has been a constant one. Women, routinely discriminated against in the current health care system, have not had many allies either. But again, Ted Kennedy has always been an outspoken advocate.

We are seeing the same old tactics of division at work: fear-mongering, spreading lies, race-baiting and demonizing the poor. They have even resorted to immigrant-bashing for effect. And the Democrats are waffling under the pressure. 

But when you’ve fought as many political battles as Ted Kennedy, you know the cardinal rule. Politics are personal. And nothing is more personal than the health of you and your family. Health care reform is not about entitlement. It’s not about socialism. It’s about an industry, filthy rich with profits, sucking working families and the sick dry.

United Health Care's profit growth in two years was 26 percent, according to the Fortune 500 from 2007. Amerigroup's profit growth was 100 percent. WellCare Health Plans profit growth was 168 percent; Molina Healthcare's, 66 percent; and Humana, 58 percent.

I am not rich. I work for a small business. Neither my son nor I have ever suffered a major illness (thank God for that). I pay roughly $500 per month for health care. That is a five-fold increase in as many years. The plan I have is not Cadillac coverage either. It comes with $35 co-pays for doctor visits and would only cover a portion of any real hospital care I might need.

Since I make more money than roughly half the households in this country, I cannot fathom what bigger or poorer families or the ill endure.

How politics got so throughly screwed up in this country continues to amaze me. This so-called beacon of democracy consistently allows the same old divisive crap to drown out common sense and our collective self-interest. 

Hopefully, Kennedy's comeback can remind us about what is at stake here. It might be a largely symbolic act.