It's not looking good for common-sense health care

There are things we want and things we need. The want list is too long, but the need list is short and simple. We want good health and can’t live long without it. Coupled with that, we need the protection of health insurance. If we could only take partisan politics and insurance industry greed out of the picture, this country might be a healthier place to live.

For over three years, Republicans in Congress have wailed and wailed over the evils of Obamacare. How dare the federal government try to tell people that everyone must pay for health coverage. Some of us have fairly short memories, but I recall that back in 2000, the Republicans and conservatives were the ones saying that health coverage should be mandated and everyone should be forced to get insurance.

What’s wrong with Obamacare? The problem isn’t the program; it’s how it was handled by the president and the Congress. The first mistake that Obama made was to give the Democrats in Congress control over the issue. The left and right wing huffed and puffed and eventually agreed on a program that wouldn’t officially begin until 2014.

Common sense would dictate that if you want people to appreciate what you did for them, you educate them from Day One on the benefits. Poll after poll these days shows that the public is bitterly divided on Obamacare. Yet if you ask people whether parents’ health insurance should be extended to their offspring up to age 26 or whether pre-existing conditions shouldn’t be a reason to deny coverage, the numbers overwhelmingly favor these features. The whole health care mess is really about opportunities lost and lack of smarts on the part of the Democrats.

Come June, the Supreme Court will decide whether the health care mandate is unconstitutional, and if the court throws it out, then what? Other than the fact that partisans will either cheer or decry the decision, what’s going to happen to the millions of people who will continue to have no coverage? One thing is for sure: Whether the uninsured are rich or poor, all of us will be paying for it every time they use an emergency room or a hospital bed.