Health Care Reform Issues
The problem with Washington is that it is controlled by special interest groups. They are entrenched in the fabric and operations of this country. What upsets me about all of this is that it prevents (at worst) - hampers (at best) - any sort of reform to the operations of the government. A government that is clearly in need of changes to its modus operandi.
The latest example of all of this comes from Obama's recent meeting with the American Medical Association. He was at the meeting to promote his health care reform initiative. On one side, there was the AMA, representing 200,000 doctors in America. They want limits on how much money a patient can sue them for for medical malpractice. Doctor's pay an exhorbitant amount of money for malpractice insurance, and naturally, they would like that lowered. Obama wasn't necessarily keen on that idea, and when he expressed such:
Obama and the AMA
"I want to be honest with you. I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards," the president said, greeted by a smattering of boos, a remarkable public response to a popular president accustomed to cheering audiences.
The group actually booed him. While I find it remarkable that a group consisting of 0.07% of the population (roughly-considering rough total pop. estimates) can get an audience with the President (groups like that certainly donate heavily...), I must admit that it takes some large cojones to push forward your interests at the expense of those of the populace. It is this discourse however, that makes this country great. Understand that I feel that they pay too much for insurance as well. I feel that the real problem lies with the insurance companies however.
On the other side, we have the scums of the earth. I am sorry, I mean trial lawyers. Though he offered no support for limiting lawsuits, Obama raised the antennae of trial lawyers' groups just by mentioning the issue. These plagues upon modern societies had issues with anything that may potentially close the vent on their bread and butter. To be fair, I hate lawyers, so it is impossible for me to be impartial in this. I can't stand groups that segregate themselves from society, protect themselves, and change the laws of this country in such a way as to force their existence (Christ, have you read something as "simple" as a website terms of service? Something that should be 3 paragraphs, but is actually 48 pages of fine print!?)
The Center for Justice and Democracy, which says it advocates for injured consumers, attorneys and others, released a letter to Obama signed by 64 survivors of medical malpractice saying they were "extremely concerned that the rights of medical malpractice patients may be stripped away as part of your national health care proposal."
"The notion that 'defensive medicine' is leading to higher health care costs is not supported by empirical data or academic literature," Les Weisbrod, president of the American Association for Justice, the main lobby for trial lawyers.
I can't stand that reform is being halted (not even reform that I completely agree with, mind you) by special interest groups. Change needs to happen. I am not saying that Obama's plan is some cure-all, in fact I most certainly don't think that,- but the bottom line is that something has to be done. And his something is better than the status quo. I don't want the same things out of Washington. Obama instilled a sense that change is on the horizon, in Americans. I don't want it squandered by the entrenched bureaucracy.
