Joe, this is why we need universal, single-payer health care

I opened up my Oakland Press electronic edition today, and there on the front page is the story below, about a man that worked hard all his life, has purchased health insurance that he pays for himself who gets sick. He assumes that his treatment will be covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield. He trusts that the premiums he's paid all these years will take care of him. But unfortunately he was wrong. He needs an expensive, life-saving procedure that isn't covered by his insurance.

If you haven't read about Joe Knollenberg's health care plan, Joe says that it would be great if employers received a $200 tax credit for offering their employees a wellness program. Ain't that great? But what about the 47 million without health care coverage, 9 million of whom are children? Joe's excuse for for voting against the Children's Health Insurance Program - it's paid for by raising the taxes on the 22 million people who smoke cigarettes by 61 cents per pack.

What about people like Fred Holling who have bought and paid for private insurance, but when the time comes, they turn down their customer for the treatment they need? Oh, and Joe doesn't believe Fred should be able to sue his insurance carrier either. So people like Fred Holling have no recourse against their insurer, who has taken his money all these years, and yet when the time comes to take care of their customer, they tell him, sorry, you're on your own. So, what does Fred have to do, hold fundraisers, to help raise the money needed to pay for his treatment. It shouldn't be this way in America, the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't offer its citizens universal health coverage. Oh, Republicans and Joe Knollenberg get on their soap box and preach that universal health coverage is leading us down the path to "socialized" medicine, as if using that word scares us into submission. Joe would rather spend America's financial resources, and use our national credit card, borrowing money from China to pay for the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan. How's that for having your priorities straight?

The time has come for Democrats and Republicans to get busy in Congress to pass John Conyers' universal, single-payer health care legislation, so people like Fred can get the treatments they need, without having to beg relatives, friends and strangers for the money to pay for the care they need. What do you say, Joe? Will you help John Conyers pass H.R. 676 now?

CLICK HERE for the rest of the story