Dear Mr. President

[demwing]

The letter I sent to the Whitehouse today....

I like you , Mr. President. I voted for you , and respect your life achievements. You seem to be a very articulate and learned person, which is a welcome change to the prior 8 years we just lived through.

However, I am disappointed in the details of your speech regarding mandatory health care coverage, a policy which you claim will be “just like car insurance.” Respectfully sir, no. It wouldn’t be like car insurance at all. See, not everyone drives, Mr. President, but everyone lives. If you mandate health coverage,and fine those who chose to not comply, you have effectively mandating a price tag on life. You have created a Life Tax.

In following this course, you have also put corporate interests before the interests of the people who voted for you. So much for "Change you can believe in." If seeing is believing, what I’ve seen in the last few months is that the campaign promises you made, which were perhaps made sincerely, have since become empty words. I regret to say that as a result, I don't believe anymore. I no longer believe you offer any change, any hope, or any real difference. We may get health care enacted this year, but is the health care reform you championed last night change I can believe in? No, it isn’t, not in my book. Let me explain why:

You began negotiations with a major compromise - abandoning a single payer system – which would have been accomplished as easily as opening up Medicare to all age groups. The infrastructure is already in place, and people are familiar with the brand. With your communication skills, you could have presented that option and sold it. But, without a public debate, single payer died.

Now, the public option has become the center of attention, even though you implore us to see it as a means to an end. That’s true, but what is left unsaid here is that you seem to have a different “end” in mind than what your base envisioned. While progressives – the people who voted you into office – want Health CARE Reform, you sir, are bringing us toward Health INSURANCE Reform. And while the two ends are not diametrically opposed, neither are they one and the same.

One (HCR), puts the interest of the patient ahead of all else. The other (HIR), by its nature, must put the interests of share holders before that of the patient. Introducing a for profit mentality to health care is a mistake we should never have made, but we did, and now we have the golden opportunity to undo that error. This year, with Democratic majorities in Congress and control of the Whitehouse, America was given a second chance, much like the chances you were given when you were a young man. You spoke of such opportunities before our nation’s students last Tuesday, and made it clear that these chances were so very rare and should not be taken lightly. I agree. And yet, here we are, presented with a gem of opportunity. It is unthinkable that cast it aside like a useless stone.

But oh! We’ll get a health insurance reform bill passed this year! Yes sir, we will. At least, the Democratic party will. No doubt that some legislative effort will come across your desk, with the words “HEALTH CARE” stamped across the top. The party will get its legacy, and there will be many smiling faces in Washington DC. But what will we have really accomplished? A few steps in the right direction, and the bravado allotted to the timid? We could have had so much more, and our people deserve so much more.

But we gave that up in the name of Democratic/Republican bi-partisanship, and with the goal of securing profits for the Insurance industry. Bi-partisanship with a party that despises you, and me, and all Democrats, and who think it fair game to lie, incite hatred, and cheat to get their way.
Remind me again why we want to compromise with this group?

And we protect profits for an industry that brings absolutely nothing to the discussion of quality health care. This is an industry that eats at our system like a leech that sucks blood from its host. Modern health care professionals have long abandoned the process of bleeding a patient with leeches. It is time we did the same to the Insurance Companies.

There is still time for you to straighten things out, Mr. President. Still time to do the RIGHT thing, not the expedient thing. There is no bill yet, as you know. You can still pull this one from the bag, shake it up, and give it a run for all you’re worth.

You know, I was wrong, sir. I still have hope. It is an audacious hope, but I still carry it. You taught me to do so. Through your inspiring messages, your life, and your philosophies on life. Now I give it back to you. Please, Mr. President. Please give us what we asked for when we sent you to the Whitehouse. Anyone can promote, sponsor, or sign a bill. What we want, what America needs, is change that we can believe in.

Thank you,

DP
Florida

[Uzybone]

1. Good letter, hope you follow it up

also write your reps.

I have no hope for single payer, but I am glad some still do, and can express it as eloquently as you....without empty threats.

[OwnedByFerrets]

2. K and R

[daleanime]

3. Nicely put!

:patriot:

[Meshuga]

4. Very nicely put! n/t

[xchrom]

5. ...

:applause:

[some guy]

6. very nice!

:applause:

and recommended