Feb. 6, 2010
GUEST EDITORIAL: Why a Middle-Class, College-Educated, Former-Republican-Current Independent White Christian Girl from the South Wants a Single-Payer Health Care System
By Melody McPherson-Bruce
I admit it. I used to be a Republican. Ronald Reagan is my favorite president, also the first one I remember. I still hold that each person should work for their living, not live off of the government. And I believe in capitalism – regulated capitalism. And of course, I believe in God – American by birth, Southern by the grace of God.
My parents were fervent Republicans when I was growing up, and they voted that way. My mother was raised as a Democrat – my grandfather voted straight-ticket Democrat his whole voting life – but voted Republican almost solely because of her Pro-Life convictions.
I joined the College Republicans at Marshall University as a freshman, and quickly became involved in WV and national politics in the name of the RNC. I loved it, and encourage everyone, regardless of their political persuasion, to become involved with our national politics.
For a time, I actually thought of changing my major to Political Science. I attended rallies, campaigned, learned grass-roots organizing and mass-marketing and student publications at a prestigious republican-party-funded institute of study. I was even the Editor-In-Chief of The Statesman for a year, MU’s underground college newspaper, affectionately called “The Hatesman” by the College Dems.
But over time, after I left college, I began to see the results of the majority of the RNC policies. To me, they were for the benefit of businesses, including deregulation, which instead of encouraging competition virtually eliminated it, via hostile takeover or not. This in turn resulted in a higher cost of living for less available service. (Anyone remember Ma Bell?)
Eventually, I redacted my voter registration as a Republican, and became an Independent. The book “God’s Politics” by Jim Wallis played a part in that. My philosophy changed from a national party to my neighbors and friends and fellow small-town citizens.
You see, even as the “rich got richer”, I saw people living more and more in debt, because their salaries weren’t growing as fast as the cost of living was rising. How do I know this? Because my family has, and is, living it.
Both of my parents are blue-collar workers. I am one of a very few in my family to complete college, although two of my sisters are close to attaining their degree or certification. I worked my way through college, and have the student-loans to prove it. Its hard, especially in this economy, to make ends meet, even with a college degree – not to mention being newly unemployed after depending on a trade job, or working two jobs and still feeling like you’re sinking.
My point? Add to a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle a medical emergency and time off of work to recover, and see how fast the average American would be broke, bankrupt or homeless. It doesn’t take long these days.
I believe it is a moral crime, and a symbol of our unjust and broken system when those who do not work can receive Medicaid, but those whose hands are callused and clothes stained with sweat from hard work, barely financially surviving, but not be qualified for any assistance when they are only trying to do the right thing by their families. There is a special sting when those in control of the financial markets, who have ruptured the American economy, can receive 6-or-7 digit bonuses - even while the unemployment rate is at 10+% - a figure that jumps to 17% when the under-employed are figured in.
Just so we know what we are looking at when we think of private healthcare, here is a brief history of how it came to be:
Before the 1920’s, healthcare in America was a basically a conglomeration of snake-oil agents. The average family spent about $5 a year in healthcare costs – which translates to about $100 in today’s dollars. Hospitals at that time were nothing like today – they were considered more places where the indigent went to die and were oftentimes dirty, with an uneducated staff. Most children were born at home, and what we consider to be simple operations now – appendectomies and the like – were an almost sure way to die of infection.
In the early 20th century, however, there was a revolution in the healthcare industry – medical schools improved, antibiotics were developed, hospitals became cleaner and staffed with better-educated staff, and diseases became more curable. This advancement in technology and education, however, raised the price for healthcare that was available. A small company began selling private insurance to teachers for .50 cents a month to cover hospitalization costs. The idea was to market to those who were least likely to use their insurance - able-bodied workers. Thus, private insurance was born.
Ironically, it was the Great Depression that regionalized the private insurance idea and the Blue Cross insurance company was born. They estimated that if a person spent $1 a month on insurance, it would take them an average of 20 years before they would have a hospital claim. Regular check-ups and specializations were not the norm at this time, so their gamble became profitable. The Great Depression also affected hospital development – demand for hospital services dropped and beds were more empty than full. Hospitals began advertising themselves as places to give birth and have simple life-saving surgeries.
It was World War II that nationalized private healthcare. During the war rationing and price freezes were enacted. Companies could not raise salaries to attract new or brighter staff, so the idea of fringe benefits was born. Chief among the fringe benefits were larger insurance policies, among others.
Then in 1950s the IRS upped the ante for private health insurance growth – they decided to make health insurance monies untaxed. The demand for private health insurance skyrocketed, and the growth is evident in the numbers: in the 1920s about 9% of the population had private health insurance – by the 1960s it was about 63% and in the 1970s it was upwards of 70%. Since the ‘70s there has been very little change in the way healthcare has been handled in the country, with those who are able to work having healthcare and those who are not able to work becoming a “burden” to the government/society.
It is interesting to note that during the Great Depression, when healthcare for senior citizens was created under the form of Medicare, the Republican Party was opposed to the socialization/creation of public healthcare – and intimated that it would be the downfall of our civilization.
Fast forward about 100 years. It is also interesting to note that in response to Republican claims that a one-party healthcare system would ruin America a certain Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) introduced a bill recently that called for the repealing of Medicare, as a whole. It was soundly rejected by the Republicans, as a whole.
So, it seems that the direct argument that the Republican Representatives and Senators seem to be making about covering all of those who are currently working in America is at direct conflict with what they think about covering those who have previously worked in America.
I will leave you with these final points: Healthcare costs to the American public are the highest ever yet, 17.2% - for a total of 2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000.00) spent last year only, up from 16.2% the year before.
And, since last fall, the healthcare industry has been averaging/spending 1.4 million ($1,400,000.00) dollars a day on lobbyists and other means to oppose healthcare reform, which includes blocking a public option.
What does that mean to you? To me, that stinks of collusion, at the expense of you and me, the average American worker. We deserve better, and need to think of our neighbors and family before we vote to toe a party line that does not think of us when they vote. Who exactly are they looking out for?
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
GUEST EDITORIAL: Why a Middle-Class, College-Educated, Former-Republican-Current Independent White Christian Girl from the South Wants a Single-Payer Health Care System
By Melody McPherson-Bruce
I admit it. I used to be a Republican. Ronald Reagan is my favorite president, also the first one I remember. I still hold that each person should work for their living, not live off of the government. And I believe in capitalism – regulated capitalism. And of course, I believe in God – American by birth, Southern by the grace of God.
My parents were fervent Republicans when I was growing up, and they voted that way. My mother was raised as a Democrat – my grandfather voted straight-ticket Democrat his whole voting life – but voted Republican almost solely because of her Pro-Life convictions.
I joined the College Republicans at Marshall University as a freshman, and quickly became involved in WV and national politics in the name of the RNC. I loved it, and encourage everyone, regardless of their political persuasion, to become involved with our national politics.
For a time, I actually thought of changing my major to Political Science. I attended rallies, campaigned, learned grass-roots organizing and mass-marketing and student publications at a prestigious republican-party-funded institute of study. I was even the Editor-In-Chief of The Statesman for a year, MU’s underground college newspaper, affectionately called “The Hatesman” by the College Dems.
But over time, after I left college, I began to see the results of the majority of the RNC policies. To me, they were for the benefit of businesses, including deregulation, which instead of encouraging competition virtually eliminated it, via hostile takeover or not. This in turn resulted in a higher cost of living for less available service. (Anyone remember Ma Bell?)
Eventually, I redacted my voter registration as a Republican, and became an Independent. The book “God’s Politics” by Jim Wallis played a part in that. My philosophy changed from a national party to my neighbors and friends and fellow small-town citizens.
You see, even as the “rich got richer”, I saw people living more and more in debt, because their salaries weren’t growing as fast as the cost of living was rising. How do I know this? Because my family has, and is, living it.
Both of my parents are blue-collar workers. I am one of a very few in my family to complete college, although two of my sisters are close to attaining their degree or certification. I worked my way through college, and have the student-loans to prove it. Its hard, especially in this economy, to make ends meet, even with a college degree – not to mention being newly unemployed after depending on a trade job, or working two jobs and still feeling like you’re sinking.
My point? Add to a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle a medical emergency and time off of work to recover, and see how fast the average American would be broke, bankrupt or homeless. It doesn’t take long these days.
I believe it is a moral crime, and a symbol of our unjust and broken system when those who do not work can receive Medicaid, but those whose hands are callused and clothes stained with sweat from hard work, barely financially surviving, but not be qualified for any assistance when they are only trying to do the right thing by their families. There is a special sting when those in control of the financial markets, who have ruptured the American economy, can receive 6-or-7 digit bonuses - even while the unemployment rate is at 10+% - a figure that jumps to 17% when the under-employed are figured in.
Just so we know what we are looking at when we think of private healthcare, here is a brief history of how it came to be:
Before the 1920’s, healthcare in America was a basically a conglomeration of snake-oil agents. The average family spent about $5 a year in healthcare costs – which translates to about $100 in today’s dollars. Hospitals at that time were nothing like today – they were considered more places where the indigent went to die and were oftentimes dirty, with an uneducated staff. Most children were born at home, and what we consider to be simple operations now – appendectomies and the like – were an almost sure way to die of infection.
In the early 20th century, however, there was a revolution in the healthcare industry – medical schools improved, antibiotics were developed, hospitals became cleaner and staffed with better-educated staff, and diseases became more curable. This advancement in technology and education, however, raised the price for healthcare that was available. A small company began selling private insurance to teachers for .50 cents a month to cover hospitalization costs. The idea was to market to those who were least likely to use their insurance - able-bodied workers. Thus, private insurance was born.
Ironically, it was the Great Depression that regionalized the private insurance idea and the Blue Cross insurance company was born. They estimated that if a person spent $1 a month on insurance, it would take them an average of 20 years before they would have a hospital claim. Regular check-ups and specializations were not the norm at this time, so their gamble became profitable. The Great Depression also affected hospital development – demand for hospital services dropped and beds were more empty than full. Hospitals began advertising themselves as places to give birth and have simple life-saving surgeries.
It was World War II that nationalized private healthcare. During the war rationing and price freezes were enacted. Companies could not raise salaries to attract new or brighter staff, so the idea of fringe benefits was born. Chief among the fringe benefits were larger insurance policies, among others.
Then in 1950s the IRS upped the ante for private health insurance growth – they decided to make health insurance monies untaxed. The demand for private health insurance skyrocketed, and the growth is evident in the numbers: in the 1920s about 9% of the population had private health insurance – by the 1960s it was about 63% and in the 1970s it was upwards of 70%. Since the ‘70s there has been very little change in the way healthcare has been handled in the country, with those who are able to work having healthcare and those who are not able to work becoming a “burden” to the government/society.
It is interesting to note that during the Great Depression, when healthcare for senior citizens was created under the form of Medicare, the Republican Party was opposed to the socialization/creation of public healthcare – and intimated that it would be the downfall of our civilization.
Fast forward about 100 years. It is also interesting to note that in response to Republican claims that a one-party healthcare system would ruin America a certain Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) introduced a bill recently that called for the repealing of Medicare, as a whole. It was soundly rejected by the Republicans, as a whole.
So, it seems that the direct argument that the Republican Representatives and Senators seem to be making about covering all of those who are currently working in America is at direct conflict with what they think about covering those who have previously worked in America.
I will leave you with these final points: Healthcare costs to the American public are the highest ever yet, 17.2% - for a total of 2.5 trillion ($2,500,000,000,000.00) spent last year only, up from 16.2% the year before.
And, since last fall, the healthcare industry has been averaging/spending 1.4 million ($1,400,000.00) dollars a day on lobbyists and other means to oppose healthcare reform, which includes blocking a public option.
What does that mean to you? To me, that stinks of collusion, at the expense of you and me, the average American worker. We deserve better, and need to think of our neighbors and family before we vote to toe a party line that does not think of us when they vote. Who exactly are they looking out for?
Share This Story:
Make HNN Your Homepage (IE Users Only)
