A friend of mine once used the analogy when I was feeling a little lost and frustrated about a friendship gone south; that a leopard never changes its spots. He said to me, your friend has shown you who he is so why don’t you believe them? That analogy has stuck with me every since and I use it every time I question why I keep going back to the same disappointment. A leopard never changes its spots.
It is interesting how things unfold in life and in politics it is very interesting. I have tried to stay clear of politics in my writings because I feel our health is far more important than politics. However, I have had many requests for me to weigh in with my views about the proposed healthcare bill.
HR3200: America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 is a mountainous task to read let alone understand. Add to the mountain of information, this bill is changing just about as fast you can read it. Making this whole process of trying to understand what is purposed extremely frustrating . I took time to email my Congressman, a couple of State Representatives and a County Commissioner requesting their thoughts on the healthcare bill. After my effort to email and call these elected officials it was interesting only two of them replied. I was disappointed to hear my State Representative say “Since HR3200 is Federal Legislation and I am a state representative, I am not familiar with the particulars”. But the County Commissioner was not only familiar with it, he has been to Washington twice with the American Medical Association’s advocacy group on healthcare.
I also contacted the American and Tennessee Nursing Associations to inquire about their views on the healthcare bill. I must really like disappointment, the American Nursing Association didn’t reply and the Tennessee Nursing Association offered nothing of any substance for conversation. However, the Oncology Nursing Society did offer dialog and suggested a web site I found helpful : The Kaiser Family Foundation http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm . This lets you compare the different proposals in a side by side document that is constantly being updating. My point in all of this is we need to engage our elected officials to be involved and informed. But most importantly we need to be informed.
Obviously, there is change coming our way in how healthcare will be delivered and it will affect all of us. I urge you to get involved, be informed and use your voice to talk about the things of importance to you. Do not be intimidated or discouraged to raise your voice, get informed and speak up for what you want. This isn’t the Presidents healthcare plan, this is your healthcare plan. There will be good and bad, so we have to decide how much of the good we can afford and how much bad we are willing to accept.
Medicare has been around for about 43 years, and has been managed by both political parties. Our government has shown us their ability to manage Medicare, a government run healthcare plan. Medicare is projected to be bankrupt within the next 9 to 10 years. Politicians have failed to effectively manage Medicare and now want us to trust them with more responsibility. I think politicians have proven their ability to manage and have shown us who they are. One thing that is certain is there will be change. Now is the time to get informed, be heard and stand up for what you think is right for you. Speak up speak out for what you want, and lets change with knowledge and understanding. Remember, a leopard never changes its spots!
Howard Baker, RN BSN
For questions, comments, or suggestions on topics you want to read about please email me at: howard@howardsbaker.com
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