Ben Done Us Wrong

Last Sunday, I attended a "Give Ben the Boot" rally. Our Senator, Ben Nelson, had just sold his soul to Harry Reid and agreed to vote for the health care bill. He had been loudly proclaiming that his pro-life beliefs would not allow him to sign on to any bill that allowed for government payments for abortions. Well, Harry evidently came up with the magic amount of monetary incentive, and Ben put his moral principles aside and caved in. At the rally, which drew 1800 people on very short notice, featured speaker Mike Huckabee gave a rousing speech to an enthusiastic crowd, calling for us Nebraskans to vote Nelson out of office at the earliest possible opportunity. He recalled that two thousand years ago, Judas also succumbed to the lure of money and sold out Jesus to the Romans. In the end, it didn't work out too well for Judas, either.

So, why is this such a big deal? Polls here in Nebraska show that we are against Harry's bill to the tune of 67%, so if Ben was representing his constituents, he should vote against the bill on that basis alone. Also, his stand on abortion should have been inviolable, not subject to negotiation. Publicly he has said that if our Governor Heineman asked him not to accept the pork present, he would reject it. (I don't remember if he said he would change his mind about his yea vote.) Gov. Heineman was on "On The Record" last night and said that we Nebraskans wanted absolutely no part of the bribe money, and that he should give it back. Bully for him!!

Here is my view. I don't know anyone that doesn't want to reform the health care system. What we want are changes that will actually improve the way we receive our medical care, and we don't want to bankrupt our nation in the process. People who agree with me are really angry with the partisan, closed-door, secretive process that spawned this bill in the first place. We don't like the fact that special deals were cut with the pharmaceutical industries, the insurance companies, trial lawyers, labor unions and others just to move the process forward. This bill should die on the vine and we should start over. It would be a good thing to introduce more competition amongst the insurers, maybe by letting companies sell across state lines. Let's get the employers out of the business of providing health care. Employers are just one more layer of insulation between the insurance company and the insured. The person to be covered should be the one that makes the deal with the insurance company. Ending frivolous lawsuits could save billions of dollars a year. This could be as easy as stipulating that the loser must pay all the fees and court costs. It works in Texas. I like the idea that you cannot be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions, even though this would mean higher premiums. I have mixed thoughts about setting up a separate pool for people with high-maintenance health problems. The insurance companies could use this as a convenient loophole to get rid of anyone with even a marginal problem. Anything I have mentioned could be handled on a step-by-step basis, and we could keep the costs down to an amount we can afford. You get the point - there is definitely another way to go about this. Unfortunately, unless Ben does the right thing, Harry's ridiculous bill will be voted in on Christmas Eve and it will be too late.