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Healthcare reform passes the House amid cries of freedom
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People opposed to healthcare reform on Capitol Hill, Saturday, Nov. 7, 2009
The house of representatives passed the healthcare reform bill around midnight yesterday with a small margin, 220 votes for the bill and 215 against it. The unanimous republican opposition to the bill was broken by Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. The democrats did not, on their part, display anything close to a unanimous support since 39 representatives from their ranks voted against the bill.
The bill moves now to the Senate where it faces even a more divided chamber over healthcare reform. The division over the bill in both the House and the Senate reflects national anxiety over the choices facing the American public: maintain the current health system and deny healthcare access to a sizable portion of the America people, including increasing number of middle class families, or reform the system and increase government control over healthcare decisions.
Those opposing healthcare reform, which includes a public option, have been citing the erosion of individual freedom and the expansion of government power as the ground for their opposition. Rep. Candice Miller, a republican from Michigan, reflected the fear of many who oppose healthcare reform. "We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, this is making me sick," he said in relation to the healthcare reform bill. Miller described the bill in striking terms: “a jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding" bill.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican from Minnesota, went even further and recalled Jefferson’s reminder that every generation of Americans must have their own revolution to keep the flame of freedom alive. She also quoted a statement by Abigal Adams, the wife of the 2nd US President John Adams, in which the latter underscored the price of freedom, "After all we've done, I wonder if generations unborn will ever know what was done for them, the sacrifice, the toil, the blood, the treasure, the heartache, what was spent to secure their liberty and their freedom."
The cry for “freedom” on the part of leading Republicans in opposition to healthcare reform rings hollow and is disingenuous at best. It is true that the new bill will increase the power of the federal government and reduce the autonomy of civil society, but lest we all forget the issue here is not “freedom” but the failure of both public and business leaders to address the failing healthcare system in the last 20 years. The healthcare system is in a deep crisis and using “freedom” as an excuse for doing nothing is unacceptable.
Reform is crucial to avoid a total collapse of the healthcare system, not only because of fast increasing number of American families without any health coverage, but also because those who have insurance are challenged with a rising portion of out-of-pocket payments, otherwise known as “deductables”. According to a study by the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan research institute focusing on health issues, nearly one of every five families had problems paying medical bills last year.
Although claims that the public option will culminate in government monopoly and socialism is a far fledged exaggeration, it is true that when the government expand its power, civil society and the ability of private citizens to impact public life is reduced. The current healthcare crisis has been long coming and Bachmann, Miller, and other congressional and business leaders who complain today about a government-led reform did nothing to change that trend in the last 20 years when the troubles were first spotted.
Freedom grows in a society when people, particularly those in leadership positions, exercise socially responsible decision making and display genuine concern about public interests. The challenge facing this generation of Americans is not the lack of freedom, but the erosion of responsibility and responsible freedom. When Wall Street becomes a gambling place for wasting the savings of millions of hardworking Americans in the name of free trade, ordinary Americans lose confidence in the ability of business leaders to regulate the financial industry and exercise freedom responsibly, and they readily welcome governmental control over financial institutions. When private insurance companies fail to control waste and make it difficult for tens of millions of Americans and for workers with full employment to receive health benefits, ordinary Americans lose confidence in the ability of the private sector to regulate itself and to generate genuine competition and they welcome government intervention to regulate the healthcare system and to set public option.
Obviously Rep. Bachmann missed the point made by Abigal Adams. Freedom is achieved through hard work by people led by visionary and principled leaders willing to make the sacrifices needed to maintain it, including losing their public office rather than succumbing to special interests. By the same token, business leaders who are not responsible enough to make socially responsible choices for their companies and businesses are bound to turn freedom into chaos and erode the public confidence in their ability to lead, and make them more dependable on the federal government and centralized authority.
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