Health Care Just like our Elected Royalty Get

I’ve never understood why so many Democrats are having such a difficult time selling universal health care (better-single payer)to the voting public. The mistake they're making is they continue to work within the Republican frame, that is to say it’s socialistic, and will eventually take away your health care freedoms and lower the quality of treatment.

The Democratic Frame: Health care shouldn’t be any different for the citizens of the state, than the lawmakers they elect to represent them. Just what royal privileges were bestowed upon those elected to SERVE. Once you threaten the health care gravy train of your senators and representatives, you’ll see a dramatic move to reform the current inhumane system we have in place now. I promise you, they will drop health savings accounts like a letter filled with anthrax.

Which brings up a very encouraging story reported in the Post-Crescent:

Citizen Action of Wisconsin, with its "Got health care?" campaign has reached out to several communities across the state with a petition to get a health care reform advisory referendum on their November ballots. Petitions have been filed in Green Bay, Oshkosh, Eau Claire, Altoona and Viroqua, and are pending in Neenah, Menasha, Milwaukee suburbs and communities in western Wisconsin. The referendum asks the Legislature to guarantee health care comparable to what is provided to state lawmakers. The advisory referendum states: "Shall the next state legislature enact health care reform legislation by Dec. 31, 2009, that guarantees every Wisconsin resident affordable health care coverage as good as what is provided to state legislators?"

"In polls, 70 percent — maybe more — of Americans will say, 'Yes we want universal health care, said David Siemers, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science professor. The organization's membership of 90,000 is evidence of the high level of concern.

I've always found it interesting that even though this a Democratic idea, the press will always interview a Republican for the first and last word on the subject, any subject, like they are somehow better at managing money or government. And as we have seen over the last 12 years, even more so in the last 7, they’re fiscal failures.

Instead of asking one of the authors of Healthy Wisconsin, the proposed universal plan written up by the Democratic Senate, they found it more informative talking to Rep. Steve Wieckert, R-Appleton. "A lot of times these groups might not come up with what I consider the right answer," he said, "but they do address a legitimate and right problem, and that's a contribution in itself. The Legislature needs to dedicate more attention to the issue, but legislators need to think of health care as being more than illness care. It means looking at it through the lens of wellness and preventive programs.”

Wellness huh? This from a party fighting smoking bans locally or statewide. Eating too much at a fast food restrauant is a bad, unhealthy choice. Smoking cigarettes is a much better option and one they'll fight to continue?

David Siemers, a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science professor, put it this way."In a way, this is the Democrats' abortion issue. Republicans beat up on Democrats for 20 years about abortion because they could take a position that appeals to a lot of people without having any consequences to that position." Now Democrats "can trumpet their moral superiority for wanting health care for everyone and they don't really have to do anything."

I'm not a big advocate of state health care reform (prefering a single payer national plan-minus insurance companies), since insurance companies can raise rates enough to break any budgeted money, but if we have no other choice I say let's fight locally.