I used this tool to submit a letter to the editor in support of health care reform. You should too if you are in support of this, otherwise the opportunity will pass. Obama still needs grass-roots support even though he is president. Here’s my letter:
I am writing to state my strong support for Obama’s health care reform. A system consisting of both public and private insurance options and a guaranteed coverage is a reform that will bring about a great and positive change in the country. We cannot properly call our society a “civil” society if we do not attend to the health and well being of our citizens. That we are a nation built upon principles of individual rights is a wonderful thing, but it would be of immense benefit to our society in my estimation to also commit ourselves to other rights such as the right to a basic level of health care. This is a commitment that countless other materially wealthy nations the wordl over have made and which I believe we should as well.
This is also a commitment that Republicans, I believe, can support. In fact, health care reform will enhance personal freedom and entrepreneurial activity in this country. By ensuring that people will be able to get health care it could, for instance, end the type of pressure so common today wherein people remain in a job which does not suit their interests nor skills simply for the sake of retaining their medical insurance. A reformed system might make it easier for individuals to afford health care thereby freeing individuals to seek out occupational niches that suit their skills and interests. Health care reform, in this sense, can do much to increase the efficiency and productivity of individuals in our society in nearly every realm!
Many of those who oppose health care reform seem to be concerned that health care reform will necessarily lead to the abridgment of individual rights or to “socialism.” But this is fallacy. There is a world of difference between the system of health care that Obama is proposing and “socialized” health care. Obama is proposing a system that retains private insurance companies while setting up a public insurance option that can compete with private insurance companies. This competion will keep both the government run program and the private programs honest and competetive.
There is however another level upon which reform is important. No system of universal coverage that we create will be perfect. Indeed, we cannot wait until we possess the “perfect” plan to enact reform precisely because that moment will never arrive. But by reforming the system now we will begin to rectify a situation in which millions lack insurance. Whatever system we end up creating, however, will not be perfect, but nor will it be final. It will not become some big government agency that we cannot subsequently modify and improve. Indeed, it is precisely because we live in a democratic society—one in which the government must respond to the concerns and interests of its citizens—that we will continue to have the power to modify and improve and indeed even deconstruct any system of universal coverage that has been created. We will be able to publicly debate important issues about what sort of coverage should or should not be provided and that may put us in the position as citizens of considering difficult questions.
By contrast, if we do not pass health reform now then we will persist in a situation in which we have no control over the character and structure of our health care. Indeed, we will persist in a situation in which it is private insurance bureaucrats that get to decide who gets to live or die, and these insurance bureaucrats (even less than government bureaucrats) have no need to answer to our concerns as citizens. By enacting reform now, we will be giving ourselves the possiblity to control and improve the nature of our health care service. Whether we are able to do that in the future will depend upon the quality and intelligence of our public debates and the seriousness and care with which we discuss how we would like our health to be provided in this country.
