Health Care Reform (Part 1)

Right now, Organizing for America is encouraging me to be among 1,000,000 Americans to publicly proclaim my support of the President’s plan for health care reform. The plan, you know, which was originally supposed to be a done deal before the August recess, but now looks to be done ‘better, rather than sooner’ in the political parlance, which means I can safely go to New Hampshire for a couple of days next week and not have the world be completely different when I get back.

Organizing for America is now a ‘project’ of the Democratic National Committee, but it’s really the backbone of the Obama campaign for President – the Internet donors, the Tupperware-style Obama parties, the email campaigns, the ‘let’s watch him on TV together’ meetings, and so on. Even today, every email I get from OfA includes a way for me to part with my hard-earned cash in support of whatever we support.

So, back to that 1,000,000 supporters of the President’s Plan thingy – did I sign myself up? Nope. Did I send any money? Nope. Do I know what I want to see out of health care reform? Nope...well, kinda. I think I know better what I don’t want to see out of health care reform: I don't want to lose my job.

You see, I have a confession to make. I’m an employee of an evil, untrustworthy insurance company that’s trying to derail health care reform . At least, that’s what my hometown newspaper thinks. To paraphrase Sally Field, "they don't like us, they really don't like us". It's apparently what my own Senator, Chuck Schumer, thinks of me too.. After all, “we don’t trust the private insurance companies left to their own devices, and neither do the American people” he said. It’s also what my President thinks of me too – he talks about “…force(ing) the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest…” in some of his remarks.

(For now, I’ll ignore the idiocy of politicians badmouthing anything – animal, vegetable, or mineral – on the trust factor. After all I’m admittedly jaded on this point. I live in New York, home of the most dysfunctional state legislature, and one where earlier this month the Dems pretty basically committed a felony by bribing one of their most ethically-challenged members to come back into the fold, after the Reps pretty basically committed a felony by bribing him to cross the aisle in the first place. Criminal charges are not likely – but they would be well-received, if anyone had the courage to file them. See here , here , and here for more of my humble opinion on this subject.)

Sorry, I digress…back to health care. I work for a regional not-for-profit carrier (yes, we’re Blue) that is actively trying to educate employees and our elected officials about the potential risk for our future if our government gets any further into the health care business than they are already. Clearly, a company of our makeup – again, we’re regional, and we’re not-for-profit – is not in the same position as, say, a United or an Aetna. And so, we have basically two options. Sit and do nothing, waiting on the sidelines for the shoe to drop, or we can try and get our view heard by our legislators, just as the huge national carriers can, and the American Medical Association, and AARP, and our BlueCross BlueShield Association, and a whole host of other organizations who are trying to have a say in how this plays out.

So, my company took the step of asking us to sign postcards to be delivered en masse to Senators Schumer and Gillebrand, suggesting that any health care reform bill the Senate comes up with strike a balance “between what government can do, and what private companies do best.” Pretty subversive, don’t you think? An employer trying to get a point across; trying to encourage us, as employees, to get engaged in the conversation? Oh, the humanity!

Was it a self-serving gesture? Probably. A lobbying effort? Sure – we’re not stupid. What would be stupid is the first option described above –sitting and doing nothing while the debate rages around us. I don't want to lose my job because of health care reform. It may not happen, but it might. And I hope that some one's at least thinking about that as they try to come up with a plan.