Today, the United States Supreme Court began to hear cases brought forth against healthcare reform legislation. The courtroom, which holds 400 observers, is packed. People carting signs on both sides of the issue are marching outside, providing visual evidence of the discordant state of political discourse in this country. There is plenty of blame to go around for this, unfortunately.
On one side, you have the conservatives, who started this battle as soon as the legislation was passed. Tea partiers protested loudly against a person’s constitutional right to be uninsured. It amazes me that the party whose shining achievements include ensuring that welfare mothers don’t buy Cadillacs are now determined to defend a person’s right to potentially amass medical bills that he or she can not pay. Before the presidency was lost on the issue, the GOP had nothing meaningful to say about health care reform. It was treated as one of those issues that the little people had to deal with. Now they say there are alternatives to universal healthcare, and yet I find myself giving them the side eye.
It’s not like the liberals have handled the situation much better. Yes, they actually made an effort to address the issue, but our current presidential administration essentially shot this bill in the foot when it refused to allow a conscience clause for pharmacists, businesses and employers who, because of their beliefs, do not want to fund abortion and abortive practices. So now, religious organizations are forced to buy insurance that charges them twelve dollars a year to fund abortions. That’s not asking for a lawsuit to happen. I understand the role that Planned Parenthood has played in this election, namely the big checks that they wrote in support of our president, but sometimes government has to act in the people’s best interest and tying up laws in court because people can’t negotiate is not in the best interest of any of the people who are being crushed by the cost of healthcare.
