Eric Massa, NY29: Wage WOT: Fix US Health Care System

[trillian]

Eric is live blogging over at dKos

Join in the conversation

Wage War on Terror: Fix US Health Care System



First off, I want wish a Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there. I spent the morning quietly celebrating this day with my lovely wife Beverly and two of our three children. The love between a parent and a child is sacred, and I believe that we owe it to all children to always strive to make this world the best it can be. One way to do this is to take a hard, honest look at our broken healthcare system and then dedicate ourselves to making sure all families have quality, affordable healthcare.

On Thursday, I explained in detail my personal experiences as a cancer survivor, my positions on fixing our corporate Healthcare System, and my strong conviction that Single Payer Healthcare is ultimately the best possible solution to the problem of overpriced medical treatment. I'd ask that you first read that post first, and then return here to share your thoughts and questions with me between 3 and 6pm Eastern time.


--------------------------------------------

Standing up for Families

How can it be that the most powerful nation in the entire world still has Millions of families with little or no health insurance? There are about 45 million with no health insurance and about http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/296/22/2712">17 million more who are underinsured, making a total of about 62 million American Citizens who need Washington to fix the system. They live in a continual state of fear that an illness or perhaps a traumatic accident will force them to seek medical care which they cannot afford. They worry that overwhelming expenses will eat up all their hard-earned savings and maybe even force them into bankruptcy. And in addition, millions of Americans are using home equity loans or credit cards to pay for unaffordable medical care and living with crushing debt as a result. This is absolutely unacceptable.

To quote Senator Obama, who echoed some of what was said in my Thursday diary:

“e are not setting the agenda in Washington, insurance companies and drug companies are. That's what people want to turn the page on. We want a system that's fair and sensible to everyone."

Health Care Reform and the “War on Terror”

There is also a larger issue that is directly related to the necessity of winning hearts and minds in the propaganda war against Islamic fundamentalists. As was demonstrated clearly this week in the case of the Fort Dix Six, the war that President Bush has called a “war on terror” is not foremost a military war and is not really a war against terror. What we are fighting is a PR war against the hate speech of radical Imams. Though it might be necessary in some instances to fight militarily (though I would say our continued military presence in Iraq is counter-productive), that is not where this war will ultimately be won.

To win this “war” we must convince potential terrorists and other detractors that the ugliness seen during the Bush years (violations of the Geneva conventions and extraordinary rendition, the removal of habeas corpus as a foundational right, war profiteering in Iraq and Afghanistan, corporate control of domestic policies allowing the rich to get richer while the working class falls farther and farther behind, etc.) is not representative of who we are. We must put forth policies, both domestically and internationally, that show that we value people more than profit and right more than might. And health care reform is one of the main ways we can show what our real values are. We need new leadership in Washington that will not sellout the rest of the world simply for the sake of kowtowing to K Street.

Conclusion

Health care is a very important part of my Declaration of Rights. All ten of the rights listed in this Declaration are aimed at policy areas where we can show the world that we value the family more than profit and right more than might. With this Declaration of Rights I am not only intending to reclaim rights for the people but to challenge our priorities and regain some of the respect we have lost during the Bush era. Here is how one BBC journalist described America.

America encapsulated the principles of the Enlightenment - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity - wrapped them in the pursuit of happiness, underpinned them with an inalienable right and turned an IDEA into a country.
It took the missteps of the French and the English revolutions and it made them work.
Yes, there were terrible mistakes - the gross hypocrisy of slavery, segregation and McCarthyism, to name a few. But America found and keeps finding the solutions to its mistakes. It is a giant, rolling social experiment in constant pursuit of self-correction.]

It’s time to do some of that self-correction and get back to the idea of pursuit of happiness underpinned by inalienable rights.

As a grassroots campaign, I need your help to bring an end to this era of Washington corruption. Most importantly, please share this message with your friends. Also, since I am not accepting a single penny of corporate PAC money, donations from the grassroots are critical to our success. We are looking to build a grassroots regiment (a regiment consists of 1000 people) of people who will donate $100 in support of this new Declaration of Rights. If you can afford to donate you can do that. If you cannot afford to donate $100, that’s OK. You are still valuable to us. Any help you can give is appreciated, even if all you can afford is moral support.

And as always, please feel free to ask me anything, either over the next 3 hours, or by contacting me at my website.]

Thank you,

-Eric Massa