Kennedy to Healthcare Connection
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Just some brief thoughts on the relation of Edward Kennedy to our nation’s discussion on healthcare.
Our nation suffered a great loss this last week with the passing of a man who has dedicated his life to politics and the American way. Born into an iconic and highly influential family, Edward Kennedy was the brother of assassinated President John F Kennedy and one of many Kennedy family members who was not only in the spotlight, but gave their all everyday to fight for the American way of life. Edward Kennedy was well known for his contribution to minimum wage laws, better rights for women, social programs, and pushing our nation towards a more sustainable healthcare model.
The timing of his passing is almost too coincidental with the heated discussion raging over healthcare reform and how millions of Americans can’t afford to receive proper care. It’s not like you can draw a parallel to Kennedy and say that he didn’t receive proper care in his final days. He was well taken care of. But, you can take the will and thoughts expressed by this legendary Democrat and apply them directly to the fight. Americans should not be turned down for care because of pre-existing conditions. Insurance companies cannot just insure healthy people – that’s absolutely ridiculous.
As a country, our focus needs to shift away from bipartisan activity and from simple distractions like those we see at the town hall meetings. Instead, we need to find out why insurance companies operate this way, what about our government structure promotes it and allows it to continue, and what is the best way to get in and regulate an industry that needs some form of regulation. The activity of healthcare companies is very similar to those of mortgage lenders and banks for many years – look what happened when that collapsed. The collapse of healthcare under the pursuit of greed could be completely destructive to our infrastructure.
So, in memory of Edward Kennedy, let’s deliver something he would have wanted to deliver himself – sustainable healthcare for all Americans and an end to letting people die because of corporate greed.
