Wait...isn't health care reform good for business?

You know, so far I've kinda kept my distance in this health care debate. I haven't really been approached by anyone with strong opinions about it, nor have I initiated any discussions about it.

Until now.

My irritation about this whole issue didn't really hit home, and register with my emotions until last night, at around 6:30...I was watching CNN, and I saw the same commercial I had seen every night this week at around the same time. It was a commercial sponsored by Conservatives for Patient Rights. It was ridiculous. What makes it ridiculous is that in my mind, an organization that advocates for patient rights should also advocate for the 46,000,000 people in the U.S. that don't have insurance - not the other way around.

Why don't 46,000,000 people in the U.S. have insurance?

Because they can't afford it.

It's absurd. The United States of America has the largest GDP (by far) of any country in the world. When the U.S. is in recession, we're still doing a lot better than most of the world.

But we have, we allow, we CAUSE 46,000,000 people to be uninsured. 46,000,000 is equivalent to the population of Spain. Of the 223 countries in the world, only 27 of them have more than 46,000,000 people.

According to the National Academies of Science, The U.S. is the only "wealthy, industrialized nation that does not ensure that all citizens have coverage."

At some point, doesn't this become a moral issue? Is it morally sound to be a rich country, full of consumers (the largest importer of goods in the world), but unwilling to provide all of our citizens with access to health care?

Where are all the conservative, republican moralists that fight on every other moral issue? Why are these people so adamantly opposed to universal health coverage? It's ok to spend $2 trillion on the war in Iraq, but it's not ok to spend $900 billion on a health care reform plan? The cost to care for wounded and injured Iraq War veterans is expected to be around $600 billion.

Wait a second...I see. Universal health care would require raising taxes...or at least raising someone's taxes. And the repubs don't want to do that because when we raise taxes, people have less money to spend on their consumer goods...their big screen TV's, SUV's, RV's, clothes, jewelry, watches, shoes, jackets, scarves, fancy meals, stereos, iPods, cell phones, toys, second homes, and every other thing that we as Americans are absolutely entitled to have!

It's no good. There's no way we can allow it to happen. We need to make sure all of our citizens are taxed the least amount possible, and if it means leaving 46,000,000 of our own in the cold, then so be it...our hard-earned Escalades will make us feel better...or at least some of us. Besides, those people should go get a job, and get their own insurance - that way, we don't have to worry about this health care crap.

Wait a sec...there are no jobs in the U.S. right now...

In Michigan, unemployment went back up to 15.2% in August - after taking a slight dip down to 15% in July. It was 15.2% in June too.

Companies, especially ones that manufacture goods - products (things that could actually be exported to other countries) - have all left Michigan. They've left the United States. They've left for other countries where it's cheaper to hire people. The reason it's cheaper to hire people is because they've moved to either (1) undeveloped countries, where people are willing to work for pennies, or (2) countries where universal health care is provided for all citizens.

Why does this make a difference? Because benefits make up a big slice of the cost to employ someone in a manufacturing job here in the U.S. When a company hires someone in the U.S., it costs 25%-%35 of an employee's wages to cover the benefits. Most of these benefit costs are attributed to the employee's health insurance.

Why does GM have such a hard time competing with Toyota and Honda? It's not because they build inferior cars, or are poorly managed. It's because, quite simply, GM has been operating a lot longer than Toyota or Honda, and they have a lot more overhead costs associated with buying their retirees' health care. Not to mention the fact that in the U.S., GM also has to cover their current employees' health care. Not so in Korea, Japan, or Germany - the other three countries that build lots of cars - and have universal health care.

Imagine how prosperous our American automotive manufacturers would be if they didn't have the massive legacy costs associated with covering their retired employees?

The problem is, rather than spreading these legacy costs to the taxpayers, our republicans prefer to let outside manufacturers from other countries import these goods at bottom-dollar prices, produced by bottom dollar workers overseas - and let our own American manufacturers go out of business.

Ultimately the price is born by those who made this country what it is - the working class...blue collar people who actually go to work and BUILD something for a change. Unfortunately, our conservative policies are driving all that was good in the U.S. overseas, and our middle class is suffering, and shrinking as a result.