Health Care for All?

I was deeply disappointed this morning to read that the health care bills being considered in both the House and Senate will still leave millions of people uninsured, their health care not covered. This is a travesty! All the time, effort and hype to reform health care financing that has been invested and what we are likely to get is something that doesn't even cover everyone? Even the so-called "government-run option" would be administered, not by Medicare or Medicaid, but somehow by the insurance companies?

I read that in 11 cities, physicians pledged to sit in at insurance company offices to demonstrate their commitment to a single-payer health care plan that would cover everyone. How admirable! Those interviewed said that they are taking these steps because single-payer advocates have been consistently shut out of talks about health care financing/health care reform policy. They have talked to their congressional representatives and got nowhere. Now they have taken this step.

May we Americans find the will to provide health care coverage for everyone. May we make health care a basic public service like fire and police protection, the postal service and libraries. May we see that we all are implicated in the suffering and deaths that occur when our people do not have access to health services because they do not have the money to pay for them. May God forgive us for our willful ignorance and for choosing to ignore the needs of our neighbors. AMEN.