War on Health Care Reform Continues Unabated

I continue to be astonished at the hysterical screeching we continue to hear from the right about health care reform. I suppose it’s understandable when it comes from the typically uninformed (or willfully ignorant) writer of a letter-to-the-editor. But the outright fabrications we continue to hear from some elected officials are nothing short of disgusting. Because they know better.

It’s one thing to oppose the reforms, but quite another to deliberately perpetuate the loony notion of “death panels” and misrepresent other aspects of the law. Michelle Bachmann, the Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, heads that list, although there are a lot of others tied for second place.

There are many provisions to the legislation, of course, but one would require health insurance companies to pay out for medical care at least 80 percent of what they take in from premiums. What could possibly be wrong with that? If an insurance company fails to meet that bare minimum standard, they are – in plain language – screwing their policyholders. Yet many on the right oppose that part of the law purely on the basis of ideology. Good heavens! Doesn’t common sense ever trump ideology?

In Michelle Bachmann’s case, of course, ideology isn’t the real issue. The lady apparently is serious about running for president that makes it pretty clear that she belongs in a rubber room. I suppose, adopting our most charitable persona, we should probably pity her. But what, then, should we think of the people who are passionately supporting her? That's the really scary part in all this.
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