Some of the concerns I have about the House healthcare bill (I haven’t had a chance to read the Senate bill yet, but have read some comparison pieces from the left and the right) include: Take for instance the section that “freezes” all medical subsidies to the handicap, until further investigation into treatment strategies can be determined; the section that includes ownership of a gun as an unhealthy habit, and requires that corporations that opt for gov’t care help their employees understand that they have to abide by the rules, or the company pays additional surcharges for these employees who maintain their 2nd amendment right; the section that allows the gov’t to examine our bank accounts and determine if we should pay more depending on our assets, not our income; the section that requires all persons to get health coverage, or pay fines with the eventual threat of jail; the section that requires all foreign companies to pay into our health care system if they employ Americans overseas; the section that requires all Americans to pay into our health care system even if they don’t reside in the US, and can’t use the system; the section that allows the UN to establish punitive consequences for domestic violence in America, subverting US citizens’ state and federal rights to a fair trial.
Conservatives can embrace sound health care insurance for all American citizens quite easily, but it must be maintained in the legislative language that individuals have the freedom to choose or not; and the freedom to buy health coverage from any plans offered regardless of state of residency; and that there will be protections for religious objectors; and that those who buy insurance for protection against financial ruin (for this is all health insurance can do, it can not buy a guarantee of future good health)will receive the treatments that are asked for by the patient and recommended by the patient’s personal doctor; and if I were a senior, that no taxes would be placed on perscription medicine, or medical devices. I also believe there should be supplemental plans offered to expand coverage for those who have the ability and wish to invest, without punitive consequences.

Health care might be higher on the list of people’s concerns because they know more about it and it’s more immediate to them, but clean energy/green jobs/energy independence polls just about better than everything else out there, including health care(even before the health care ruckus). It doesn’t divide the left and the right as sharply and doesn’t cause a rebellion. Additionally, climate is easier in this era because it doesn’t carry with it the same deficit spending argument that conservatives can use on health care reform.

We were able to pass a climate bill out of the House without this kind of madness, and if the Obama Administration and Congress had been smart, they would’ve used that momentum and taken it to the Senate immediately. Finished climate before healthcare. Now, there’s the very scary possibility health care could derail the rest of the progressive agenda.