Is National Health Care on Its Deathbed?

The August recess in upon us, and the right wing war machine has health care reform in the cross-hairs. Their strategy? Intelligent debate focused on our nation's need find a solution to rising health care costs . . . not quite.

How about attending town hall meetings and heckling speakers? That's more like it! Salon.com reports that, in fact, a "leaked from a volunteer with conservative group FreedomWorks entitled 'Rocking the Town Halls -- Best Practices' advises exactly this sort of behavior. (The man listed as author, Frank MacGuffie, denies having written the memo on behalf of FreedomWorks.) The memo tells protesters to spread out to appear more numerous than they are and maximize disruption, reminding them, 'Try To 'Rattle Him,' Not Have An Intelligent Debate'."

Such protesters have gone as far as hanging those members of Congress (like Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md.) in effigy. Others speakers have been greeted by their own images with devil horns drawn on their heads. Then there is the (dare I say it) liberal use of the Nazi swastika to degrade and deride those support reform at such meetings.

The truly tragic part of such actions is that they make headlines and may, in fact, do what the right does best: frighten people into believing that the status quo is far less frightening than change. Without significant reform, the status quo is not comforting in the least. It will, instead, give way to a stark reality. Millions of Americans can't afford their health care now; in a few more years, the cost of health care will be impossibly high.

According to www.healthcareforamericansnow.com, the full cost of employer-sponsored insurance in Kansas currently equals 25 percent of the median family income. Without meaningful health reform, that number will grow to 48 percent in 2016. Spending half of your income to insure your family simply will not work, but that's where we'll be without meaningful reform.

Those shouting down Kathleen Sebelius and Arlen Specter (among others) have blinded themselves to the fact that the current system is not sustainable. They question Obama's citizenship with such vehemence that they fail to see the 14,000 Americans who lose their health insurance every day. It's time to stop shouting and start thinking.