Shedding Light on Health Care Reform

THE FUTURE IS NOW | Speaking to labor leaders during this summer’s AFL-CIO convention about why unions must do more to recruit and promote women and people of color.

THE FUTURE IS NOW | Speaking to labor leaders during this summer’s AFL-CIO convention about why unions must do more to recruit and promote women and people of color.

Photo Credit: Bill Burke/Page One Photography

Message from the Secretary-Treasurer

By William Lucy

“It is a tale…full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” That’s what Shakespeare said about time spent in overheated rhetoric and pursuits that produce few results. The same could be said about the town hall meetings this summer on health care reform. For opponents of reform, the point wasn’t to shed light, but to generate heat.

The debate reached its lowest point in September, after the town halls ended. That’s when Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled “You lie!” during Pres. Barack Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress. When members of Congress behave so outrageously, it’s no surprise that many town hall meetings degenerated into ugly shouting matches.

There are legitimate questions about health care reform; some AFSCME members have questions, too. What’s objectionable are the lies and ugliness that have characterized this debate.

Profits at All Costs

Many town hall hecklers were looking for another opportunity to show their dislike of President Obama. Some simply want to kill any and all reform proposals.

Unfortunately, they have been ginned up by organizations dedicated to protecting the insurance and health care industries at all costs. It’s no coincidence that these groups are often funded by executives who have a vested interest in opposing reform.

Look at Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. Their chairman, Rick Scott, is the disgraced former CEO of Columbia/HCA hospitals, the chain that got into trouble for defrauding Medicare. Scott’s the founder of Solantic, a group of urgent care centers in Florida. Many of its clients are uninsured and don’t have access to private doctors. They rely on companies like Solantic, and every time they walk through the door, that’s more profit for Richard Scott.

Fomenting Anger

FreedomWorks also opposes health care reform. A chief backer, Richard J. Stephenson, founded Cancer Treatment Centers of America to offer patients alternatives to traditional hospital care. Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with having a choice in cancer treatment. But there is something wrong with a health-company executive funding an organization to defeat reforms that could benefit many Americans.

Another FreedomWorks funder is Frank M. Sands, Sr., CEO of an investment management company. Its Healthcare Leaders portfolio invests in health-related companies that could be affected negatively by reform. For Sands, this issue is about maintaining investors’ profits.

These groups are fomenting anger to protect revenue, not patients.

Taking the Offensive

Here’s the groups’ other agenda: positioning candidates to win political campaigns. Next year, voters across the country will elect representatives across the board. These groups are firing up the conservative base for Election Day 2010.

Their game plan is clever and multifaceted. Our offense must be nimble and relentless. We are closer than ever to achieving national health care for all. From both a moral and an economic perspective, we will rival our global competitors as we rebuild our economy and re-establish our middle class.

Despite some opponents’ sound and fury, we can finally reckon with a health care system that has bedeviled Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt. Let’s not waste this moment.