I just had to write this blog post, but rest assured that part four of my five part series is in the works.

During the wee hours of the night, I woke up from a nightmare. Somewhat shaken, I made my way to the computer and tried to erase the strange, insecure state that the nightmare engendered.  In the nightmare, I was flat broke, unemployed, lost my health insurance and came down with a life-threatening illness.  A health care bill was passed and signed, but most of it wouldn't come into effect until 2014.  By then, anyone with a life-threatening illness would be long gone.

That nightmare was a blessing, it got me to revisit the health care issue and Monday morning quarterback the entire situation.  In looking back, I have to ask several questions:
Q. - Why couldn't we pass a national single payer health plan similar to that of most industrialized countries? A. - Because large quantities of anti health care bill TV and radio advertising, in many cases, paid for by sock puppet "advocacy" groups that are really funded by insuarnce and healthcare corporations "brain"washed many people.

Q. - Why did our electeds pass a health care bill that was a faint shadow of the original proposals?  A. - The Republican party was united against passing a meaningful health care bill. The Democratic party was divided by it's blue dog members who are closet republicans.  Members of BOTH parties were under the strong influence of high powered lobbyists from the insurance and health care industry. Many Americans were their own worst enemy, they actually believed the twisted TV ads and told their electeds to kill the health care bill.

What's most disturbing about all this is that the Republicans, special interests and some Democrats,  hauled out their usual fear kit to kill total health care reform and it worked.  They called single payer health care "socialism".   They made it seem that, by passing single payer health care, we would turn our country into cold war Russia. 

Our present, for profit health care system isn't capitalism, by any stretch of the imagination. It is a corrupt monopolistic system.  If we had a health care system that conformed to the textbook  definition of capitalism, we would directly pay doctors an affordable, reasonable fee for services rendered as our fathers and grandfathers did in the good old days before the health insurance carriers installed themselves as bureaucratic middle men.  Those days are long gone and single payer health care is still the only equitable way to fix the system. 

For those of you who are still in denial and think that America's health care problems are solved by passing a purposely diluted bill, I hope that you never have answer to the family of anyone who needlessly dies because he or she isn't covered by a still broken health care system.