The healthcare debate: don't let anyone tell you it's beyond your grasp

by: los anjalis

Tue Aug 18, 2009 at 16:48:12 PM PDT

Health-care reform is not that hard to understand, and those who tell you otherwise most likely have an ulterior motive.  Reform proponents exaggerate the complexity of the issue to elevate their own status as people who understand it; opponents exaggerate it to make the whole endeavor out to be a bureaucratic monstrosity.

- from "Your Handy Healthcare Cheat Sheet" by Alec MacGillis, WashingtonPost.com

Here's an example.  Last week, as I waited to board a flight, I was drawn to a mainstream "politics" show at the airline gate. This was a show on CNN, which featured an old white conservative man talking with old white male guests on his show. The topic: health care reform. In 20 minutes of discussion, the only information I could glean from the show was that we are screwed. Numbers and $$ costs and statistics were thrown at the audience in rapidfire fashion, in a very obvious attempt to derail the actual debate and incite fear in the public around the steep costs of reform. Nothing of great substance was discussed, and I came away not more knowledgeable, but more anxious.

So, coming back to this wonderful article. Please check it out.  Pass it on to your friends and family. Make sure you all know the framework and facts on both sides of the debate.  Thanks greatly to the author for clearly and concisely presenting the information. The article ends with this call to action:

It's your health care. Don't let anyone tell you that it's somehow beyond your grasp.

Right on.