Charlotte Tea Party Headquarters

"Debating While Impaired…or better stated, Debating While Insolent"

from "A Scarlet Stethoscope", http://rnadvocate.blogspot.com/2009/12/issuing-dwi-to-united-states-senate.html

Since the Christmas Eve vote in the Senate, I have been sent several articles about the vote, the preceding debate, and various analyses of what Senators and pundits on both sides had to say.

I’ve remained unusually quiet since that vote for a number of reasons.

The main reason is because I am furious, and that makes it difficult to present information in a manner that is even close to objective. And I’m still furious, so this is not exactly an objective post.

There is one issue about this healthcare debate that I want to bring to the forefront – and I am calling Democrats and Republicans alike on the carpet.

Let’s take a look at an excerpt from an article by Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, written Wednesday, December 23rd, entitled “In a sleep-deprived Senate, a punch-drunk holiday” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203698.html?wprss=rss_print/asection :

“…Perhaps the senators should be given some slack for their strange words and actions on the Senate floor this week, in which they treated the country to everything from catnaps to poetry readings. These people are tired, after all. Enacting health-care reform has gone from a legislative activity to an endurance sport.

“They've been kept in session more or less constantly since Thanksgiving, and in the final days it has become a standoff, some sort of a test of machismo. Republicans forced the delay, and Democrats, up against a Christmas deadline, responded by forcing votes at odd hours, 1 a.m. Monday and 7 a.m. Tuesday.

“Just before the vote early Monday morning, a weary Reid was speaking on the floor when he confused aged Americans with African Americans. Speaking about an endorsement from a seniors group, he said: "These are some of the reasons that AARP, the American Association for the Advancement of Colored Peop -- I'm sorry, the American Association of Retired People, not the NAACP. I'm sorry about that, Mr. President."

“…Falling asleep at their desks? Snacking on the floor? Being forced to listen to the poetry of Roland Burris? Finally, Republicans could take it no more. Tuesday afternoon, they ended the protest and agreed to expedite the vote. It was time to settle down for a long winter's nap.”

Being a nurse, this throws me into a rage.

This debate is about healthcare. It is about my patients.

 It is about the millions of patients that currently have health insurance through their employer, or their spouses’ employer, that stand to lose that coverage if this bill is enacted. Patients with cancer that are scared that they may not be able to get the advanced treatments they are currently receiving – advanced treatments that are keeping them alive – under this healthcare bill. It is about patients that depend on community specialty clinics like the one that I work at that may have to migrate to major medical centers to wait in line for care that cannot wait.

It is about doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers all over the country that are concerned about the future of their jobs. It is about the future of hospitals and doctors’ offices that could easily buckle under the reimbursement cuts this healthcare bill will inflict, if it is passed “as is”.

It is about millions of middle-class Americans will be mandated under this bill to buy health insurance – that cannot afford health insurance at current rates and still be able to pay their rent and grocery bills at the same time. These are hard-working Americans that would face jail time if they didn’t buy health insurance…but according to this bill, they make too darn much money for a government subsidy. Make no mistake about it: if Americans are not able to purchase health insurance across state lines, the cost of health insurance premiums will continue to skyrocket, whether this bill passes or not. If there is no reform of the medical malpractice crisis, the cost for hospitals and doctors offices to stay in business and the costs for drug research and development will not budge…they will continue to rise. But now, we have a bill that says we pay it or go to prison.

This debate is about the life or death of healthcare in this country.

Forgive me for being a bit crude here, but I can’t think of a more fitting way to word this:

This debate should NOT be about “machismo”. It is not about who can stay awake the longest. It is not about who can hold out the longest in a political game of chicken.

It is an embarrassing and disgusting truth that the healthcare debate has turned into partisan pissing contest in the United States Congress.

 Democrats are slamming the door on Republicans wanting to offer up alternative plans that include tort reform and allow purchase of health insurance across state lines. Republicans are resorting to stalling tactics and firing back at the partisan mudslinging being shot at them – mudslinging that does not even deserve the dignity of a response.

Not during a debate about human lives.

To the United States Senate: let me put this in perspective for you. If I was at work right now and responsible for administering your chemotherapy – if I was your nurse, and my speech was as jumbled, slurred and incoherent as this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1byjtWkE2PY

(I apologize that the 'embed' feature wasn't working on this, but this should be a direct link)

If I was about to give you an injection, if I was teaching you about your medications, if I was responsible for your care, and couldn’t tell the difference between the AARP and the NAACP, do you think I would be fit to provide nursing care to you?

Then could someone please explain to me how these people can be qualified to preside over healthcare reform in this country?