Insist President & Congress Get Real About Health Care Reform

Every American should watch and internalize the insights from these videos and then send them to Mr. Obama and Congress and insist they do the same when making healthcare, war and other policy with a message to get real and start coming up with real solutions for real American families:

A key problem with health care policy made in Washington, D.C. is that most of our leaders make health care policy decisions as if they are playing an Xbox game. In most cases, the leaders deciding our health care policy are privileged people who don’t currently live in or experience life in the real world that most Americans live in, and either have never really done so or have forgotten what life in the real world is like.

While disability, illness or death eventually come to all families, Mr. Obama and other Presidents, Congress members, and to a lesser extent, their staffs use billions of dollars of Americans’ tax dollars to get special benefits, perks and privileges that help insulate them and their families from these challenges even as they adopt and enforce an epidemic of rules that these leaders won’t apply to themselves and their families, administered by thousands of newly hired bureaucrats who also enjoy many of those same special benefits, perks and privileges denied to taxpaying Americans. See e.g., on Presidential Perks, here; on Congressional Perks, see here and on Affordable Care Act special treatment, see White House Approves Deal: Congress And Staff Exempt From Obamacare and Members, Staff Will Keep Health-Care Subsidies Under Obamacare.

The President and many members of Congress and their advisors make inappropriate health policy choices because most don’t have a real experience in dealing with these issues that matches the reality of most Americans. don’t pay real bills or face the limits of a real budget. The President and members of Congress don’t stand in line at the local clinic, wait hours, much less days, to get a doctor’s appointment, have to leave work to take a parent or child to the doctor or go out-of-pocket to pay for care. They don’t have to struggle to patch their shoes, turn down their heat or replace hamburger with Mac’N Cheese to pay the health premiums that Obama Care will mandate while concerned about reduced hours or unemployment. Their knowledge is based instead on political ideology buttressed by filtered and carefully selected anecdotal stories, selected because their re-enforce the already existing world view of the political decision-maker.

We need to insist that the President and Congress make and administer health care policy based on a real world understanding and stop treating health care reform like an Xbox simulation where the budget reloads and the suffering and death are washed away by starting a new game.
Americans should not allow or trust any President or member of Congress to make important decisions about health care, jobs or war when the leader passes laws or supports the adoption of laws and rules that :

Force Americans to pay billions and new taxes to submit to a government dictated health care system that wastes trillions for bureaucrats to dictate the care, coverage and premiums that American families will get while the President and Congress have decided that system is not good enough for the President, Congress, their staff and their families;
Waste thousands of taxpayer dollars of special perks like allowing the President to spend more than $100K to fly his puppy to meet the First Family on vacation, throw lavish birthday parties, and take a series of expensive vacations;
Break promises made to the millions of Medicare-eligible Americans and veterans and their families who constantly find their benefits cut, new costs imposed and wait times lengthened; and
Force Americans to “cut back” to pay for a deluge of other expensive new government regulators to create and enforce new and expanded government regulations that only further tax American taxpayer’s pocketbooks, job opportunities, competitiveness and choices.

While Mr. Obama talks a lot about his experiences as an “organizer,” it is clear that he and others either never actually learned, long ago forgot, or don’t care about the real struggles of Americans struggling to care for aging or disabled family members, rising taxes and mandates amid job losses and reduced buying power, military service members and veterans whose families are left struggling with broken promises and the host of other real world issues that impact most average American families.

Americans need to use their e-mail, telephones, social networks and other communication channels, votes, contributions, and their time to remind regularly and hold the President and Congress accountable for understanding and regulating with an awareness and concern for the real world challenges and needs of Americans. Insist our leaders see and experience life from the shoes of real people by sharing the experiences of your and your friends families. Insist they not only see the world through our eyes by watching these videos, but also by wearing the same shoes and walking the same paths without the special benefits, perks, and privileges that insulate them and their families from really experiencing life the way those who are taxed experience it. Speak up and be persistent until they get the message or are replaced.

Start by joining the discussion and sharing your thoughts about health care reform by joining Project COPE: Coalition for Patient Empowerment here.

About Project COPE: The Coalition On Patient Empowerment & Its Coalition on Responsible Health Policy

Sharing and promoting the use of practical practices, tools, information and ideas that patients and their families, health care providers, employers, health plans, communities and policymakers can share and offer to help patients, their families and others in their care communities to understand and work together to better help the patients, their family and their professional and private care community plan for and manage these needs is the purpose of Project COPE, The Coalition on Patient Empowerment & It’s Affiliate, the Coalition on Responsible Health Policy.

The best opportunity to improve access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans is for every American, and every employer, insurer, and community organization to seize the opportunity to be good Samaritans. The government, health care providers, insurers and community organizations can help by providing education and resources to make understanding and dealing with the realities of illness, disability or aging easier for a patient and their family, the affected employers and others. At the end of the day, however, caring for people requires the human touch. Americans can best improve health care by not waiting for someone else to step up: Step up and help bridge the gap when you or your organization can. Speak up to help communicate and facilitate when you can. Building health care neighborhoods filled with good neighbors throughout the community is the key.

The outcome of this latest health care reform push is only a small part of a continuing process. Whether or not the Affordable Care Act makes financing care better or worse, the same challenges exist. The real meaning of the enacted reforms will be determined largely by the shaping and implementation of regulations and enforcement actions which generally are conducted outside the public eye. Americans individually and collectively clearly should monitor and continue to provide input through this critical time to help shape constructive rather than obstructive policy. Regardless of how the policy ultimately evolves, however, Americans, American businesses, and American communities still will need to roll up their sleeves and work to deal with the realities of dealing with ill, aging and disabled people and their families. While the reimbursement and coverage map will change and new government mandates will confine providers, payers and patients, the practical needs and challenges of patients and families will be the same and confusion about the new configuration will create new challenges as patients, providers and payers work through the changes.

We also encourage you and others to help develop real meaningful improvements by joining Project COPE: Coalition for Patient Empowerment here by sharing ideas, tools and other solutions and other resources. The Coalition For Responsible Health Care Policy provides a resource that concerned Americans can use to share, monitor and discuss the Health Care Reform law and other health care, insurance and related laws, regulations, policies and practices and options for promoting access to quality, affordable healthcare through the design, administration and enforcement of these regulations.

Other Helpful Resources & Other Information

We hope that this information is useful to you. If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in one or more of the following other recent articles published on the Coalition for Responsible Health Care Reform electronic publication available here, our electronic Solutions Law Press Health Care Update publication available here, or our HR & Benefits Update electronic publication available here . You also can get access to information about how you can arrange for training on “Building Your Family’s Health Care Toolkit,” using the “PlayForLife” resources to organize low-cost wellness programs in your workplace, school, church or other communities, and other process improvement, compliance and other training and other resources for health care providers, employers, health plans, community leaders and others here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here. You can reach other recent updates and other informative publications and resources.

Recent examples of these publications include:

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Insist President & Congress Get Real About Health Care Reform

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