Consider motives of health care reform’s foes

Cynthia Shiroky, Las Vegas

Monday, Aug. 17, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.

For those 65 years and older: If you agree with those who say “no” to President Barack Obama’s health insurance reform, believing that a public-option plan is socialized medicine, would you “just say no” to your monthly Social Security check? Would you say no to your Medicare coverage, by refusing its benefits? Perhaps you would also say no to the drugs you need that are the result of publicly funded medical research. These are all government-run programs; they work and people have come to rely on them. Other government-run programs that work well and that we all take for granted are the military, NASA, OSHA, public schools, national parks, etc.

Who are these people who would deliberately distort the truth about the health insurance reform that President Obama wants to implement — those who shout “no, no, no” and talk about death panels and other nonsense? What is their agenda? They fan the flames of mistrust and fear that some people have of the government. Why? Do they really have America’s best interest at heart or do they have something else to gain from their loud, insistent lies?

America has quality health care. The appropriate role of government is to make it accessible and affordable to all Americans, because the for-profit health insurance and pharmaceutical industries have failed to do this.