Redefining "health care"

When I cease to be amazed, I will be dead.

Today I am sure of this. "Abortion foes capitalize on health care law" is the title of an article being carried this morning by the Associated Press. It does not surprise me that abortion opponents are using federal law to beef up their state provisions prohibiting abortions. This is something I could see coming from the outset of the debate as "pro-life" and "pro-choice" congressional leaders sparred during the health plan debates. What I did not see is the fact that private insurance companies will now regard "elective" abortion as beyond the scope of health care. In other words, "You want it. You pay for it." Which means the rich people will and the poor people, even those with jobs and health care coverage, will not likely be able to obtain safe, affordable abortions. There will be even more unwanted children. There will be even more young women in the emergency room with infections, bleeding, and uterine perforations. Some of them will even die.

I am not "pro-abortion" and I don't support abortion as a means of birth control. Yet, I cannot see how we as a nation can continue down the path we are on. A truth that was lost in the health care reform debates is this: The insurance companies are huge businesses with one goal in mind, making as much money as possible. If you don't believe that, look at the salaries, benefits, and bonuses their CEOs receive. Current health care legislation did almost nothing to restrict these companies abilities to make unconscionable profits. If fact, when I read articles such as the one today, I wonder if we didn't give these companies ways to increase their wealth at the expense of the very people we were trying to help.