We’ve had a lot of bad days during these 9 months or so of D.C. healthcare reform charades. Today could be the worst one yet. Policy wonks are celebrating like pigs in slop tracing the byzantine twists and turns of Monday’s last-ditch effort to pass reform and hypothesizing about all possible solutions and outcomes. Meanwhile those of us who are really affected by this gargantuan US healthcare mess are holding our heads in our hands. Let’s take a look at how we got here.

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It’s amazing when someone with so much power and so much money really cares about the rest of the population.

Ted Kennedy’s cause was to ensure every American had the basics of what he had: excellent healthcare.

In ‘The Cause of My Life’, Kennedy reveals why it mattered to him and what he had in mind. Here is an excerpt:

“In 1964, I was flying with several companions to the Massachusetts Democratic Convention when our small plane crashed and burned short of the runway. My friend and colleague in the Senate, Birch Bayh, risked his life to pull me from the wreckage. Our pilot, Edwin Zimny, and my administrative assistant, Ed Moss, didn’t survive. With crushed vertebrae, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, I spent months in New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. To prevent paralysis, I was strapped into a special bed that immobilizes a patient between two canvas slings. Nurses would regularly turn me over so my lungs didn’t fill with fluid. I knew the care was expensive, but I didn’t have to worry about that. I needed the care and I got it.

…But quality care shouldn’t depend on your financial resources, or the type of job you have, or the medical condition you face. Every American should be able to get the same treatment that U.S. senators are entitled to.”

Read Kennedy’s last Newsweek article, published just one month before he died, here.

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Don’t understand how US healthcare currently works? A picture speaks a thousand words, so here it is:

Ted Kennedy saw those red flags early in life. Check out this 4 minute video of a very powerful speech describing his experience. (Sorry, no video embedding capabilities but you can click here!)

Flag Photo Copyright Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com                   condron.us         blogsurfer.us