Reduced Services For All

I just spent an hour composing a letter to Senators Kohl and Feingold regarding their health care vote. Here's what I wrote:

I understand I am probably wasting my time writing this, but I must implore you to not vote for this partisan health care overhaul. There are ways to help the uninsured without dumping one more burden on the backs of the rest of your constituents.

Analysts consistently agree that this legislation will cost much more money than it saves.
But, that’s just the financial damage.

Your constituents understand that the current changes in ‘recommendations’ for mammograms and pap smears will become ‘regulations’ in short time once the government is in charge. I understand that my mother would not have discovered her breast cancer during a routine mammogram when she was 76 if the ‘recommended’ cut off age of 74 for routine mammograms had been in place.

I understand, as do your other constituents, that mammograms and pap smears are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to a reduction in health care services. No one is going to be mocking the existence of ‘death panels’ when reduced services for all, and rationing, become a reality. Everyone will know someone who suffered and/or died because of the effects of this health bill.

Don’t stop the bleeding of some by making everyone else hemorrhage

Regardless of any other work you have done in your career, if you vote for this bill, your legacy will be of reducing the quality of health care for everyone in America.

Do YOU understand that?