Fireworks over Lives

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/19/begala.health.care/index.html

 

The above link is to a commentary by Paul Begala. He is a CNN political contributor and an affiliated professor at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.  Begala expresses he is worried that healthcare is getting pushed onto the back burner. He shares the events of an outrageous court hearing between major health insurance companies and citizens who have been completely wronged.  It is clear that his audience is any of the public that unfortunately had most likely not heard of the case because, as he explains, the media is pushing the topic aside and focusing on topics of little importance. After reading his commentary and learning about the practice of rescission, I feel angry. I am angry that our health companies are as cruel as they are, and wonder why those kinds of people are even allowed to be in a field that handles the wellbeing of others. I am also angry with the media and what they seem to think the general populations sees as important. Having your insurance taken from you after being diagnosed with a serious illness is mortifying, and happening to too many people in our country. Yet know one knows how insurance companies are digging to find loopholes to deny the insured. Begala says the key to change is to ‘shine the media spotlight on the plight of people like Robin Beaton.’ On a side note this is funny to me, coming from the man who spent half the article not shinning the spotlight on the issue, but reminiscing about his days working with a former administration (he was a campaign consultant and counselor for Bill Clinton). However, with the good information he did write in his article, I agree that if the Obama administration wants to do something about healthcare, the spotlight needs to be shined on the problems that everyday Americans are experiencing. The media is supposed to be a tool that we use to communicate realities across the country. In many cases like this however, it seems the media is just as much out of touch with its purpose as the insurance companies are. If the government can encourage the media to shine light on more events that have ties to huge issues, I believe it will hit home for more average Americans, and encourage them to stand up for a change in the healthcare system.