Health Care: Something We Can Do

Caption: A petition started by Thomas Edison requesting that the World's Fair be open on Sunday. Note the subtitle: Religious Toleration Is Christian Civilization. Some today might disagree.

Image credit: National Archives

Lately, it seems like all we can do about the health care debate is complain and talk about how much of a turd Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is. Today, though, a couple of e-mails arrived for a couple more online petitions.

The first one is pretty conventional. It's from CREDO Action, and it requests that some of the more progressive members in the Senate demand that there is a public option:

Don't let Joe Lieberman win! Americans need you to stand strong and block any 'compromise' without a strong public option. If necessary, demand that Sen. Harry Reid and President Obama support budget reconciliation and pass a bill with just 51 votes -- at which point, Joe Lieberman will be irrelevant and the public option can be made even stronger.

CREDO Action Petition For Public Health Insurance Option

The second petition, sponsored by The Peace Team, A.K.A. "The Pen", is the one I find more interesting. Its purpose is to declare to your Senators, Representative, and the President that you would sign up for Medicare if it were offered. While this does not apply to nearly as many people as a more general desire for a public option and effective health care reform, those who actually would sign up may find that this is something that their Senators and Representative pay attention to. To me, it represents an earnest individual appeal that says that you are ready to put your money where your mouth is.

Here's the petition in its entirety:

Last week there was a serious proposal in the Senate to extend to people 55-64 the opportunity to buy into Medicare. It gave the people of the United States a glimmer of hope that meaningful health care reform might actually happen. So why is the U.S. Congress in full panic reverse, trying to dash that hope, trying to kill the idea before the CBO even has a chance to score it?

Well I, for one, DECLARE that I too want to sign up for Medicare. And why should I not have that right as a citizen of the United States of ANY age, if I am willing to pay for it? Does not Medicare have the lowest overhead of any health care system in the country? If I were to pay a fair price, why couldn't Medicare take my money, and cover me when I need to see a doctor, just like everyone else who is covered right now?

I am not asking for anyone else to be forced to participate in Medicare. That is just another phony argument to try to scare people with words like "government takeover." But the fact is that our medical care is now in the hands of greedy corporations hostile to the public interest, and we the people need to take it BACK.

Petition: I Want To Sign Up For Medicare, Too

If you actually would sign up for Medicare, I urge you to sign this petition, as well as the CREDO one. If the people who really would sign up for Medicare made that known, that could be a powerful incentive for some congresspeople to make it available. They should know how many people their decisions are affecting, and this is a wonderfully specific way to illustrate that point.

On the other hand, if you wouldn't sign up for Medicare, at least sign the CREDO petition. It's probably not going to be as effective, but it's a way of speaking your mind.