An Open Letter to Mike Rogers on Health Care Reform

Congressman Rogers,

Your position on health care reform is a great disservice to your constituents. Are you not concerned about the many Michiganders who have not, in your words "earned" health insurance? Michigan is among the states hardest hit by our recent economic turmoil, and over one million Michiganders are now uninsured. You bill yourself as a populist, but your lengthy time in the beltway and generous congressional insurance plan seems to have desensitized you to the plight of those you claim to represent. The uninsured are not in their predicament because they are "lazy" or have not "earned" insurance. Our country has a broken health system with a perverse incentive structure. We do not guarantee medical care for all our citizens, and we are the only developed nation on the planet not to do so.


If arguments about social justice do not move you, consider the outrageous expense we currently incur by using hospital emergency rooms for routine medical care. Preventative care could save dollars and lives, and yet you seem to be so blinded by your ideology that you are concerned with neither, seeing only an illusory specter of "big government."

My intent is not to offend you, Congressman, but my strong language IS intended to communicate to you that there are economic as well as ethical reasons that serious health care reform is a must. Even as you rail against current proposals, you offer little alternative but a bill that stiffens the penalties for health care fraud and corruption. Criminal penalties are not the solution to our health care crisis.

I know, as will anyone who runs a quick search for your campaign contributions, that your top three industry donors are, in order, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and health professionals, and that you've received over $100,000 from them. I understand that there are practical realities to politics, Congressman Rogers, but please, for the sake of all those depending on you to represent us, serve the citizens of Michigan before you serve your campaign contributors. Support the ongoing efforts to reform our broken health care system.

Sincerely,
J.C. Kibbey