I am Kyle's self-indulgence

I've been wanting to write about the health care debate, but I'm afraid I don't have anything productive to say that isn't already being said.

Of course I think the private health industry is broken. Health care is far too expensive for many Americans to afford on their own.

Of course I'm disgusted with the Republicans, the conservative commentators, and the easily manipulated protesters who want to perpetuate this system.

Of course I'm frustrated that a moderate plan that is favored by a majority of Americans has been twisted by the sensationalist media into something that the public doesn't like.

Of course I'm angry at conservative Democrats for protecting the interests of the health insurers who paid for their election campaigns.

Of course I'm disappointed in a president who, in the name of bipartisan consensus-building, has allowed "his" health care reform to be hijacked by other parties.

And of course I'm maddened that most people's reasons for opposing health care reform are based on misconceptions, distortions, and deliberate lies.

Anybody who's been listening to responsible sources should already know all of these things, so what can I accomplish by adding my own frustrations to the discussion?

What bothers me most is my own powerlessness to do anything.

Objective poll data tell us that in an honest debate Obama's plan for a public health insurance option would win. But in our current political climate honesty and rationality just can't compete with the powers of fear and deception.

For the first time in years, I find myself without hope that things in America will change in any meaningful way. Even during the worst moments of the Bush years I still knew it wouldn't last forever, and that eventually we would get a Democratic president and a Democratic congress who would enact policies that protect the interests of people over corporations. Finally that time is now. We have president Obama, the great liberal hope of America, and super-majorities in both the House and the Senate. Still, we can't get meaningful health care reform passed because the problems go deeper than political parties. The health insurance industry has its influence in Democrats and Republicans alike. To root it out would require more than just a new administration and a new congress. It would require a change in the way politics are conducted, the way elections are funded, and the way news is reported. It would require a whole different society.

Good luck with that.

They say that people get the government they deserve. It seems like that's true of health care as well. If the American people can let themselves be so easily manipulated by the fear-mongering of health insurance companies and conservative pundits, then maybe they don't deserve an affordable and equitable health care system.

I'm sorry if I sound bitter and negative right now.

I just don't feel like there are any good options available to me. I'm sick of paying exorbitant health insurance premiums for a family health insurance plan we don't even use. To keep our premiums from being even higher, we've signed up for a $2500 deductible, which we never even meet. So we're paying all health expenses out of pocket, plus 20% of our combined net income to our health insurer. The only reason we even keep an insurance policy is because we're afraid of what would happen if one of us had an accident and had to be hospitalized. It would bankrupt us. So we're stuck paying out the nose for a bad health care plan because the alternative is even more frightening.

Private industry is supposed to be about providing people with a choice. It's ironic, then, that Obama's idea of giving people a viable alternative to private health insurance has been defeated for its alleged socialism. Thanks to the influence of an angry minority, I and millions of Americans will be left with no choice but to continue giving our money to private health insurance.

God bless the free market.