31 October 2009

A Special Place in Hell

I can't help but think there's a special place in Hell for anyone who would allow a child to suffer needlessly.  And after watching the behavior of American politicians during the still-continuing furor surrounding health care reform, I'm sure it's full of Republicans. 

As they have everytime health care reform has been proposed, not a single Republican is showing the slightest sign of supporting it.  Despite all we've learned of the inadequacy of the American health care system, Republicans' loyalty to their extreme ideology remains intact.  They're standing-by the special interests and their rich supporters. 

That intransigence is killing children.

A recently released Johns Hopkins Children Center study of children and health insurance reports the deaths of 17,000 children in the last two decades because they lacked adequate health insurance.  According to "lead investigator Fizan Abdullah, M.D., Ph.D., a pediatric surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, '(i)f you are a child without insurance, if you're seriously ill and end up in the hospital, you are 60 percent more likely to die than the sick child in the next room who has insurance.'"

I don't know if that will change any Republican minds when they read the study but I don't think so.  They're minds are closed and their hearts are cold.  They need something to warm them.

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