2009-09-01
Soon Congress will return to session and
continue the all-important work of health care
reform. The law that is or is not passed will
affect every one of us. I know you're sick of
this stuff. So am I. But be patient — change is
in the air.
I got a big, energizing whiff of it over the
weekend, watching the funeral that was also the
celebration of the life of Sen. Edward M.
Kennedy. Kennedy took up many underdog causes in
the Senate, but the one that he fought the
hardest and longest for was health care reform.
Make it better, he would say year after year
for all of his 47 years in Washington. Include
everyone, young and old, from birth to death.
Infuse it with social justice, with compassion,
with higher quality care for all. Pay attention
to physical health and mental health. Make it
affordable and community-based, and emphasize
personal responsibility and prevention.
Kennedy fought for a public option to become
the law of the land. That's the part he didn't
live to see, but in certain indescribable and
profound ways, his death may give new life to
his dream.
So let's call it Tedicare — Medicare for the
Rest of Us, the public option refined and
redefined at a precise moment in history when
emotions are raw, and the pain is real, and the
Kennedy name has the power to heal a nation
longing for reconciliation and change.
"The work of compassion must continue," Ted's
young granddaughter Kiley said at his funeral,
"so every American will have decent quality
health care as a right, not a privilege."
Tedicare. No offense meant, but let's face
it, America loves a cute name. Think of Yahoo,
Twitter, Cash for Clunkers. Would Google by
Google if they called it The World Wide Search
Engine?
It's all about the framing and, in this case,
the renaming. Calling it The Public Option just
isn't working. It's too vague, too obscure, too
close to Public Enemy or something equally cold
and user-unfriendly.
Calling it Tedicare puts the heart back into
it, and according to all the eulogies spoken at
his death, it is the heart of this man that
mattered most of all.
"He had a moral obligation to help others in
need," son Ted Kennedy Jr. told us, painting the
picture of a man who was loved and loving, funny
and self-deprecating, a man who understood the
power of hard work and redemption.
It's going to take a lot of hard work in the
coming weeks to redeem and pass a public option
that is worthy of the legacy of Ted Kennedy. But
it can happen. Tedicare, even if it's just the
nickname of a bold, wellness-based health care
reform bill, can provide higher quality medical
care at a lower cost than most people are
getting now — that's not hard — AND it can
provide incentives, rewards and proper lifestyle
counseling for those Americans who want to enjoy
healthier, happier lives.
Compassionate end-of-life care is a bonus
feature of Tedicare, nothing to hide from or
fear. Ted Kennedy was the only one of the four
Kennedy brothers who died peacefully as opposed
to violently, surrounded by his loved ones, calm
and confident to the end. His final days were
not sad or terrifying, his son Ted tells us.
That's the kind of death we all hope for and
would choose, and it's the kind of end-of-life
care that is part of health care reform.
Or is it?
It's time to spell it out, paint the picture,
give Americans something positive and
progressive to say yes to.
Will Tedicare be competition for our current
system of private insurers? Yes, indeed. In
America, we teach our young people that
competition is a good thing. Competition is what
drives humans to evolve and change and create a
new and better world.
Ted Kennedy worked hard to evolve and grow
and change for the better. If his death now
helps to make his most cherished cause a
reality, I think he'd feel proud and pleased,
and laugh the hardest at the irony of it all.
ENERGY EXPRESS-O! PAIN WE CAN BELIEVE IN
"The work goes on, the cause endures, the
hope still lives and the dream shall never die."
— Ted Kennedy Jr., repeating his father's 1980
Democratic National Convention Speech.
Marilynn Preston — fitness expert, personal
trainer and speaker on healthy lifestyle issues
— is the creator of Energy Express, the
longest-running syndicated fitness column in the
country. She has a website,
http://marilynnpreston.com and welcomes reader
questions, which can be sent to
MyEnergyExpress@aol.com. To find out more about
Preston and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the
Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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