JP Megivern Sr. 1946-2008

Goodbye Dad



See the link for how his death is partly a commentary on health care.

You Can't Be a "Culture of Life" and Anti Healthcare

The following excerpt is taken from the recent newsletter of Congressman Kline (R-MN):



"There has been much discussion and debate about the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in recent months. As a father of two and a grandfather of four, I appreciate the responsibility we as Minnesotans have to care for and ensure health care for our children. That is why I have been a strong supporter of SCHIP since I was first elected to Congress in 2002. I am pleased to continue to support health care coverage for children and the extension of the SCHIP program until we can reach a comprehensive, bipartisan agreement. While I support the extension, I am disappointed a compromise could not be reached because of majority leadership’s insistence on using gimmicks to fund children’s insurance. The 15-month extension of SCHIP that passed this week in the House provides a temporary solution. I will continue to advocate for children’s health care. "

This Orwellian newsletter obfuscates what really happened. Conservatives said that the right to be healthy is only for people with money. They cried socialized medicine which is what they themselves receive from the federal government. Take away their health care...all of it.

As I watched a 12-year old, Graeme Frost, and his family, beneficiaries of the S-CHIP child healthcare program, eviscerated by the right wing, I remembered why I am so focused on waking Americans up to the realities of life in poverty. Going without food, shelter, or appropriate clothing is very difficult, but what ultimately made it so much worse was the mean-spirited mixed messages of the conservatives.

"We are the culture of life," they constantly claim. "We protect life." They are lying. I personally have experienced 20 years of snarky daggered comments, feigned death threats, underfunded social programs, and cruel assumptions as one of the most horrible forms of life on Earth by conservative standards--the poor child on welfare. Anyone being honest with themselves knows that the right wing is always ready to pounce on the vulnerable. This is not a culture of life, but as long as they scream long enough and loud enough, they claim this mantle. They are lying when they say they "care about poor children first," as Bush and his lackey, Dana Perino, tried to claim.

First of all, poor children receive Medicaid, a separate program than S-CHIP. !! S-CHIP is for the WORKING POOR and middle class who can't afford health care. Second of all, this administration does not care at all about poor children. Their policies are harmful to families and children. Their whole attitude toward the poor is punative and condescending, and now they are trying to hide behind POOR children with this lie.

My own conservative extended family has suggested that children in our family should not have been born and that the government should have left us to languish without welfare or other social programs. Thanks, Mr. Social Q. Darwin, world's greatest uncle. However, this same man is a "devout" Christian and "pro-life." When you say that to a person, they feel erased. They think about being dead a lot, and for some reason, this leads to bouts of depression. The "I am not my brother's keeper" crowd has caused a lot of spiritual death. I know many people who are prematurely dead because they experienced medical neglect and a dire quality of life.

Public health officials, health care providers, and mental health practitioners alike know that people die every day in the United States due to failure to respond to social problems (privately or publicly). For example, my brother, David, who committed suicide in 1996, was without healthcare to treat his depression. My mom's best friend, Ruth, a 40-something woman with schizophrenia, who committed suicide following years of poor quality mental health care.

There are children who just had their death warrant signed by conservatives who failed to support healthcare for children. It is likely to be a creeping death by under-treatment, so it will be less easy to measure. That is convenient for anti-healthcare proponents.