It's that time of year again. How to celebrate the 'mom' in your life? A card? Candy? Flowers? All appreciated and certainly a boost to the small businesses in our communities. But sometimes the best gifts are less tangible.
What most moms share in common is our unrelenting drive to keep our families strong and lately we're having a harder time doing that. Sometimes the system feels rigged against us and the playing field not very level. And all we really want is to have someone on our side.
Take health care.
Two years ago the Affordable Care Act passed. We now have a health law that holds insurance companies accountable and ends their unfair practices like denying and dropping coverage when we need it the most. I say thank God. Finally big insurance has to answer to someone other than their stockholders and can't continue to always put corporate profits before people.
Whether denying coverage to kids with a pre-existing condition or denying them a doctor's recommended treatment, insurers have been allowed to strip us moms of choice and control -- of any real sense that the health care of our families was secure. No more! The law seems to me to be one of the few things that has happened in the past few years that makes me feel like there is actually someone on my side -- the side of moms. In fact, this law with its consumer protections, focus on prevention, and attention to making health coverage more equitable for individuals, small businesses, and women (finally your mom will not have to pay more than your dad for the same health coverage) provides tremendous peace of mind.
So I'm perplexed when I read polls showing most Americans still aren't sure about the law. They say they worry that the law represents a government takeover of our healthcare system that will result in costs going up, an increase in taxes, and a decrease in quality of care. I say they've been brainwashed by the dark side.
Big insurance's CEOs and stockholders hate the law because it messes with their rigged system and they're doing everything in their power to take our country backward and prevent the health law from going into effect. They're trying to get our elected representatives to work for them instead of us (you know 'we the people') -- and they're succeeding at winning the hearts and minds of politicians who have become hooked on the massive donations that big industry, including insurance companies, make to their campaigns. These very politicians campaigned for years on the sound bite telling us to 'just say no.' Well, now it's mom's turn to tell them to 'just say no' to the drug of power and greed and corruption.
It doesn't have to be this way. Two years ago when the Affordable Care Act passed, this country stood up to big insurance and middle class families won. That's what America stands for -- making sure families have what they need to be strong, that our middle class is and stays secure, and that we leave the world a better place for our kids knowing if they work hard and play fair they'll be able to follow their dreams.
So you want to celebrate your mom this Mother's Day? Stand up for her. Make sure politicians don't back down and take away from us better health care for our families. Give your mom a bit of peace of mind this year -- and I bet she'll be happy to forfeit her piece of chocolate.