Lapis
Next week, critical battles will take place in Congress. An effort will be made to open the Medicare program to competition with private industry. Without a doubt, Medicare must be transformed in order for the program to survive when the Baby Boomers reach retirement age. One thing that Americans ought to have learned by now, but havn't: There is no depth to which a corporation will not slither, no falsehood it will not utter, no life it will not ruin in the inalterable goal to attain absolute dominance in any specific field of endeavor. This axiom was not always the case, but even the casual observer of national news must have an inkling that corporate America couldn't care less about our laws or mores. Various states, have, in the past attempted to privatize their Medicaid programs. The insurance companies immediately began culling applicants - it's called "cherry picking" in the industry. When state legislators passed laws to counter the selective coverage, the companies stopped insuring in those states. Never in history has corporate America not caused harm when it became deregulated. Never. Telephony, broadcast, energy, HMOs, petroleum and the airline debacles are but the most notorious of multitudes of industries that have poisoned, polluted, conned, cheated, killed and injured American citizens. And, they have stolen our Democracy.