Call Congress for a Band Aid

March 22. Monday. I could not believe my eyes. First of all I opened them, which meant I was breathing and the world had not come to an end.

There were some clouds, but the air was relatively clean, the train ran on time, and when I walked into the office nobody greeted me with "Good morning, comrade."

We're all here. No apocalypse.

Could have fooled me. I thought the world was sure to end with the health care bill. We were on our way to bread lines, gun toting IRS enforcers and military parades led by men in fuzzy hats.

Don't get me wrong. I don't like the bill, at least what I believe to be in it. Do any of us really know what's in this thing? As for the politics, both sides are full of it, as usual. Good idea, bad bill.

Citizens of this country should have access to quality health care. Radical concept? Hardly. But is an insurance system subsidized by employers really the best method?

Many would argue that we give citizens full access, and I would agree to a point. We spend zillions on care for seniors, for the poor, in subsidies for all types of patients and facilities.

And we continue to spend. Like a drunken sailor, which of course is an insult to sailors who are spending their own money.

We spend away, while our resources are drained by abuses. The other night I watched a segment about 911 paramedics in Washington DC (go figure) who spend most of their time responding to head colds and stubbed toes.

I have also lived first hand, as a special needs parent, the nightmare of insurance companies kicking consumers in the gut. Experience taught me an important lesson; all insurance is good until you get sick.

And we all feel the strain of increasing health care costs. As our population ages, the problems will further tax our system. For proof, spend time with a group of seniors engaging in an "organ recital."

So the system is busted like a three legged chair. We need a fix, yet the health care bill seems like too much, too fast.

And while I hardly expected complete bipartisanship, I thought we might see an olive branch instead of a two-by-four.

Hopefully the new plan covers splinters.