Do you mean it, Andy?

by Mona Shaw

The other day New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was questioned about how much he was spending to address Covid-19.

He didn’t hide his irritation and said, “Don’t ask me to put a price on a human life, because I won’t!”

I’ve been bothered by his remark ever since.

Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not angry. I’m enraged. I am breathing a full-throated fire of fury over it.  I am so hot the sun is backing away lest it get burned.

When have we not put a price on human life? What’s the primary objection to enacting Medicare for All/Single Payer health plan in the U.S.?

How much will it cost?

Who gives a damn?

Why does that even matter?  Why is that even a question. We should do it regardless. 

It shouldn’t matter if you like your insurance and want to keep to.  Too damn bad. I don’t care if your union fought hard for your benefit. Tough.  People shouldn’t have to die for your consumer preferences.  Yes, your taxes should even pay for the healthcare of an unemployed life-long drunk. Deal with it. No one should get better medical care than anyone else based on their ability to pay for it.  No one.

I want to blow torch every lie repeated to justify the status quo until even the ashes are obliterated.

“It’s pie in the sky.”

“We don’t have the political will to do it.”

“I don’t want the government in charge of my health care.”

“Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

“We can only do the art of the possible.”

“We’re all trying to get to the same place. We just have different ways of getting there.”

“Obama passed the best bill he could.”

Are you kidding me?  Seriously. Are you kidding me with this bull?  Just stop it now.  These lame excuses are outlandish in their duplicity. These are lies, people. These are lies to get us to roll over and suck it up. We’re smart enough to see through every one of them.  To address just one of these canards, Obama had a trifecta his first two years in office. HR676 could have been passed if Democrats would have voted for it.  But Obama wanted bipartisan support. So, he dumped Single Payer before discussions even began. Then he progressively threw more and more innocent lives under the bus until he scored a political win.  And, it didn’t even work. He still got his “shellacking” in 2010.

There is no doubt in my mind—none whatsoever—that if, somehow, the Corona virus only affected poor and working-class people, we would be largely ignoring the pandemic. This is proven by the fact that this population and people of color are dying in far higher numbers than the affluent segment of the population, and the least is being done to protect those folks.  Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world can get a Covid-19 test just by asking for one. But, he can’t buy masks for his workers in his warehouses. And, he fired Chris Smalls, the worker who blew the whistle on his lethal negligence.

But, thank God, rich people can catch it and die from it.  Public Health became a thing when they realized it could affect them. “What if I catch it from the maid?”

And, a miracle happened!  Suddenly, there is plenty of money to address it.  We just passed one $2-trillion-dollar bill. Another one is coming soon. Expect more after that. There is no price to high to pay when it comes to saving the rich, either from disease of economic ruin.

While working people are wrapped around the block from entrances to food banks, affluent people are lamenting that it’s harder to find 1% organic goat milk. While workers are wearing hand-made masks, the affluent have a stockpile of N-95s in their pantries.  While celebrities are sitting in their homes in front of works of original art, workers are fighting to keep from being evicted.

Folks, we are not all in this together. The chasm between how this virus affects the haves and the have-nots is wider than that Grand Canyon between the Beltway and the truth.

There is no moment in a century than has better proven that we need Single Payer. Indeed, Trump grudgingly set up a Single Payer system for Covid-19 for the uninsured.  They even called for insurance companies to not charge co-pays. It’s amazing what can be done when public health puts the plutocrats at risk.  Of course, if you’re suffering or dying from something other than Covid-19, you’re still on your own. That doesn’t affect them. What do you suppose they’ll do with the bodies of those from families who can’t afford to claim them?

I had two profound phone calls yesterday. One with my doctor, and one with my state representative. I discussed Single Payer with both. 

My doctor said, “You are so right. Don’t get me started. I used to practice in Canada. Working people there don’t die from strokes when they’re 45.”

My state representative listened to my take why Obama didn’t pass Single Payer, he said, “I can’t say you’re wrong.”

And, yes, by the way, I do talk to everyone I meet about Single Payer. Why don’t you?

Working people are escalating casualties in this latest battle in a class war. We didn’t start this war, but let’s not be bullied into not fighting back.

I’m remember when Harvey Milk was assassinated for being gay. Thousands of us marched in the street holding candles to honor him. An African American man stood a corner hollering to every passer-by, “Where is your rage?” We heard him, and we got mad and change happened.

Where is your rage? Stop being quiet while they kill us. They won’t give you brownie points. They won’t even let you live. Our lives are as precious and as sacred and as worthy of life as any of theirs. How dare they let us die and act like that’s acceptable?  How dare they? It’s not a perfect world we seek, it’s one that let’s us live, simply live. There is no moral reason we should have to wait one more day. We’ve been patient long enough. We’ve been polite long enough. It’s not changing anything. If political candidates or their supporters don’t want to be called sociopaths, then they can stop being sociopaths and support Single Payer.  And on the road to justice. Single Payer is just a start.

They say the world will be different when the pandemic is over.  Let’s make that’s true.