"The Health Care Reform Debate Heats Up," by Robert Ferm
TortSource Vol.12, No.1, Fall 2009

The debate over health care reform overshadowed every other political issue throughout the spring and summer of 2009. It is fair to state that by mid-summer the political rhetoric for and against health care reform took on an ugly tone representative of politics at its worst. We were bombarded by media reports of fiery confrontations between supporters, opponetns, and elected officials who were riding the fence. Interest groups on all sides had spent more than $57 million on television advertising as of August 16, 2009, according to the New York Times. The political rhetoric over who pays for health care is crowding the more meaningful discussion of why the system costs so much and covers so few. Civil and informative debate has given way to identifying public enemy number one. Depending on your point of view, it is easy to demonize the health care insurance industry or those "tax-and-spend liberals" supporting an uncontrolled federal government. Proponents of change argue that scare mongering by opponents of change is nothing but a tactical strategy to bring down the Obama administration.