John McCain's health care plan

I know we're all buzzed on Joe Biden -- his passionate speech; his self-deprecating humor, his ridiculously cute family, and his even more ridiculously cute mother. And we're all full of euphoria about the history that was made tonight, and about how tonight we saw the Good Clintons instead of the Narcissistic Clintons. I know we want to savor the moment and revel in it for a 24-hour party, culminating in Barack Obama's acceptance speech tomorrow night. After all, tonight we came a bit closer to that "promised land" that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King talked about over forty years ago.

But we have so much work to do. The ugly spectre of racism still exists, and we have to somehow find a way to get through to people that the consequences of electing John McCain are more dire for their future than any Fear of a Black Planet ever could be.

And here is just one example of why this work is critical. Because this is an example of the kinds of people who would be advising John McCain (emphasis mine):

Almost one of every four Texas residents – 24.8 percent – were uninsured in 2006 and 2007, based on an average of the rates for those two years. That's up from 23.9 percent for 2004 and 2005.

The national number also increased a bit for the two-year period to 15.5 percent. However, looking at 2007 by itself, the percentage of uninsured in the country fell from 15.8 percent in 2006 to 15.3 percent in 2007. (State percentages were given only for two-year periods.)

California still has the highest number – not percentage – of uninsured residents at 6.7 million, compared with 5.7 million Texans. The Texas number is up from 5.5 million in 2006.

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain's health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

"So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime," Mr. Goodman said. "The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

"So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, as Senator Biden would say, is John McCain's health care plan. You're not uninsured, you're just "differently categorized in terms of payment source."

We can do better.

We must do better.

The future of this country and the world hangs in the balance.