"The fact is, words matter." Yes, Olympia Snowe. I couldn't agree more.In "Dancing Around Legislative Language," posted today on UPI.com, Representative Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, discussed the different labels you could use for the proposed tax on people who don't carry health insurance, which is part of the health care reform bill making its way through Congress. If you call it a "tax," it means one thing; if you call it a "penalty," it means something slightly different. Rep. Snowe would like to call it a "defined minimum contribution." According to the article, if the language is changed from "tax" or "penalty" to "defined minimum contribution," it might mean a Republican, like Snowe, can vote for it.
So, the right words in the bill could make the difference in the success of health care reform. Which means the words the legislators choose have a direct effect on my mom, who just yesterday received a staggering invoice for her husband's month-long stay in the hospital. If we achieve health care reform, my mother might not have to live the last years of her life in poverty.
I suppose if health care reform does not pass, I could choose to call her impending impoverishment her "suboptimal funding status." Or maybe her "nonsatisfactory security level." Or perhaps her "habitation in a riverside van condition."
So, the right words in the bill could make the difference in the success of health care reform. Which means the words the legislators choose have a direct effect on my mom, who just yesterday received a staggering invoice for her husband's month-long stay in the hospital. If we achieve health care reform, my mother might not have to live the last years of her life in poverty.
I suppose if health care reform does not pass, I could choose to call her impending impoverishment her "suboptimal funding status." Or maybe her "nonsatisfactory security level." Or perhaps her "habitation in a riverside van condition."
Photo from The Reid Report.
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