Recession Diary: Blind men's elephant

(Editor's note: Unlike past recessions, the current downturn has taken a significant toll on sectors of the economy virtually unscathed by earlier economic crises. This is the latest in a series on one family's struggle.)

SKOKIE, Ill., Sept. 7 (UPI) -- We Americans are the proverbial blind men touching and describing different parts of the healthcare reform bill elephant.

The issue hits close to home for virtually all of us. Fred and I have insurance through his job, but if his employer doesn't renew his contract, it's an 18-month COBRA nail-biter until -- and if -- one of us gets a job with benefits. The nascent option I'm exploring, while exciting, wouldn't include insurance for at least a year.

A friend e-mailed an article entitled, "A doctor's plan for legal industry reform." Check it out. It's written in the satirical tone of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal," his 1729 solution to a burgeoning population (some things don't change). She and I, former lawyers, had a good laugh over this one. Nevertheless, the good doctor's anti-healthcare reform points were well-taken.

For the other side's argument, search online "Rice Thresher, Proposed health plan to expand coverage." This college opinion piece almost made me cry, but not so much because of the matter at issue here. Please indulge me this digression:

The opinion is by a friend's son. Read it for its excellent, cogent review of the healthcare situation, but also to see why it swells an English teacher's heart. It gives me faith some college students actually can write. He gets an A+ on content analysis and relevance, organization, and English conventions. There was one convention error (see me, Myles) to which I say he thereby has proven his humanity and so may go forward and be perfect for the rest of the day.

Following my heart, since I don't know yet exactly where my head is on the healthcare reform subject, I attended a candlelight vigil on a busy street corner. I think the sponsoring group, MoveOn, is right on, but I could be convinced otherwise. While most passersby honked or thumbs-upped, a sizable minority displayed a different digit -- dichotomous behaviors befitting a controversial issue.

I listened to those in pain: the now-militant woman who lost an under-insured sister to cancer; the owner of a small, suffering manufacturing firm in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood who yearns to give his employees benefits so they're not relegated to the county hospital.

I spoke with a man who eyeballed us as he arrived at a red light on his way home from work, backed up, pulled into the turn lane to park, and joined the group in his scrubs. He advocates a fierce public option fight to push his side's influence to the max in counterbalancing inevitable compromises in the bill.

I met Michele Sommers, an articulate, educated woman who, while keeping her two little boys away from the curb, detailed her ironic situation. Her husband is a self-employed architect. Sommers works part time at Trader Joe's for the company's renowned excellent benefits. She hands over her paycheck to the boys' daycare provider. She can't find sufficient employment in her profession -- she's a wellness consultant!

If our system were to be overhauled, maybe the old adage, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" would again be meaningful, and Sommers might again work in her profession.