You're correct that I think the various versions of the so-called public option are not good, and I'm sure I have many comments that explain why I think that.

I hope you're right that the reform effort is dead, not because I don't think we need reform, but because I don't think the current effort will accomplish what I think reform needs to accomplish, and in fact, will set us back with little chance of ever fixing the fix.

What Obama and the Congress should be hearing, very loud and very clear, is that we, as individuals, and as a nation, cannot allow the insurance companies to continue to be the gatekeepers between us and the care we need; it is unconscionable that I have to pay almost $8,500 in premiums annually before I have even seen a medical provider - that's a toll that serves not as a facilitator to care, but as a barrier to it.  And with companies raking in ever larger profits, there simply is no justification on the basis of risk - it just doesn't wash.

It saddens and frustrates me that we are so desperate for relief that we think we have to fight for the meager crumbs the Congress reluctantly throws our way, while we see the ease with which they throw potentially billions into the pockets of an industry, and its executives and stockholders, that got us to this place.