I hit a deer the other day.  Bambi is not supposed to gallop out of nowhere on a busy street and land on the hood of your car.  Bambi got up and ran away but my car needed major repair.  Which leads me to the Ford Focus, the only rental car available from the vendor used by my insurance company.  One only has to drive two minutes in this car to realize why Detroit went under.  What a piece of tin, I kept saying. From the design to the operation to the flimsy sunshade, the car is a disaster.  

We blinded ourselves for years to the fact that American cars were terrible by blaming industry troubles on unions, high wages, environmental controls and lots of other diversionary issues.  Many of us wanted to buy American but American design was no good.

Which brings me to health care.  The design of the system—employer based coverage—is not good.  It is not working because it is a model of a bygone era.  We have to admit it—and move on to something better.  All the hoopla at recent town meetings is diversionary from the real issue of health reform.  It’s not a question of who pays for abortions; it’s not a question of death bed counseling or pulling the plug on granny.  Wake up America.  Think about cars.  It’s a design issue.  

Many in Congress—like the CEOs of the automotive industry–continue to promote a bad product–a health system that cannot fulfill current or future needs.  What’s the answer? Stop the shouting.  Americans are confused.  They want to buy that American car but know that something is wrong with it.

 The answer is to go back to the drawing boards.  Mr. President– Take back control and call on Congress to create a special new committee for health care.  Why are we using the old committee system for something that crosses the boundaries of so many committees?  Start with a new structure and put out one plan from one committee—a plan that is understandable and creates a new delivery system.  It has to be a new design for health care for the future.