“You Lie!” and more lies

News media reported that leading up to last Wednesday, President Obama spent time in Martha’s Vineyard scrupulously revising and editing what some predicted would be one of the most critical healthcare speeches of his career.
Interestingly, the phrase that viewers remember best the speech was neither carefully planned and written nor spoken by Obama: YOU LIE.
By now, images of South Carolina representative Joe Wilson bellowing his militant interjection that will live in Congressional infamy have stopped being shown on the news with the same frequency that they were in the days following the speech.  Which was give or take about every five minutes, on every network.  
The media’s response to Wednesday’s speech has proved both harmful and beneficial to understanding of the healthcare proposal.  Wilson’s politically charged shriek provided the media with an entertaining and controversial story, yet at this point in politics, when some consider the media the crucial “fourth branch” of U.S. government, it is questionable for it to focus on a relatively trivial part of the night.
Inarguably the entertainment value of a supposedly distinguished 62-year-old representative yelling “YOU LIE” at the top of his lungs far exceeds the entertainment value of Obama delivering a speech on healthcare reform.  Yet healthcare reform demands undivided if the Obama administration is going to make any type of meaningful changes to the current system.
Wilson’s  vociferous outburst, however, did successfully bring debatable issues of illegal immigration to the fore, an outcome that has been somewhat beneficial to understanding of the proposal.  Obama’s healthcare plan does not extend its benefits to aliens; it says so explicitly in the bill.  That point has been made crystal clear in the last week.
However, preceding Obama’s plan, Reagan’s 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires hospitals to treat any patient that enters an emergency room.  Though some may argue that this is using U.S. taxpayer money to fund the treatment of non-citizens, imagine the moral implications of refusing someone medical help when they are in desperate need.  People migrate to this country because they are seeking something better.  Withholding immediate treatment to an ailing person because of a legal provision is inarguably sub-human.  It is easy to argue that Americans do not want their money spent on people who are here illegally.  It’s less easy to argue along the lines of citizenship when you see someone with blood pouring out of their head being told that there’s nothing that can be done for them.
How to balance the implications of Reagan’s act with Obama’s is a task for the respective branches to cooperatively resolve.  In the meantime, perhaps those with conjectures that they would like to vocalize publicly should submit them in writing.  Or raise their hand and wait until the teacher calls on them.