Most of us know the familiar story in the bible’s old testament where a man, Nathan, tells this story to King David:

“There were two men in a city, one rich and one poor. The rich man had many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing except one little lamb. He nourished the lamb and it grew up together with him and his children. It was like a daughter to him. One day a traveler came to town. The rich man wanted to prepare a feast for the traveler, but he didn’t want to take from his own own herd. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared a meal of it for the traveler.”

When King David heard this story he was very angry and said, “Surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no compassion.”

Of course, there is another side to this story. King David had fallen in love with another man’s wife. This man, Uriah, was a soldier in King David’s army. Uriah had fought long and was devoted to the king. King David took Uriah’s wife for himself and had Uriah killed to cover his shame. So, in decreeing the punishment for the rich man who took the poor man’s lamb, King David was actually giving his own sentence.

For those of us with the comfort of health insurance, how are we not like King David when we try to keep others from getting access to health care? Providing a public option is merely a way of providing affordable care for all. How can we be so concerned about our own health care while we choose to deny others of having an option? These “others” amount to nearly 46 million Americans who do not have health insurance. Of these, 45,000 die each year because of their lack of health insurance.

Bill Moyers describes it as “people with power and privilege who are insured against the vicissitudes of life, and want no government assistance for any suffering … Except their own.” He continues that “All those members of congress sitting there during the president’s speech last week? Joe Wilson, included. They; too have Cadillac federal coverage subsidized by tax dollars.”

If their government-funded health care is so bad why don’t they opt out of it and buy their own? And why do they fight so hard to keep people from having a simple choice to buy-in?