The following post is from Stephen Texeira.

Quick, how much is a life worth? Are we talking big numbers? Small numbers? Incalculably large numbers? Is it ridiculous to even attempt to put a price tag on a life? Yes? I agree. But really, isn’t that exactly what we’re doing in this national debate on health care reform? Aren’t we trying to decide whether the cost of insuring all Americans is worth it? I doubt there is any serious participant in this debate who thinks that health insurance is bad, it’s really about who, how much and how? Right? Government versus private is really just another way of saying how much? So how much?

People are throwing around numbers close to a trillion dollars without having any idea what that means. I think that’s kind of dangerous. The average person in this debate hears a trillion dollars and thinks, “That’s too much. We can’t afford that. I don’t want my tax dollars going for that.”

So I have a solution. Let’s not talk dollars. Let’s not pretend to put a price on human life. Because, after all, we should be past that by now. Instead lets looks at a number that most of us can understand. 45,000. A big number, but one that we can probably grasp. But what is 45,000? According to a study that is about to be published in the American Journal of Public Health, 45,000 is the number of deaths per year that are associated with not having health insurance. Most towns in this country have fewer than 45,000 residents. We’re talking about eliminating (or letting die) a fairly decent-sized town every year because we don’t want to pay for health insurance.

So if you’re on that side — and that side includes everybody who hems and haws about how and whether to implement change — my question for you is this: how about your town? Or the town you grew up in? Or the town your parents retired to? Or what about the town where your son or daughter attends college? Can we get rid of one of those this year or next? Would you be okay with that? I’m guessing you wouldn’t. Perhaps you should rethink your “reasoned concern about this most recent health reform proposal.”