The two comedians were discussing health care, when Rock recalled visiting the hospital with his dad back in the day, and then more recently with his mom. At 22, Rock said, he was broke and not in a position to financially help his sick father. Consequently, his dad went to a third-rate hospital for a ruptured ulcer and died days later.

Fast-forward almost two decades, and a much richer Rock stops by to see his mom only to wonder if he stumbled upon a hotel rather than a hospital. There was a “concierge in the lobby,” Rock quipped, before noting “if the average person knew the discrepancies in health care, there would be riots in the street.”

He ain’t lying. When you get a taste of what good health insurance can get you, you realize how much of an advantage the have-mores actually have.

For the last two years, I’ve been being treated at one of the best cancer centers in the country, and I’m still shocked at the level of care. Like Chris Rock said, it’s like getting an upgrade to first class.

Last week, for example, I had an appointment with my chemotherapist. We talked about the results from my latest blood test, which had spiked in recent weeks but then subsided. I told her it was likely caused by stress, and she suggested that I talk to a shrink.

“This can be a lot to deal with,” she said. Maybe she was right, I thought. So I agreed to talk to a therapist on the spot.

An hour later, I’m getting my juice in the chemo suite when the phone rings. And guess who’s on the other end? That’s right, the therapist’s office.

In the 60 or so minutes that it took for me to see my doctor and then wait for my meds to get mixed in the pharmacy, my doctor told her assistant to contact the therapist’s assistant, who contact me. And there I was on the phone, with calendar in hand, coordinating schedules.

The kind voice on the other end told me that my doctor was worried about me and that she wanted me to talk to someone who could help. Talk about thorough. I felt like I was in that scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and crew are getting pampered before going to see the Wizard. Remember all the dedicated attendants? Several were curling the Lion’s hair, while others were combing Toto’s fur. And still others were buffing the Tin Man’s armor? It was like an assembly line of excellent service.

That’s what the right coverage can offer: a close network of people providing first-rate care. It sure is a beautiful thing.

Unfortunately, though, so many middle- and working-class Americans will never know what that’s like. If they could just get a taste, it would change they way they view health care forever.

And this access, or lack of, is what’s so perplexing about the Tea Partiers. Many of them are among the 38 million uninsured and underinsured in this country, but they are the most anti-health-care-reform people around.

And all they have to do is look inward to see the health care contradiction at its most absurd. The lawmakers that the Tea Partiers support have the kind of insurance that gives them access to top-tier treatment centers like mine. The voters who got them elected, however, don’t fare so well.

For the life of me, I can’t comprehend their reasoning or their anger. They were rioting in the streets all right. Only they didn’t know they were mad about the wrong damn thing.

really happy you passed health care and all. but, there's work to be done.

I was hoping to tap into my creative juices to pen something poignant about health care reform.

You know, history in the making and all that good stuff. But the more I tried, the less successful I became. And then I realized that after a year and half of reading and writing about health care reform, I’m over it.

As much as I wanted to be excited about watching the Democrats pull off  the “unthinkable” last night, it really was a pretty forgettable experience.

I kept flipping back and forth between CNN and the Discovery Channel, which was airing Life, another one of the network’s really amazing series about the planet’s animal inhabitants.

The latter won out every time.

I found the rolling pebble toad way more interesting than lawmakers offering their perspectives on the health care bill. While I was waiting for the commercials on Discovery to end, I’d go back to CNN only wonder why Congress hadn’t just passed the dog-on bill already.

The epilogues, the monologues, the wrap-ups, the summaries. It all sounded like incessant babbling after a while. And really all it amounted to was pouting on the Republican side and a lot of self-congratulating from Democrats.

The last Dem holdout, the anti-abortion proponent Rep. Bart Stupak, even went as far as giving his wife a shout-out for standing by him during such a difficult time and for handling all his calls.

Seriously?

I know reform has been a long time coming, and that getting this bill passed is pretty big deal. But the background noise of the health care debate became a bit too distracting. I heard a lot of talking, but nearly all the politicians who spoke yesterday sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher to me.

Let’s get on with implementing some of the changes contained in the bill, shall we? Even if things start moving now, most Americans won’t reap the benefits included in the reform until 2014. I, for one, desperately need that pre-existing conditions clause to kick in like yesterday.

But this week will likely be marked by more health care drama. Already shouts of “baby killer” have been hurled across the House floor by the GOP. And Democrats will undoubtedly offer countless sound bytes about the “long, hard road to health care reform.”

The regurgitated language we’ll hear every day this week is TV at its most self-indulgent, and while lawmakers keep kicking sand in each other’s eyes, there’s a nation of millions (Tea Partiers included) who need to get this health care show on the road.

I was all hyped, for example, about universal coverage. As far as I’m concerned, there are times when the government has to ensure that resources are distributed equitably. And health care is just one such issue.

No matter, though. When conservatives cried foul, the president quickly ditched the idea for the seemingly more palatable public option, which was in and then it was out, and then it was in again and now it’s out.

Who can keep up? It’s difficult to figure out which reform is actually part of the reform. And am I the only one who feels like the entire debate has gone from energizing to energy draining? These days, health care reminds me of last week’s hangover: heavy, tiresome and short on fun.

In the latest non-progress surrounding the bill, the Senate race in Massachusetts is closer than Democrats expected. The party is in danger of losing its majority, which it needs to push health care legislation through. A surprise win for the GOP in Ted Kennedy’s old seat would no doubt be a setback for the Dems. In turn, that would likely delay the bill further, which translates into critical setbacks for me and many others.

You see, I’m one of those Americans who would be denied insurance coverage because of my preexisting condition, even if I pay for it out of pocket. My medical history sends up clouds of black smoke to carriers. But under the new health care bill, discriminating against folks based on health conditions would be illegal.

In the interim, a program like Medicare could offer a reprieve for people in my situation. Under the new bill, Medicare will be expanded to include Americans with serious diseases under the age of 65. These measures, however, take time to implement, and a languishing bill is only exasperating matters. According to a piece written by DNC Chairman Howard Dean, most Americans wouldn’t see the benefits of the bill until 2014.

A lot of good that’s doing for the uninsured or underinsured today.

The latest news out of Washington is that there will likely be another version of the health care bill before lawmakers agree on one. I’m feeling like they’ve had one too many already.

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