There are two ideas from two different folks about how to get healthier. Merged together? This just might work in getting health insurance reform through and we can thank our pets.

First up is a measure by a Michigan congressman who wants to create a tax deduction for pet health care costs. The proposal by Rep. Thaddeus McCotter called the HAPPY (Humanity and Pets Partnered through the Years) Act would allow a deduction of up to $3,500 for heath care costs for pets. McCotter says he introduced the proposal, noting that pet adoptions are down across the country. He says any break given to help offset the costs of pet ownership ought to be encouraged.

Now comes columnist Garrison Keillor, who claims that if people WERE pets, then we would already have health industry reform. His September 2, 2009 column attempts to put a fuzzy face on the debate.

“If you put a pet option in the healthcare reform scheme, Republicans would be in a bind. It’s one thing to oppose big government taking over from those little mom-and-pop insurance companies, but do you favor throwing Mr. Mittens out the car window when he gets old and feeble and needs an IV because he can’t chew his kibble? You’d have weepy pet parents at town hall meetings waving photographs of kittycats in need of new kidneys, and finally you’d start to see some empathy. People love their animals, and if we could just agree that everybody in America should receive the same level of care enjoyed by an elderly golden retriever, we could be done with this and get ready for the World Series.”

So it’s all in the marketing of reform….got it.

“Animals love us unconditionally and we love them back, maybe more than we love our neighbors, and that’s just the truth, Ruth. People can be irksome, petty, especially raggedy ones — poverty does not always bring out the best in folks — and that’s why it’s difficult to get people to care about the uninsured.”

McCotter, by the way, while in support of health care for pets, opposes efforts by the Obama administration to reform how Americans, the bi-pedaled kind, get health care. He calls the current debate “repugnant.”

Aren’t you confused??