July 25th, 2009
In this morning’s paper was a letter to the editor railing against the proposed health care reforms because “when the state pays for health care, the state gets to make decisions about who gets health care, and how much.” The author compared the current proposals to those of the Nazis and the Communists. Do I detect a trend here? Is this a Republican, Conservative, right-wing talking point?
First, I would like to call attention to the fact that the above mentioned health programs were run by RIGHT-WING nut jobs, dictators and despots. These are the same type of people who think it’s perfectly okay to wiretap their citizens and imprison them indefinitely without charges.
This is what drives me crazy about the Republican party and the conservative movement. Given my druthers I would love to run scans on many of their brains to try to gain an understanding of how their twisted thinking originates. But of course, that is something the Right would command, and the Left would never seriously consider.
The same people who urged government involvement in the very private matter of the Terry Schiavo case are the same ones who mischaracterize the current plan as a government plot to intrude in our health care decisions. Seriously, what cluster of brain cells is firing?
My insurance company has the absolute right to determine what care I get and how much of it I am entitled to. They also determine what medicines I can be prescribed and what tests I get. You may have heard stories of women giving birth and being forced to leave the hospital in a matter of hours. And how about the women forced to leave the hospital after a mastectomy and dragging their drainage tubes behind them? Kicking people out of hospitals early is not the decision of the hospital or the physician. It’s purely at the behest of insurance companies.
My daughter was delivered via caesarian section. I moved and changed insurance companies a few years later and guess what was specifically excluded from that new policy for several years? Anything that might have resulted from or could possibly be blamed on that c-section.
My mother is on Medicare. Her government run health care program is exquisite. No one tells her what doctors to see or what level of care is permitted. Those decisions are made purely by my mother and her providers.
My husband served in the military many years ago and has VA. His government run health care is terrific. His doctors spend considerable time with him, and with their sophisticated record-keeping nothing is missed.
The utter failure in our current health care system is the insurance-based part of it. It doesn’t work. It’s overpriced. It’s inefficient. It’s corrupt. It’s flat out cruel.
What the hell are these Conservative and Republican idiots talking about? Their arguments are pure “1984.” The rabbit hole. Lunacy.
If for no other reason than to actually force the insurance companies to compete, we need the public option.
Therefore, in the interest of what the editorial page letter writer referred to as the “collective,” I demand CT scans for all of those on the right who are making these specious arguments against government involvement. (And I also want to see their emails, bank records, telephone bills, employment histories, etc.)
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P.S. I talk to many people burdened with debt caused by this health care mess. They are being hammered twice — by their health insurance (or lack of it) and the financial crisis. If this describes you, I might be able to help. Please visit http://www.debt2zip.com
Categories: Commentary, Government, Personal Finance, Politics, Taxes, Uncategorized |
Tags: conservative, debt2zip, health, health care reform, insurance, Republican, Republicans, right wing | 4 Comments
June 9th, 2009
And that’s only if I’m not being particularly cynical. A few days ago I heard on Ed Schultz’s TV show an elected Republican say that everyone in this country has coverage because all they have to do is show up at any emergency room. Really? People without insurance are charged much more than people with insurance, and everyone ends up subsidizing the uninsured who can’t pay. Maybe even the insurance industry. If you happen to be an honorable person who pays their bills and if you are uninsured, this whole process can sink you. Sixty percent of all bankruptcies today are health care related.
Elected Republican leaders would have us believe that there is actually competition in the health care marketplace. My brother is a physician, and his rates are effectively set by insurance companies. Because of antitrust laws he is not allowed to discuss his fees with any other provider, which means they can’t possibly join together to negotiate with the insurance companies. Furthermore, if they complain too loudly they may be kicked out of the preferred provider network.
Basically no one is able to negotiate with the insurance companies, and they establish the charges and fees for everything. The people at both ends of the delivery system are hurt.
People in this country are proud of figuring things out for themselves. In this instance, I think we would be well advised to look overseas. Other countries have figured this out, and it’s a truly idiotic person who stubbornly insists on reinventing the wheel.
Republicans argue that socialized medicine means rationed care. Really? If I can’t afford to see a physician because I don’t have insurance or because the deductibles are too high, is that care not being rationed? And when my insurance company denies a prescription or procedure my doctor recommends, is that care not being rationed? And if I have to wait several weeks or months to see a specialist, is that care not being rationed?
Give me a break.
Our health care if the most expensive in the world, and by all measures on average our health care sucks. One of the best measures of a country’s health care is the infant mortality rate, and we’re down there with third world countries.
The Republicans (and a few Dems) would have us believe we can’t afford single-payer health care. Is this true? If we adopted one of the models being used elsewhere, there are many items we, as individuals or businesses, likely would not have to pay for anymore: family coverage, dental coverage, prescription coverage, tests, the medical portion of our car insurance, workers compensation and probably much more. What is the real cost of these items? How much are we all actually paying for them today?
If we were all lumped into one giant group, how much would the real cost be for each of us under a single payer plan? If I could trade my current plan for a such a plan that covers all the stuff I listed above, I would jump at it. Would the costs be comparable? We don’t know. And we should.
The big boys at the top of the insurance industry have benefited greatly. So have their lobbyists. We all know where their interests lie, and it is not with us, the general public. If I assume elected Republicans, and a few Democrats, are not bought and paid for by the insurance industry, that means either they are complete idiots or they are incredibly mean spirited.
There’s one sure way to find out. We must not allow our Republican legislators (and the few Dems) to continue lining the pockets of their insurance industry/corporate friends. We must hound our elected representatives to provide us with a single payer system. It works (my husband is VA), it’s affordable (my mother’s on Medicare), and we can do this. We must not be bullied. It’s time to bring this idiocy to an end.
Lastly for a bit of self-promotion — I help people get out of debt. If you have medical bills that need paying, I may be able to help you get out from under more quickly than you ever thought possible. Please visit — www.myhomefreeandclear.com.
Categories: Commentary, Politics |
Tags: care, health, idiots, insurance, myhomefreeandclear, Republicans | 2 Comments
October 13th, 2008
I received an email from a cousin recently that really got me thinking. He owns a small business, and he believes government should stay out of people’s lives. He wants lower taxes and less regulation. He believes people should stand on their own two feet.
But how about the fact that his kids attended public school? What about the daughter who is currently attending a state funded university? What about the miles and miles of roads he drives to get anywhere? What about fire, police and trash removal? Are these the proper functions of government, or should he be paying for his use of these amenities?
To keep things simple, let’s accept those amenities as a given. The vast majority of Americans are not averse to paying taxes for public education, emergency services and roads.
Suppose his neighbor down the street loses his job. His company goes under, and he’s laid off. As a small business owner my cousin has been paying for unemployment insurance for decades. He doesn’t like paying it and thinks it’s an unfair burden on small business owners. Maybe so. I’ve been a small business owner, and I thought it really unfair that my husband and I would never collect on the unemployment taxes we paid on our own salaries. Still, what would you do for the neighbor who lost his job? Should he be on his own? Should unemployment taxes be paid by the entire taxpayer base instead of employers?
As a result of the stress of losing his job, the neighbor’s marriage falls apart. His wife has few skills, and she has spent the last two years taking care of small children. Because her husband is unemployed, he can’t help with child support. Sure they could stay together until things settle down, but it’s getting pretty nasty in that household. Should the mom rely on charity? Donations can be iffy sometimes, so maybe she should count on family members. But what if those aren’t an option?
Oh, I know we all have the image of welfare moms in our minds, but that situation ended quite a few years ago. There are now education requirements and limits on the time someone can collect welfare. And even if our goal is to keep moms off the dole, what about the kids? Is it a proper government function to keep our youngest citizens healthy and fed?
That was a fictional story of a possible neighbor of my cousin. Let’s tackle a bigger issue. If we are to stand on our own two feet and be self-sufficient, if we are to be empowered to make our own decisions concerning things like health care, what protections do we have against the in-house legal departments of companies that do us ill? Is it the role of government to regulate insurance companies? Is it the role of government to inspect our food and drugs to make sure the things we ingest are safe? Is it the role of government to test imports to keep lead out of toys?
If government doesn’t do it, who will? I don’t have the wherewithal to sue an insurance company for denying me the treatment I might need. I know I don’t have a lab that can test for melamine in my dog’s food, and I don’t have the equipment to test my water, spinach, tomatoes and beef. Do you think maybe this is something that all of us taxpayers can agree is something that we should spend our money on?
There is much to think about here. We taxpayers pay for many things, and it is time we define what it is we expect government to do for us. Personally I think we’re all in this together and we have a responsibility to look out for each other. It’s the moral thing to do.
Categories: Commentary, Economy, Politics, Taxes |
Tags: education, Government, health, insurance, regulation, regulations, Taxes, unemployment, welfare | 1 Comment
