On Health Care, Dems Learn to Speak Softly, Carry Big Stick

This is not the time to consider health care. The only way that Obama and company plan on paying for it is to go into debt. If they can come up with a method which will incur NO NEW debt then it can be put on the table but right now there is no money so it shouldn’t be on the agenda.

Elle-why would you think they would give a hoot about us antiques. Pelosi wants to tax our retirement saving, as though Congress hadn’t destroyed most of it with their greed and ineptitude.
The sooner we die, the more of tax dollars government will have to spend on other lobbyists and special interest groups.
The only thing that you and I have that government wants is the vote.

Tons of studies show categorically that the United States has the finest medical system in the history of the universe.
In the past 34 years Americans either won or shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine 29 times.
Of the 10 most important technological, diagnostic and treatments the United States leads the way in 8.
Compared to Socialized medicine in the U.K. and Canada the United States has a far superior record in recovery from breast, prostrate and colorectal cancer.
Americans have far greater access to treatment for chronic diseases that people of other countries.
The U. S. has over three times the number of CT and MRI screening equipment per million population than any country.
Americans spend at more than 6 months waiting for hip and knee replacements while in Canada and the U.K. it often takes a year or more. Canada has 827,429 patients waiting for such procedures while the U.K. has 1.8 million waiting.
When government takes away your choice, they take away you liberty and your power

Other countries have the suckiest healthcare in the world. And that’s where this nationalized healthcare program will take us. At least in the U.S. you have the option of finding a way to pay for it. In other countries there is no option, unless, of course, you become a criminal – or go to the U.S. for treatment. Other than that, you are at the mercy of beaurocrats. Read the case of the lady that lived in the wrong postal code in England that cannot get coverage for her cancer. The quota for the treatment she needed was met for her postal (zip) code. There were slots in other postal codes available. But because hers was full, she could not get treatment. She has one grandchild and three children. She will most likely never know her grandchildren even though her cancer is treatable. If she were in U.S. she could have chosen any number of affordable catastrophic health plans, even cancer policies and at least have the chance to live. She would have even had the option of negotiating payment arrangements, charitable institutions that help pay for drugs, and any number of other options available to her. But because she is a working class individual that paid her national healthcare all of her life in the wrong postal code in England, and can’t afford to come to the United States, or anywhere else for that matter, she may not live to see her grandchild grow up or witness the birth of any others.
Dems don’t mention those little facts, do they? Socialized medicine is not the answer. It is one more step toward total governmental control.
Has anyone else here heard about the international copyright that would allow authorities to search iPods of travelers? I just caught wind of that and don’t know it’s validity. It seems to fit right into this administration’s agenda, but I haven’t verified it yet.

This is the time to consider health care. If not now, when? The problem is what kind of health care. No one should be without it. We are the United States and we should be able to provide this for everyone. I would rather pay for this than for the banks and wall street.

Cowgirl – How do you propose to pay for the healthcare you are advocating for? In his entire 8 years in office Bush increased the debt of the US Government by roughly 4.8 Trillion dollars. In his first 60 days in office Obama has increased the debt of the government by 412.8 Billion dollars. At this rate he will increase the debt of the Government by 2.4 Trillion dollars in his first year alone and 9.9 Trillion dollars by the end of his 4 year term in office. Since the debt owed by the Government was 10.6 Trillion dollars when he took office an additional 9.9 Trillion will almost double the debt in just 4 years. This is money that the Government does not have. Perhaps a better way would be to have a program similar to that which the government uses for its employees which is a group of insurance plans which the employee can choose from. You can Google FEHB and see what the different plans available to federal employees are. It should be noted that these are the same exact plans which are available to our elected federal officials. The government does not pay 100% of the employee health insurance and the portion they pay is considered a benefit in lieu of wages just like most major employers who provide a health benefit to their employees. Usually the larger the company (more employees) the more likely is that they provide the health insurance rather than paying the larger wage as most employees would rather have access to the health insurance instead of the small increase in wages. For an employee in California with a family looking at an HMO (California Health Net, High Option) this amounts to roughly $4.40 an hour. For the same family in California looking at a FFS (Blue Cross Blue Shield Service Benefit Plan, Standard Family) this also amounts to $4.40 an hour. Small business’s which have fewer employees cannot afford to offer this type of benefit to their employees without having to make drastic cuts (layoffs) or drastically raise the price of their finished product/service both of which will probably cause the business to fail in time due to lack of profit. The federal employee still has to pay to participate in the insurance ($292 a month for the HMO and $357 a month for the FFS) so the government does not provide 100% of the insurance to the government employee. You have to remember that the federal employee is receiving his government share of the insurance funding as part of his wage and benefit package and performing labor in return, the general public would provide no benefit to the government for any government funding of their health care hence the government should provide no funding for non-employees. Perhaps another question you may want to ask yourself is how much would you pay for healthcare insurance? Would you pay $1055.00 per month to be able to partake of the HMO I used as an example? Would you be willing to pay $1120.00 per month to be able to participate in the FFS I used as an example? If yes then maybe the answer is not government paid healthcare but the government allowing all citizens to participate in their healthcare programs at their own expense (they would have to pay the total of what the government pays for their employee plus what the employee pays).

cowgirl – it is not about not having hope, it is being a realist. (That – and the confidence that we can take care of ourselves without being taken care of by the government.)

Sandcrab1612 – cowgirl et al aren’t going to read your post. They have their agenda and are trying to appeal to people’s emotions in order to win their point since their facts can’t hold water. Anytime I have tried to bring facts into a conversation with that one and those like him/her, they ignore all common sense and revert to emotional taglines. Your post is interesting and informative. I hope our representatives will give thought to what they are voting on like you have.
All the best -
NPage

Dave: “Tons of studies show categorically that the United States has the finest medical system in the history of the universe.”
And yet our life expectancy at birth lags behind (in no particular order) France, Germany, Canada, Japan, the U.K, Italy, Norway, Greece, Hong Kong, Australia, and a few dozen other countries, including such medically benighted countries as Jordan, Bosnia, Puerto Rico, etc.
Of course, we make up for that by spending from 2 to 10 times more per capita for all those fancy procedures that nonetheless seem to let us die sooner.

If you have insurance you pay alot for nothing, same for medicare. Medicade limits what you get also… Unless your independantly wealthy or in Congress…don’t hold your breath. People who have health insurance thru employers & get very sick & need extensive care, are fired, then No insurance anyway. Cobra is a joke. It’s all about getting your dollars anyway they can.Banks, wallstreet, insurance & gov’t, have their ways, it’s all a scam. Work hard & don’t buy anything, save every penny & get sick & you still can’t afford healthcare.

from Ohio – refer to my Mar 28, 2009 12:49:12 PM as to the health insurance for members of Congress. If they want something better they are paying with there own money for it.

But the government should not pay for your healthcare or any portion of it unless you are a government employee. Just because you pay taxes does not entitle you to pay receive free health care. Remember you do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing, we’re just not interested in public health care.

A little off topic, but in response to Zazu: Quite frankly, I am all for buying a house with cash. Can you imagine the minimal impact the current economic “crisis” would have had if most people had bought their home with cash or mostly cash – or only had 5 year mortgages instead of 30 year mortgages?

Maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess if we had universal healthcare. It is a fact that health care costs were a major factor in bringing down the domestic automakers. We spend more per capita and more per GDP on healthcare than anyone else. Much of the money that goes to healthcare is siphoned off by the parasitic “insurance” industry.

Medicare for all, universal healthcare for all, the only way to go, leave the private health insurance out of the equation……