Tuesday, March 2, 2010

WINDOW TO THE FUTURE OF HEALTH CARE

Last year the U.S. Postal Service lost 3.8 billion dollars.  This year they will report a 7 billion dollar loss.  Postmaster General John Potter said that they are struggling financially and that they are trying to find ways to get out of the red without resorting to using taxpayer dollars. In 2 years 11 billion in taxpayer dollars was lost.  Potter is expected to announce the possibility of stopping Saturday service and the raising of postal rates to help correct the problem.  He did not say how many BILLIONS would be saved.                      

This provides an open window with a perfect view of what Americans can expect in the future with a government run health care plan.  Does anyone in their right mind believe that the government can effectively run anything? The current cost for the Obama/Democratic Health Plan is 1 TRILLION dollars! With that they say they can cover some 30 million uninsured, keep your premiums low and provide greater service and access. They want you to believe that the plan will be deficit neutral and will pay for itself. In order to do that someone will be taxed and one way or another that means you and just like the Postal Service you can be sure that the 1 Trillion dollars will soon be 10 Trillion dollars and in order to keep everything in line your premiums will go up and your services and access will be cut. No more Saturday delivery and higher prices paid on postage, it's the same story.

Right now every government run program, Social Security, Medicare, Postal Service, you name it, is riding on the backs of hard working Americans and  none of them are in the black. Now the Democrats are going to force Americans to carry a heavier load by stacking on Health Care. Sooner or later our backs will break under the financial stress.  All indicators show that the majority of Americans are opposed to this legislation but the Democrats are pushing ahead totally ignoring those they represent and totally ignoring their record from the past and present. The government is always good at passing programs of social change but they are complete failures when it comes to implementation and management.  Once again the call must go out and America needs to flood the phone lines to Congress.  Let these people know we don't need them to tell us what is good for us and the country!  It's our job to tell them, it's their job to listen!  Do it now before the window closes.

Edisto Joe
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Posted by Edisto Joe at 4:46 PM
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8 comments:

  1. I wonder how you'd feel about this if you'd just lost your job and woke up in a hospital bed after a hit and run.
    Many, many millions of Americans have no health care for a variety of reasons - yet in Britain and Australia, for instance, everyone is covered (bot just the disenfranchised) and it doesn't break the bank or individual budgets. Those who want to still opt to pay their way; a surprising number, actually.
    The real problem in all medical systems is greed (i.e. 'professional' self-regulation by doctors)
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  2. Absolutely! My cousin is a route delivery guy up in Pittsburgh and voted for Obama. He's very pro-union. After I heard this - I called him and asked him what he thought about that Obama Hopey Changey thing was going for him and the fact that he was going to lose 52 days worth of pay each year because of the inefficiency of his organization. His response

    "Fuck you"

    Then he hung up - and I just laughed my ass off.

    I don't think Prince up there knows WTF he is talking about. My neighbor is a Nurse who moved here from England and was part of that BHS. She said it is the worse system ever for practitioners. She truly wanted to be able to take care of her patients - but - because of rationing they often times sent people home not completely healed. She and her husband moved here to get away from that system and to raise their child here.

    Unfortunately, they also see that we are starting to lean in that same direction and are fearful that their choice to leave England for greener pastures may have been for naught.

    "...everyone is covered (bot just the disenfranchised) and it doesn't break the bank or individual budgets."

    This too is a lie. Apparently, he hasn't been listening to Daniel Hannen. The BHS has 75% of all government employees and is 80% of the entire government budget. It is indeed breaking the bank through increased taxation of the people. Apparently, Prince doesn't understand that Universal Health Care is not free. They are still paying for it through their taxes and those taxes keep rising to pay for an unsustainable system.

    It is very hard to educate the leftarded as they don't care about the truth - only the agenda.
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  3. All your points are valid, the BoBo; of course it isn't free, but at least everyone has access to a level (admittedly insufficient and semi-medieval) of care. A major unexamined issue is the fact that MOST deaths in the US and many other countries are caused by medical errors!
    What are the options? To maintain a system in which forty million people have NO access to health care? Or to kick Big Pharma out of the equation by allowing generic medicines and holding these corporate criminals to account for their innumerable self-serving lies and corrupt studies? That's where everyone's tax money is going - into the pockets of chemical corporations and bankers. A just and workable system will require doing all that and more, no doubt.
    But I maintain that the fly in the ointment is the gouging profits going to medicos and, more importantly, insurance companies and the toxic chemical industries who produce poisonous drugs that do no one any good.
    The US is attempting to achieve a compromise with moneyed interests and people's health that will probably deliver a terrible system. Then, no doubt, many people will say 'I told you so', but they'll be right for all the wrong reasons.
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  4. Prince:
    First I would point out to you that no matter what one thinks, the undeniable truth is that America has the best health care in the world. And believe it or not access to that system is very open. We don't have people dying in the streets. Law requires that you can't deny people treatment. Those that don't pay are only a part of the cost factor. Without taking the debate further in this reply I will only say this. The Democrat plan involves government intrusion and takeover. The Republican plan involves more of a free market approach with expanded fraud and tort reform. As for profits from drug companies, doctors,hospitals, and Insurance firms, it's called living under a freemarket system. Capitalism is far better than Socialism. These corporate criminals you refer to have given the world much of the modern medcine and drugs that extend life today.
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  5. BoBo:
    Once again you confront the liberal mindset with the cold hard facts. This entire health debate is nothing more than a liberal socialist agenda vs. a conservative free market approach. Right now Obama is willing to pry the door open just enough to get his foot in the door, Once done the rest of the body can follow. Lets hope the voice of America can stop it.
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  6. Prince - did you really just say this?

    "A major unexamined issue is the fact that MOST deaths in the US and many other countries are caused by medical errors! "

    Oh my oh my how we stay uninformed. Here's a few great links for you - search on "leading causes of death" or "leading cause of mortality" depending on which one's you go to

    http://www.cdc.gov
    http://www.who.org
    http://www.nih.gov

    These three are the main organizations that keep morbidity and mortality statistics. Interestingly, the CDC website has a graphic for the top leading 5 causes of death for those aged 10 - 24 - care to guess what number 1 is? Accidental/unintentional injury. Medical errors is not on that list. If you look at both the CDC the leading causes of death in the U.S. are respiratory related due to smoking and cancer. Globally, as reported by WHO is parasitic infections and cancer. Medical errors are not even included because it is so insignificant.

    As for the 40 million uninsured number - here is the website to the U.S. Census Bureau

    http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthins.html

    The actual number is 47 million. However if you break it down what you have is 17 million are illegal immigrants not eligible for insurance. 10 million are eligible for either Medicare, Medicaid, or SCHIP and just haven't signed up. Another 6 million are between the ages of 18 - 24 who CHOOSE not to purchase insurance. 6 Million make $75k or more and can purchase their own insurance but CHOOSE to self-pay. What this leaves is just 9 million that truly fit the bill where they are not covered under an employer plan, or they don't earn enough to afford coverage, or they make too much to qualify for government services. 9 Million is just 3% of the population that actually need assistance. Would you really overhaul the best system in the entire free world for just 3% of the population?

    Gouging profits? Listening to the liberal talking points and demonizing the insurance companies. Here are the facts:

    The Insurance industry is ranked #88 out of 215 industries in the U.S. for profit margins at 4.3%

    http://biz.yahoo.com/p/sum_qpmd.html

    The top 5 according to the chart are Foreign money funds (38.3%), Health Facility Real Estate (27.3%), Residential Real Estate (25.9%), Cigarettes (22.8%), and Book publishing (21.8%)

    Insurance companies are not making huge profits as you would like to believe. At 4.3% margins they are barely staying afloat. If you know anything about business and finances - profit is used to reinvest and provide liquidity. Do you honestly think you could stay in business if you only made $0.043 from every $1?

    I know - I'm sorry - you're at a severe disadvantage. I actually did the research years ago. But, since I've already done it - you get to benefit from it by actually visiting the links I've provided.

    Please keep yourself informed and don't listen to the liberal talking points. Once people actually have the facts - they decide differently than our politicians.
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  7. Great discussion on health care. I'll add this about the USPS which is currently entertaining the idea of going to mail delivery for five days instead of six. The USPS is exempt from paying federal, state, or local taxes on its income, sales, purchases, or property. Unlike private companies, it is immune from most forms of regulation, such as antitrust, motor vehicle registration, parking tickets, zoning, and land use restrictions. It is also able to borrow money at the lowest possible rate through the U.S. Treasury. And with all these advantages, the USPS still can not balance its books. It still has to resort to desperate measures to stay solvent as its charter demands. Now, do we want our health care controlled and mandated by the same federal government that runs our nearly bankrupt mail delivery?
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  8. VH:
    You're right on all points. I also believe they receive around 45 billion from their virtual monopoly on postage for letters yearly. In spite of that they currently owe the government i.e. the taxpayers around 11 billion. Currently they are talking about possible bailout. If the government has anything to do with it the taxpayer is always screwed. Health care will not be any different.
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