A very colorful crowd was protesting against government run health care and spending. Dozens of patriotic looking people gathered outside Congressman Mike Thompson's office in Old Town Eureka.
For some reason, many of these people believe that a public option or single payer system will mean that doctors and hospitals will be owned by the taxpayers. They don't know the difference between socialized medicine like the V.A. and a system like Medicare that would be an alternative to other insurance companies. They seem to think option means required.
In all fairness, few people including the politicians have read the latest 11-hundred page proposal for health care. One thing to note, the the CBA estimates that the country spends about 100-billion dollars a year to pay for the uninsured. Obama says the plan he envisions would spend 1 trillion dollars over 10 years. That is exactly what we are spending now. The difference is that 37 million more people would have some sort of coverage and be able to go to preventive care instead of showing up at the hospital emergency room.
If everyone were covered by a single payer system, there would no need for workers comp. insurance unless the job by definition is hazardous or extremely dangerous.
This would take a lot off of the backs of small and medium size businesses.
Single Payer is unlikely to pass based on what Senator Bernie Sanders said today on the Thom Hartmann Program. He said a bill he sponsored for single payer had only 4 other signatures and not much response from most of those on Capital Hill that are finding it hard to fend off the powerful health care lobbyists.
I wish these people would have turned out when many of us were trying to stop the Iraq war and were protesting the Patriot Act that gave our president almost dictitorial powers. They are now against that power but were for it when congress handed it to George W. Bush.
It seems that they were just sure they would be able to steal another election.
On the bright side, at least the Tea Baggers are upset. That means they are starting to pay attention. Problem is, they get most of their news from organizations that lie to them.
I hope they keep protesting and asking questions. I just wish they would turn off Fox News and KINS. The local news on KINS is not bad, the talk shows however, are mostly bitter neocons with misleading information.
I would be on board with it tomorrow if they would clear the country of illegals. Strip the 20 million out of the system and we could indeed have a single payer govt system. The problem is the third world is going to flood this country.
ReplyDeleteNeed a transplant....hop the border. Currently all they can do is hit the emergency room. That will all change under the Obama plan....and you know it.
To get this passed the left has to have an honest discussion on reality.
You can have good health care for all Americans or you can have the illegal lobby and voters. What do you want maore...you can't have both.
Here in another month this is going to be dead and we both know it. Obama will throw his hands up in the air and say "well I tried".
You won't have govt health care, but you will have pleanty of illegals. In another ten or twenty years when this comes round again everyone may have woken up. But I doubt it.
To me, the more that pay in, the better the system is funded. If everybody that worked, illegal or not, paid taxes, the cost of health care could be taken out of their checks like SSI.
ReplyDeleteEven illegal's as you call them, I prefer "undocumented workers" because they do pay in to Social Security and get taxes withdrawn from their checks. They usually use a stolen SSI number. Either way, they are still paying in and that lowers the cost to everyone.
You and I Mr. Glory seem to agree that true Single Payer will not happen this time.
One thing for sure, currently, we have a system that gives corporate executives an incentive to deny coverage to you when you are sick. That's called profit. By their corporate charter, they are required to make as much profit as they can.
Because of this, some of them are actually on board with Single Payer because they would be able to count on a certain amount of money every time someone came through their doors.
Why do we need an 1100-page plan??? Get rid of the trespassers; that's step 1. Next, think bout this: How much money is wasted in bureaucracy of one sort or another? Look at the VA, not the medical/care side but the management. Look at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...What about FEMA? Is that how you want your health coverage managed? If you think the HMO's are bad because they dictate which medicine they will pay for, how do you think the feds will handle it? You won’t get something for nothing. If you choose Kaiser as your HMO you’re paying around $700 for a family. If you have a Blue Cross policy, it might be more like $2000. The feds will need a nest egg to start up the bureaucracy which will be in the billions. I don't have an answer but to the problem but I'm sure some slick politician backed by the pharmaceutical companies will step up with a "winning proposal".
ReplyDeleteLook at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae? What? Are your saying that the government would be handing out health care to people that can't afford it?
ReplyDeleteAll sick people?
Something tells me that Thomas Jefferson, who was more proud of his role in starting the public education system in Pennsylvania than he was of being president of the United States, would be in favor of government-supported healthcare.
ReplyDelete- Noble, noblelie.com