I listened to the Presidents speech last night about health care reform. It was interesting to me in several ways. I do not think anyone would argue that something needs to change in terms of health care in America. It seems like the argument starts when you begin to discuss how to pay for it and who it covers. In fact during the Presidents speech what caused the most stir was when he said that his plan would not cover illegal immigrants.
That surprised me. Not because people disagreed though the vocal nature of the disagreement did. I thought South Carolina Rep Joe Wilson was out of line when he yelled out "You Lie". I understand being upset and disagreeing but his response did not seem appropriate for the location of the speech. Had it been a formal debate I would have expected it more. I would have expected more of a response when the President said that the people who had talked about the existence of death panels were liars.
The response or lack of response by the Republicans surprised me. I really thougt they would jump on him for calling people liars to there face. I wonder if Sara Palin was still Governor of Alaska if there would have been any response because there just wasn't. Also and I have not seen it attacked much so far today but I am sure that it will happen as the day goes on. I was surprised when President Obama said that his plan would not add one dime to the deficit. I mean come on. Not one dime! That is really not even a plausible position.
Lets at least be logical about the cost of this purposed plan. As far as I am concerned the cost does not bother me. I think we are wasting a large amount of money within the defense industry and if we juggle some of it around then the health plan could happen with out it bankrupting America. But to say that it will not add a dime to the deficit is just plain bad math. I hope the numbers shake out better as more discussion happens on the issue but I will be surprised if this plan doesn't end up costing us qute a large amount of money.
I would love to have a discussion about this issue. the pros and the cons, the nuts and bolts of why and why not it would be a good idea. But, what I am not interested in is having an argument about it. So please if you read this silly little blog of mine. It doesn't matter to me if you are pro or con on the issue but lets talk about it. Lets see where we differ and why we differ. Lets see how big the differences are and if we can reach some common ground on it. But, lets discuss it. I do not want to shout and sto stomp my feet. I want to have a conversation. I am willing to be wrong. So please share with me your thougts on the issue of Health Care reform in America.
5 comments:
No argument here. I think we should have single-payer healthcare and I think we all should pay for it. In my opinion, healthcare should be a right and I'm willing to contribute my share of taxes to make this so.
I must respectfully disagree with you Sherry. I do not want to pay more taxes to insure other people. And I do not think that health care is the responsibility of the federal government. We are not promised health care in the bill of rights.
Thanks for the comments you two and thank you for being polite about your difference of opinion Joel. Civility is such a nice thing. :)
I believe everyone can agree that the health care system in America - while great - can use some work.
The only question is whether or not the attempts offered by either side in Washington are the kind of work that needs to be done.
Personally I thought the article by Whole Foods owner John Mackey was a much better offering than anything else I've seen recently.
"The response or lack of response by the Republicans surprised me. I really thought they would jump on him for calling people liars to there face. I really thought they would jump on him for calling people liars to there face. I wonder if Sara Palin was still Governor of Alaska if there would have been any response because there just wasn't."
Might want to check your facts there, but perhaps that's beside the point. My initial reaction, was the same that I had when Algore challenged the 2000 election and made accusations of fraud, and when the left side of the aisle hiss'd and boo'd Bush's addresses to congress - "That. is. not. done.".
'Wait a minute', you might say, that's different' True. Wilson's was a spur of the moment outburst. The lefts were planned, calculated, and sustained actions. And another difference of course, is that Wilson did immediately apologize to the President's Chief of Staff and to the President himself. The left never has.
"I hope the numbers shake out better as more discussion happens on the issue but I will be surprised if this plan doesn't end up costing us quite a large amount of money."
Although it will be extremely expensive if passed, I wish people would stop concentrating on the cost in dollars, and start concentrating on the cost to Individual Rights and freedom - that will be horribly expensive, a cost we may not recover from. That is what need careful, concerted, thinking upon. I've a post with 50 key passages of the House Bill linked up here, and as far as I know, it's still the main bill source publicly available - alleged bills not publicly available, or not yet written, are of no use or worth in discussion.
The article Christopher linked to does have some very good points and proposals. I think the single largest benefit to the medical care industry would be had by the govt exiting and lifting the restrictive regulations of the Insurance Industry - and you know who is going to fight that the hardest? The same people who agitated for it to begin with - the larger corp's in the Insurance Industry.
Being a merchant, does not make one a Capitalist. Merchants have always tried to cozy up to those in power in order to curry favorable agreements and controls over their competition. Being in business doesn't make one a Capitalist, only a respect for freedom of choice, free markets, objective law and the defense of individual rights does.
Next would be putting reasonable guidelines on lawsuits and malpractice suits - and of course the ones who will fight that most are the 'champions of the little guy' themselves, the lawyers. Being a lawyer doesn't mean one has respect for the law.
And then I think the creating something like a Roth IRA for medical savings investments, tax exempt when spent on medical expenses, and able to convert to cash at end of life or deed to survivors.
I don't see how anyone can possibly think that any benefit, cost savings, or efficiency will ever be had by restrictions on poeples choices and freedoms in favor of pre-fabricated decisions buried in the midst of thousand plus page laws - and the reams of regulations which will follow it - layers of govt bureacracy and regulation.
Do you?
Hope that doesn't qualify as arguin'
;-)
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