It’s no longer news that at least 47 million Americans lack health insurance, and an additional 50 million are “underinsured” - meaning whatever ails you is excluded. But we seldom hear that private health insurance wastes $350 billion every year. Nearly one-third of our health care costs are eaten up by overhead: marketing, billing, profits, denying coverage, and hassling patients and doctors. While 30 cents of every dollar of health costs pays for overhead, Medicare costs 3 cents on the dollar. As the economy hemorrhages more than 200,000 jobs every month, insurance costs soar, and with employers large and small unable to afford to insure their employees, an employer-based system has become a nonstarter. - Amy Isaacs, national director of Americans for Democratic Action
As a new Congress begins to look at health care insurance options, some of the members are already discussing proposals for a single-payer, universal health care plan. That’s not the best solution. Senators and representatives would be much better off focusing on health care solutions that effectively bring down health care costs, expand access to quality care, and reward patients for shopping around. Instead of wasting time on a system that limits our choices, creates long waiting times, and has the potential to jeopardize our health, the United States should opt for a system of innovation and choice. Congress should act now to let American consumers - not federal bureaucrats - make their health care decisions. When we force medical providers to compete on price, we’re all much better off. - Devon Herrick, National Center for Policy Analysis
105 Comments
Yeah, ask the Canadians if they like a single-payer health care system. They like waiting six months to see a doctor (not of their choosing) and years for routine surgery. Why are millions of Canadians streaming across the border to the United States for treatment? That single-payer system REALLY works, eh?
The best way to cut health care costs is to make Americans healthy. Fat chance!
Why are millions of Americans streaming across the border to Mexico for health care? Because even with insurance, it’s cheaper there. And millions of Canadians aren’t streaming across the border. That’s just another bullshit lie, just like every single item in your post, Inferior. Must every single thing the Pukes believe be a lie?
Lets face it. The current system is broken. The best health care advice I used to get was from a Amoco auto mechanic (former Army medic) across from the K.U. Medical Center in KC,Ks. Unfortunately that Amoco station closed.
“ICTisInferior” blathers –
Canadians, it is alleged “.. like waiting six months to see a doctor (not of their choosing) and years for routine surgery….”
Yeah?
So tell us, right now, your top three favored surgeons to remove your gall bladder. I want to know the doctors of your choice right here, right now.
” Why are millions of Canadians streaming across the border to the United States for treatment?”
Really?
“Millions of Canadians?”
Most certainly you can provide a source for that statement.
“That single-payer system REALLY works, eh?”
As a matter of fact, yes.
Universal health care…where THEY tell you what is healthy, THEY tell what drugs to take, THEY tell you what food you can eat, THEY tell you how much you are allowed to weigh. THEY tell you what is good for and how you WILL raise your kid’s.
But I won’t bother trying to explain that to you commies, you already know everything fckuing thing anyway.
“According to the USDA chart on weights and measures, your weight is not in accordance with your height so unfortunately, your service will be suspended and you will be fined weekly until your weight is within the proper guidelines. We’re sorry”…
A bit overweight are we, Pleefer?
Hey ,”beber” –
There’s a chance “Pleefer” is simply “big boned.”
But “Pleefer’s” absurd rants, such as:
“…THEY tell what drugs to take…” ignores the fact some “they” writes any and every prescription.
If America comes to Universal Health Care coverage, things will be… THE SAME!!!
Except, of course, it’ll cost less.
Yeah, let’s start up another program we can’t afford, will be out of control in a few years and will drive a stake in the heart of the nation’s finances.
…good idea…not
Well if number 2 was truthful, then maybe we’d have an argument. However, its been proven untrue. We already have long wait times. Canadians do not wait 6 months to see a doctor.
Frank quit whining. You’re already paying most of your money for people who can’t afford their healthcare now, so you might as well benefit from the same program. It will cost you far far less.
“Should Congress move quickly to pass universal health care plan?”
Yes. The health care system is being both supported and destroyed through no fault of their own by those least able to pay for health care.
” it’s all about what some assholes think they can get from me” — barketh.
More Puke rhetoric.
They complain about rhetoric while using it. They can’t recognize their own b.s.
“putting thousands of dollars a year into our 401’s so we will have a reasonable existence later in life, just so some vote buyer can come along, raid it and give it to assholes who havn’t sacrificed and planned for their future.”
When did that happen? I must have missed it? A story that big should have a link somewhere, no?
nitwit.
Americans are not JUST going to Mexico for their health care. Google “medical tourism” and you will find they are going to India and Asia for affordable health care.
Of course, you have to be able to afford to leave the country for “affordable” health care.
Hey frank–BOOO!
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Jesus WEPT! The last time I checked, the INSURANCE COMPANY was telling me what drugs I could take, etc.
I guess THAT’s the robber baron master you prefer to be in charge of your health care?
heheh. HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAH.
nitwit.
All you whining bastards who say you should just quit your jobs and live on the free stuff out there should just do it.
Really.
It’s a free country. No forced labor. You can indeed, today, quit your jobs and live on the fat of aaaaaaallll the freebies out there that are being provided by the government.
Why dont you try it for a while and come back here and tell us how well you are living?
Really. If what you say is true, why dont you do it?
Could it be because perhaps, even YOU know that what you post on that suject is a lie?
Just askin’….
quarkfh, I wonder the same goddamn thing. I’m sick and freaking tired of my tax dollars paying for lazy, uneducated BUMS who want to sit on their fat asses and collect $$$$$ from the government! ENOUGH ALREADY! If I’m contributing my tax dollars, I want my tax dollars to work for me, not for unemployed losers who leech.
The radical Marxist Obama-lovers on these boards don’t get it. They want Utopia. It doesn’t exist. If you want to be $50 billion in debt by 2013, just listen to Messiah HUSSEIN Obama.
I meant $50 TRILLION in debt. That’s right, the national debt will skyrocket to $50 TRILLION if Messiah Obama gets his way.
ksfarmgrrl, how much of your income are you willing to give to Messiah Obama’s wealth redistribution plan? How about you, BlueJay? Or you, Monkeyhawk? Or you, PoliticalMama? I want to hear it. I want to hear how much YOU believe in wealth redistribution. Say it loud, say it proud, commies! Let them know how much you love Komrade Obama!
“ksfarmgrrl, how much of your income are you willing to give to Messiah Obama’s wealth redistribution plan?”
Well, if the reports I read yesterday about obama’s middle class tax cuts are true, I’ll be “giving” less than I did under bushco.
But come on. You know the real answer. None of us liberals HAVE an income to give. We’re all living on YOUR income, according to you and yours.
nitwit
ksfarmgrrl
Posted December 4, 2008 at 8:42 am | Permalink
Read it again.
You should try it. Go ahead. Quit your job and live on all that free stuff out there. It’s wonderful…
Should Congress move quickly to pass universal health care plan?
======================
No, it would be a disaster. Moving quickly on something this large would be a bad idea.
Of course we need to move toward it. Affordable health care for everyone regardless of circumstances…wow, what a radical, liberal idea! OMG, the end of the world is near!
How do some posters know how to type without also knowing how to read? It’s the same language being used, those same 26 letters strung together in varying ways. Another of life’s mysteries.
I’m 5′11″ and weigh 163 lbs. I’m perfect. PERFECT.
I work my body and mind daily. My body and mind are a well tuned machine.
I don’t go see doctors, I get my teeth cleaned twice a year and get new lenses for my glasses once a year. I’m well insured and never use it. I don’t abuse my coverage with sniffles and headaches.
You say it “will be the same”. Prove it.
The difference twixt you and I is that I have complete contempt and lack of trust for my loving government. You folks think that Superman or Batman will be there to come save you.
I’m all for helping someone out who may fall out of a tree and break their body up. But not at all willing to help some gang banger piece of crap with bullet holes all over.
Should Congress move quickly to pass universal health care plan?
======================
Of course not. Besides all the other previously-noted reasons, we can’t afford it.
If we were to allow benefits for only those who understand that universal health care will bring better care at lower costs, would those who scream “NO” the loudest learn the lessons of equal under the law. Nah! That’s wishful thinking, isn’t it?
“I have complete contempt and lack of trust for my loving government.” — Pleefer
———
Thomas Frank writes of this mentality! He says, “Or their larger effort to demonstrate, by means of egregious misrule, that government is incapable of delivering the most basic services.”
Now that the gop is marginalized government need not remain incompetent.
This link was shared a few days ago (I think thanks to Monkeyhawk). I’m confident those who didn’t read it then, won’t read it now. But you would sure learn something if you did.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122826686559774533.html
I do want the health care system to be reworked and I do believe that at least basic healthcare should be universal, but with that said there it no way to start a project of that size in these times. The economy is not in the position to take on such a large plan at this time. Hopefully soon!
Pleefer…Not everyone is as lucky to be as healthy as you. You gangbanger comment is pushing it don’t you think? Ever studied the effect on a person for long term healthcare neglect?
Could Obama give us Universal car insurance?
LOL Car insurance! Nice one.
So much similarities …health and a person’s car. ;)
It’s patently absurd, “KSGolfnut,” to say “we can’t afford it.
As if, once there’s universal health coverage all these people will come out of the woodwork demanding more medical attention.
We’re already paying for it.
People will get sick at the same rate as today, even if we happen to come up with a better way to deliver and pay for the care they get.
We already “afford it.”
It’s just those who are paying for it now are paying too much and those who don’t get health care until it becomes a major (and much more expensive) problem suffer because the health care delivery system is seriously screwed up.
Wouldn’t want to change that, now would we?
Spending money wisely?
Not the CONservative way.
“So much similarities …health and a person’s car. ;)”
Howza ’bout Universal life insurance?
Heh Monkeyhawk. They love to whine about how much health insurance costs businesses, but…
It’s the one business cost they DONT want to socialize.
WTF?
Usually they cant WAIT to pass off the cost of doing business to the taxpayers.
Until they dont.
nitwits
How do you come up with the idea people will become healthier?
People are people and aren’t going to go to the Doctor until they need one. Socializing health care is not going to lead to an influx in people seeking the preventative care they should.
Unless of course we force them.
I’m sure that’s comin’.
Andsome would trust the government in health care. That is like trusting Usama bin Laden to fly an airliner.
Heheheh. Maybe on our money we should say “In Blue Cross Blue Shield we trust”?
“In AIG we trust”?
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!
greyhound
Posted December 4, 2008 at 10:50 am | Permalink
Andsome would trust the government in health care. That is like trusting Usama bin Laden to fly an airliner.
—————————————————-
It’s non-sense and they don’t even see the irony.
Have you been to the DMV?
Have you been to the Post Office?
You complain about the IRS, the VA.
And this is what you want to instrust your health security too?
Hello? Who says you will be forced to have a insurance not of your choosing? And I like MR KIA how you throw every single government agency into a generic put down. I supppose you believe you would be fine without any of those agencies.
DavosRancheros
Posted December 4, 2008 at 11:14 am | Permalink
Hello? Who says you will be forced to have a insurance not of your choosing? And I like MR KIA how you throw every single government agency into a generic put down. I supppose you believe you would be fine without any of those agencies.
—————————————————-
what part of “universal” do you not understand?
I’m not questioning the need for those Government entities but if you think they are well run I’d like to see where you work. LOL.
I believe the idea is if you don’t have insurance you won’t have a choice…whether or not you think it will work that is the idea put forth at least by Obama.
Have you ever worked for a government agency KIA? You seem to know so well on how they work and the issues they face.
Anyone who thinks that universal health care will cost less than the current system is an idiot. It will cost far more in taxes and you won’t have the option of opting out of paying for coverage the way many do today.
Try this… Next time you’re standing in line at the DMV, or having any ivolvement with the IRS, etc., ask yourself “do I really want these idiots in charge of my health?” The government has proven time and again that there is nothing they aren’t capable of screwing up.
One other thing to remember… Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, at some point the party of opposition will be in power. If you don’t trust them now, why would you want to give them even more control?
Hmm… Maybe I should’ve read all of the comments before posting. It seems Mr_Kia already made my points for me.
If I own a business why am I going to offer my employes health coverage when the government is going to do it for them?
i’ve worked in city agencies before but none that I listed.
they’re all a cluster f to put it nicely.
Well done I rule you managed to call people idiots for not agreeing with you…
Well done.
How many doctors are going to want to work for government pay?
Yes, quickly. It’s an obvious neccessary component of any economic recovery plan.
A healthy populace is a thoughtful, productive, which is able, in terms of the cliche, to “work smarter, not harder.”
For the past 14 years, we’ve been slowly developing a wage-slave state (though it accelerated under Bush), where real wages have stagnated, fewer employees do more and more work with fewer benefits, and are routinely treated with the disrespect possible when their jobs can be outsourced overnight.
Never mind the suffering of human beings. From the standpoint of competing in a global it’s dumb. Even the multinational corporations are belatedly coming to realize that their disloyalty to the location of their Home Offices means long-term disaster for their business model, even if they move their entire operations to China, India, and Gabon.
It’s dumb.
Fix the healthcare system. Bring down costs. Stop infectious disease. Maintain good health cheaply now instead of paying for catostrophic health later (if necessary, via the passed-on costs of unpaid ER bills).
It’s a no-brainer.
Well that is a fair point. But how many doctors/hospitals work for low agreed prices now?
But how many doctors/hospitals work for low agreed prices now?
=======================
I don’t know.
But the docs and nurses in my family make a very good living. They work hard for that money no doubt.
Rage I agree with alot of what you said but I still think that right now is a horrible time to tackle a issue that big. It will take a massive amount of resources to start up something like that. Don’t mis-understand I waqnt this to happen if possible, but I want done right.
US doctors support universal health care - survey
More than half of U.S. doctors now favor switching to a national health care plan and fewer than a third oppose the idea, according to a survey published on Monday.
More here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31432035
I don’t know.
But the docs and nurses in my family make a very good living. They work hard for that money no doubt.
————–
I agree, they do work hard. I think that if we do have government insurance of some sort there will be arrangments made just like the private ones for set prices. It is crazy how that works, and I would never say I understand much of that honestly.
Don’t mis-understand I waqnt this to happen if possible, but I want done right.
Well, I’m not saying it has to be the first thing out of the gate. It would certainly take months at a minimum, even at breakneck pace.
But it needs to be done as quickly as possible.
As you can see I multi-task and need to look at grammar before I hit that post button. Excuse me. :)
Heh, don’t sweat it, DV. I am positively famous for leaving _____ out. :)
Can’t stand universal healthcare? Actually, we’ve got defacto universal healthcare now. A hospital ethically and by law cannot turn away an ill or injured patient who can’t pay. They are treated, and the bill tacked on to the bills of those who can. Whay do you think a hospital aspirin costs $8? Why do you think your insurance premiums are so effing high?
Unfortunately, what we’ve got now is also the most expensive, least efficient and least effective form of universal healthcare. ER’s are expensive to run, especially when they are used as primary care by those who can’t afford a doctor’s office call. And by the time the patient ends up in an ER, they’re usually in too bad a shape for the cheap solutions to work, so they’re treated with more expensive medicines and surgeries, with less chance of success. And you’re paying for it through the nose!
A universal healthcare system would at least be a system instead of the patchwork of expensive fixes we have now. For less than 10% of what it cost us to buy golden parachutes for Wall Street, we could have an efficient system that works for all of us. It does work! I’ve talked to quite a few Canadians, including some who work in their healthcare system, and the universal response is “How the hell do you yanks manage to survive with the healthcare you get here?” They tell me that yes, some surgeries have a waiting period. Boob jobs and tummy tucks are neither covered nor receive priority scheduling at their hospitals but for something necessary, you’re in faster than in US hospitals and with less paperwork, regardless of what the fearmongers here say.
Yes, a universal plan is necessary, and fast! And it shouldn’t be administered by the insurance industry that got us in the mess we have now! The medicare system already in place is considerably more efficient than you insurance company.
Dave Rancheros,
“Ever studied the effect on a person for long term healthcare neglect?”
Yeah, it was called The Tuskegee Project (google that).
I was making an attempt at humor, sadly with my healthfulness comments.
I am healthy, thank God, but members of my family are not. I am empathetic to them as much as anyone must be.
My point is that just like the smoking bans all over. There will be mandatory bans on a variety of “unhealthy” habits. And those habits are whatever the guvmunt deems as such.
The Codex Alimentarius (google that too) spells out the first move and explicitly shows where this guvmunt healthcare will go. They will destroy the natural healthcare industry. Vitams will be heavily regulated. You will take exactly what they sell you. Talk about choice.
And while the gangbanger thing is reaching, it is the basis for my argument. Not unlike some dumb ass who drinks and drives and hurts themselves. Maybe it is just someone who is reckless and has a deathwish. The “dare” guy, the nut who likes to show off and gets hurt all of the time. We all know these types of folks.
But whatever, it’s just about some bs “side” being marginalized and not an agenda, isn’t it KFG?
Published on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 by Reuters
Primary Care About to Collapse, Physicians Warn
by Maggie Fox
Primary care — the basic medical care that people get when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems — could fall apart in the United States without immediate reforms, the American College of Physicians said on Monday.
Primary care — the basic medical care that people get when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems — could fall apart in the United States without immediate reforms, the American College of Physicians said on Monday. (Lee Celano/Reuters)
“Primary care is on the verge of collapse,” said the organization, a professional group which certifies internists, in a statement. “Very few young physicians are going into primary care and those already in practice are under such stress that they are looking for an exit strategy.”
Dropping incomes coupled with difficulties in juggling patients, soaring bills and policies from insurers that encourage rushed office visits all mean that more primary care doctors are retiring than are graduating from medical school, the ACP said in its report.
The group has proposed a solution — calling on federal policymakers to approve new ways of paying doctors that would put primary care doctors in charge of organizing a patient’s care and giving patients more responsibility for monitoring their own health and scheduling regular visits.
U.S. doctors have long complained that reimbursement policies of both Medicare and private insurers reward a “just-in-time” approach, instead of preventive care that would save money and keep patients healthier.
“Medicare will pay tens of thousands of dollars … for a limb amputation on a diabetic patient, but virtually nothing to the primary care physician for keeping the patient’s diabetes under control,” said Bob Doherty, senior vice president for the
ACP.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0131-08.htm
(One finds a similar PDF on the ACP website)
Obama’s insurance plan will be a huge success! Just ask the state of Hawaii how great it works.
Try this… Next time you’re standing in line at the DMV, or having any ivolvement with the IRS, etc., ask yourself “do I really want these idiots in charge of my health?” The government has proven time and again that there is nothing they aren’t capable of screwing up.
*****
So . . . why did you support “the government” invading Iraq?
As for your question, YES, I DO WANT THOSE IDIOTS IN CHARGE OF MY HEALTH.
Because I can vote for my government. I can’t vote for the money-grubbing robber barron that denies my claim at my “free market” health care provider.
Pleefer,
I am not sure how The Tuskegee Project relates to what I was suggesting. I was not talking about Syphilis, but things like untreated strep infections that can eventually cause very serious problems. Preventive care is best, I think we can all agree on that?
Do you really think there will be a day where we will be forced to take an packet of government prescribed pills everyday, Pleefer? Sounds a tad off to me…
“Next time you’re standing in line at the DMV, or having any ivolvement with the IRS, etc., ask yourself “do I really want these idiots in charge of my health?”
How ’bout you ask yourself the same thing?
What is the longest you ever had to wait in line at the DMV? Did you ever walk out without your license? IF you did, were you unable to come back the next day?
SSSssssssssssssss
(That’s your point deflating.)
The motivation of insurance companies is, quite naturally, collect as much in premiums as the market will sustain, and pay out as little in the same way.
What we have now is a financial death spiral: the less insurance pays, the more medical bills remain unpaid, the more costs (at every level of the process) go up, and so, then, the insurance companies cover even less, which brings up back to square one.
The only sensible, factual objection I’ve heard (as opposed to ideological canards) to a Canada-style system came from Obama himself, mainly, what are you going to do with all those insurance company employees? The answer, of course, is evolution, not revolution.
But it’s long past time to start.
Some folks are quite naive about health care. If you think putting the government in charge is going to help, you are guessing wrong.
Health insurance companies are already tightly integrated with government health care at all levels. It is managed by the health care industry.
I can’t believe the naivety on this blog lately.
“Next time you’re standing in line at the DMV, or having any ivolvement with the IRS, etc., ask yourself “do I really want these idiots in charge of my health?”
I’ve heard the DMV in Tucson used to be the proverbial nightmare. But they made good use of technology, and reorganized the way they distributed different tasks, and made a huge portion of it available online.
The last time I went to the DMV (yes, to do, the “works”–registration and tag), they called my number within 15 seconds of the information desk handing it to it.
No, I’m not making that up. Ask anyone in Tucson that you know.
Both government and private industry are capable of enormous stupidity and inefficiency. But just because government often doesn’t do things right, doesn’t mean it can’t.
All it takes is an active interest in making government work.
P.S., By the way, they’re the “MVD” here.
Rage,
“what are you going to do with all those insurance company employees?”
I know, they could sell supplimentary health insurance to all those cons who don’t trust the government! We’d have to set up something like that, or else they’d all turn to other, more harmful forms of fraud for a living.
I can’t believe the naivety on this blog lately.
Hey, good point, Regular. Surely we shouldn’t trust the government to pay your military disability.
I’m certain we can find some private insurer who’s more trustworthy and will give you a better deal. I’ll let my elected representatives know!
Rage
Posted December 4, 2008 at 12:54 pm | Permalink
I can’t believe the naivety on this blog lately.
Hey, good point, Regular. Surely we shouldn’t trust the government to pay your military disability.
—————————————————-
Well the Government was the employer at the time of his disability was it not?
Interesting how the cons who don’t trust the government to run anything else all get down on their knees in front of the Pentagon daily and worship the military/industrial complex!
Well the Government was the employer at the time of his disability was it not?
Correct. So are you saying that employers should pay their own disability payments to those injured on the job?
OK Oliver Stone.
Rage
Posted December 4, 2008 at 1:04 pm | Permalink
Well the Government was the employer at the time of his disability was it not?
Correct. So are you saying that employers should pay their own disability payments to those injured on the job?
—————————————————-
Unless they are purchasing Insurance for such, Yes.
They are liable.
Unless they are purchasing Insurance for such, Yes.
They are liable.
Then why shouldn’t the US military purchase insurance as well?
Rage
Posted December 4, 2008 at 1:26 pm | Permalink
Unless they are purchasing Insurance for such, Yes.
They are liable.
Then why shouldn’t the US military purchase insurance as well?
—————————————————-
Couldn’t tell you I’m not running the military.
I imagine getting a company to write a policy might be difficult.
Mr_Kia,
It seems to me that in your answer that “They are liable” to the question that Rage posted, you are, IMO, associating an employer’s liability under Workers Compensation laws with liability for an employee’s disability generally. I would agree that the employer is liable for an employee’s disability if the same arose from or out of the scope and course of the employment under applicable state Workers Compensation statutes, or as a service connected disability suffered by a member of the uniformed services the latter of which, from what Regular has posted, certainly applies.
However, there are many causes of disability that are not “job related”. For example, if an employee is disabled, temporarily or permanently from, e.g., cancer of a type not associated with the work the employee does for his/her employer, is it your position that the employer has liability therefor? I acknowledge the employer may well provide salary continuation for such an employee, funded in whole or in part by a policy of insurance acquired by the employer, as a benefit of employment; but, to my best efforts to find anything to the contrary, there is no liability imposed upon the employer under any state or federal statute to provide disability pay in such cases, in the absence of a contractual obligation between the employer and employee.
As I am sure you are aware, there are disability benefits provided to qualifying individuals under the Social Security Act. However, the employer is not required legally to provide any disability benefits to an employee absent a work-related disability. One may argue that the employer is required to pay the matching FICA amounts, and in that sense has some legal liability; but the liability is owed the government to make these payments, and not to the employee directly.
I’m referring strictly to disability from the work performed.
I’m not sure of Regs ailment, but imagined it was from his Service.
Because of the nature of military service (especially in wartime) I think the employer should also be liable for psychological disabilities.
There would be savings by eliminating the duplication of govt. hospitals such as the V.A., many vets. switch back and forth between claiming their medicare, or seeking treatment through the V.A., which ever will save a buck.
If there’s such waste in the claim process, that in itself would provide funds for covering others. But there would be ramifications and dislocations as claims processors lost their jobs.
#
Rage
Posted December 4, 2008 at 12:54 pm | Permalink
I can’t believe the naivety on this blog lately.
Hey, good point, Regular. Surely we shouldn’t trust the government to pay your military disability.
I’m certain we can find some private insurer who’s more trustworthy and will give you a better deal. I’ll let my elected representatives know!
————————-
I do have private insurance I purchase. It’s called tricare - it’s blue cross and blue shield.
As far as my disability, tough luck on my part, nothing the government can do to replace a screwed up spine. Guess I’m just stuck with that huh?
Poor dumb disabled Vets, how dare they presume they deserve anything for their service. We should dump their carcasses in a pile when the U.S. is done with their service. No cost except moving the dirt over their bodies, perhaps a little petro to burn the decaying matter.
RE:” It’s called tricare - it’s blue cross and blue shield.”
I’m retired and eligible for tricare. I don’t presume to be an expert, but what snooping I have done, I don’t recall it having anything with BC/BS. ????
Poor dumb disabled Vets, how dare they presume they deserve anything for their service.
Of course, it was self-evident that I was making the exact opposite argument. But if government can’t do anything right, why should we trust them to provide disability benefits of any kind?
Maybe because they can, ya know, occasionally, get ir right?
With or without universal healthcare, fixing the VA is mandatory. And it can be done.
Rage,
The best way to get it fixed is to put it under a universal healthcare system and make damn sure our congressmen are on the exact same plan as the rest of us!
Reggie,
“As far as my disability, tough luck on my part, nothing the government can do to replace a screwed up spine. Guess I’m just stuck with that huh?”
You and me both! What we need is universal healthcare coverage that will pay for a full body transplant. Shouldn’t be that difficult- I know at least a dozen people who would gladly donate a teenager to medical science.
6 grams o’ Soma a day.
The Tuskegee Experiment in a nutshell.
Government gives po’ black folk syphilis. Government then leaves said syphillic guinea pigs UNTREATED until they died to test the effects of untreated syphillis. Get that…untreated?
But Clinton apologized for it. So it’s cool.
Pleef,
The subjects of the Tuskegee Experiment were not intentionally infected with syphilis, they simply weren’t told their diagnosis. While unforgivable, please remember that when the experiment was started in 1932, there was no effective treatment. The standard treatment at the time was white mercury tablets, which were highly toxic and did nothing to stop the progression of the disease; in fact they probably exacerbated it. The availability of penicillin as an effective treatment didn’t occur until 1947. The real crime was denying them penicillin from 1947-1972 when the study was terminated, but by that time the disease likely had progressed 15yrs to the point where even penicillin would have been ineffective.
6 grams o’ Soma a day.
Very funny, Pleef.
For those who didn’t get the joke, Soma is a muscle relaxer that fixes nothing but isn’t too shabby in relieving symptoms.
But the dosage Pleefer suggested would likely result in fast, permanent relief.
Soma was the “happy pill” in Huxley’s “Brave New World” as well.
And what I mean by the Tuskegee evilness is that that crap is still going on. We’re all a bunch of little white mice, running on our wheels and navigating our little mazes. And we get the electro-soma, the television. But take heart, in 40 years the sitting POTUS will also apologize to us (when it all become declassified).
I’m all for helping someone out who may fall out of a tree and break their body up. But not at all willing to help some gang banger piece of crap with bullet holes all over.
I’m sure I read something similar to the above in the Bible…and printed in read.
KFG, there’s your “Jesus Wept”.
And it can be done.
Check with Chet Edwards in Texas. The VA system there is so improved, thanks to Chet, it isn’t recognizable as the old one.
Zachaeus climbed up the tree (being a “wee-little man” that couldn’t see), I don’t remember anything about him falling out.
And the gang-bangers??? The Praetorian Guard?
Soma was the “happy pill” in Huxley’s “Brave New World” as well.
Well, whoop-te-do, Pleefer. Am I supposed to be impressed?
You think you’re only one who’s read Huxley, or has seen the chilling things that have come true? You haven’t yet realized there are multiple persons here who get your references, but are rolling their eyes at some of your conclusions?
It doesn’t make your own hallucinations any more credible, dude. Better up your dosage.
Or you could try hard facts. In a illusory world, it’s all we got.
P.S. I realize it’s silly to argue about fiction, but “six grams” had no basis in the novel.
And the gang-bangers??? The Praetorian Guard?
Uhm. . .never mind. The existence of question-marks in that sequence gives me hope for your sanity. . .
Rage,
Soma, (which is also a ritual and possibly hallucinatory drink referred to in the Vedas) is the brand name of a powerful and sometimes nasty skeletal muscle relaxant, often used to treat back problems.
I cannot believe the stupid, uninformed critiques of univerasal coverage on this thread…again. I really think that these comments are programmed to pop up whenever the bottom line of the health care idustry is threatened. I managed our branch plant in Toronto for a few years and I know your posts about waits, going to the US for care etc. is just plain crap! Before it is tried in the US though, we must get our tax system adjusted(note I did not say raised) for the univeral care thing probably can’t just be overlaid onto the existing tax grid without chaos being the end result. Places with universal care are more fiscally conservative and socially liberal and their taxation codes reflect that.
My sanity eh?
I’m not the crazy one here. I’m the one who sees the world as it is becoming, not as I wish it was. Just because you don’t read anything other than a novel, doesn’t make the insanity of our circumstances any different. Try reading about eugenics and Bertrand Russell.
Whoop-te-freakin’-doo.
Roll thou eyes away.
It seems to me, that everyone (in the book) took as little as half a gram a day and up to 20 grams a day. But here we are arguing your red-herring semantics when you know exactly what I’m talking about.
And by the way, not once, did I insinuate that I was the “only one” who has read Huxley. I added the note for those who haven’t.