Healthcare
What About Mono-tasking?
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | Healthcare, Politics | 1 Comment
I know that the new way of doing things is to multi-task but there are things that might better be done with a laser focus. One of those things that should have been mono-tasked is President Obama’s healthcare inititiative.
Instead of going to try to get the Olympics, or going across the country trying to get the birther vote, he should be concentrating on the votes that count. President Obama is a Constitutional lawyer he should know that the votes that count are the ones that will give him the sixty votes.
The Democrats seem to have forgotten that they won the election. They also seem to have forgotten that the people elected them to get things done. If they don’t get things done, they may not get re-elected.
If President Obama got the healthcare with a public option that he and the majority of Americans want, then he could be in a better position to help those Congressmen and women that need to be re-elected. He should be concentrating on those people to get their vote.
He should forget about pleasing the Republicans and remember what he said after his Presidential win: that he is the President of all the United States. While the public option may not please everyone, it will please the majority and that’s what our laws require.
Speaking of what our law requires. why don’t we do away with the filabuster option in the Senate? The House has done away with it and I think that the Senate should too. The filabuster makes it almost necessary to get a two thirds vote which should be reserved for Amendments.
P.S. Today is my daughter’s birthday. Every day, but particularly at her birthday, I am reminded I may never create a breathtaking sunset or a Mona Lisa but having a part in creating this Awesome human being makes me thankful to God, and Da Vinci jealous.
P.P.S. Happy Birthday!!! Anjanette Love Dad
Let’s Cut It to the Bone II
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 | Economics, Healthcare | 1 Comment
Now aside from doing away with our Armed Forces being used for a World Poliice force and doing away with the minimum wage I have a few more suggestions. Maybe if we implement some of these we could pay for healthcare.
This next idea might, at first,seem radical but it might be closer to being realistic. We should grow and distribute drugs. Since the war on drugs seems to be going the way of the Viet Nam War maybe we should declare a truce.
Now we all know that drugs in this country are controlled by organized crime and if we control the sale of drugs and tax it we could be making that money. The money we would save from fighting a futile war would again go in the public coffers. We could put more police on the streets although we might not need them since a lot of crime is drug related.
We would be creating more jobs for Americans and fighting the War on Terror at the same time. The Afghans have increased poppy production over twenty times since 2001, who do you think is buying?
One of the things that got us into problems was oil. The countries that have oil have been holding us hostage. Well I recently heard that in the future water may be the new oil. Along with this, food will become scarce and therefore more valuable then oil. If we started to hold the world oil producing countries hostage for food then maybe the price of oil would come down. If not, let them eat sand.
A Very Immodest Proposal
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | Economics, Healthcare, Politics | 5 Comments
Blame it on the Republicans, they brought it up but I think in fairness we should at least consider it . Of course I am talking about the health care death panels.
The Republicans claim that the new health care bill has a provision in it that would allow for doctors to decide for the elderly when they should die. While it is inconcievable for me to think that doctors would want to take over a job that heretofore was left to God and the insurance companies that’s what the Republicans are saying. At first I was appalled at the thought but upon sober reflection I might see where it would have advantages.
When I used to go to Kmart they had a thing called the Blue Light Special. This was an item at a really low price that would last only a few minutes. People would crowd around a litle blue flashing light frantically grasping for a chance to get the sale item and in a lot of cases, I couldn’t understand why. Was it the item itself? No, because they would have bought it even if it was a Vanilla Ice record (Yes a record).
Perhaps the flashing blue light had mystical power that would make people do what you wanted them to do. No, cause I went around with a flashing blue light on my head and women still wouldn’t go out with me. What made it work was the time limit.
So maybe as we approach our later years, if we have an expiration date we might start clawing at enjoying life and appreciate it more. Instead of older people begging off doing things with the old refrain “No I can’t do that I’m too old” they might change it to “Hell yes I’m doing that, cause next week I go before the Death Panel.
I don’t know how this Death Panel would work though. Would relatives have a say in it? Cause that might prove to be a boon to the economy. Say you have a rich old aunt who is selfishly keeping her investments to live on. She has indicated that you may be the heir to her fortune but year after year with each new birthday you see “your” money being squandered by the old bitty on things like food. Now, if you were on the Death Panel you might soon be able to stimulate the economy with your modest yacht and Lamborghini purchases.Who would have thought that being on a Death Panel would be patriotic?
If we do institute this we may see an increase in healthier seniors, especially if the Panels have a physical fitness portion. We could televise it on pay per view which would defray the cost of the wonderful health care we are getting. Face it we all know that wrestling is staged and yet people pay millions to see that. Here we would have people literally fighting for their lives on television, I know I would pay to see that. I mean you haven’t lived till you’ve seen Seniors Dodgeball.
If we are really going to cost cut however we might want to consider an alternative. Maybe we should do away with babies. First of all they don’t vote, which could be a big stumbling block for the Senior Death Panels. Second anyone who has gone to a pediatrician knows that those immunizations cost a bundle, most of the old folk either have had the disease or the shots. Third with the possible exception of a few broken hips, senior aren’t as accident prone as children. Children are always skinning their knees something that seniors don’t often do. Not to mention the paucity of incidents of seniors putting peas up their noses.
I’m beginning to lean towards the idea of those Death Panels on two conditions: I get to serve on the Panel and I get an exemption from having to go before one.
P.S. Thanks to Jonathan Swift for the inspiration
Shout! Shout!
Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 | Healthcare, Politics | 2 Comments
Once again, the healthcare czars are enlisting the uninformed to do their work. Their latest tactic is to try to stop information by shouting at anyone who actually wants health care.
According to the numbers, the majority of Americans want a public option for healthcare. I can’t for the life of me think of why anyone, other then the healthcare industry, would not want a public option.
There was a time, a few years ago, when I didn’t have healthcare and I went to a doctor for a checkup and he charged me $125. Three months later I went again and he charged me $89. The difference was in that three months I had obtained healthcare. So when I didn’t have healthcare and I needed a break, one of those people who used to charge according to a person’s ability to pay decided that I was more able to pay the higher rate than the multi million or billion dollar health insurance company. So it seems that the bigger the organization the bigger the savings. Think how cheap healthcare will be when we have the largest organization paying the bills
You could argue that the government couldn’t do as good a job as the private sector but that ’s why it is called an option. If it doesn’t work for you then go back to your company paid plan. I only hope that with the economy still in trouble that you won’t need the public option when you lose your job. When I left a job they offered me the option of continuing my healthcare on the COBRA plan, all I needed was an extra $1000 a month.
I realize that many people think that the Government can’t run anything efficently but these people have obviously never heard of the IRS. So I would suggest that the people shouting have nothing to shout about. The healthcare bill does not endorse killing the elderly or any of the more outrageous ideas that they are shouting about,although it might include care for the emotionally or mentally challenged so maybe I stand corrected.