Health Care
Whenever I hear people talking about how amazing socialized medicine is, I am reminded of the old grass is greener saying. There seems to be this grand ideal about it that all other countries in the world have amazing medical care for all, for no cost, and they are all living happy, sickness free lives without a care in the world. But the fact is, there is no perfect system. Nothing is going to provide everyone what they want, or maybe even need. It is the way of the world.
I honestly think that if we as a country develop a plan of health care paid for by the government, or by businesses, it would be one of the biggest mistakes in our history. The costs for just medicare and medicade now are astounding, and would balloon to unimaginable numbers if spread to cover everything. The only way to pay for such huge costs would be to tax the american people to death. And that only hurts the lower class more than they already have been. Everyone likes to talk about how much this would help people who cant afford health care now, but how will they afford a home when they are paying crushing taxes? And we can’t lay all of it on the wealthy, because the moment we try to do that, they will be gone, and we will be in much worse shape then.
Another point to consider is that as it stands, we provide, I feel, some of the best care in the world. We have many of the best doctors and scientists working for us every day. When was the last time you heard of anyone having to go to another country to have a special procedure? They all come here. Because we have the best. And why? Because in our system they will not be making the federal wage for a doctor. I think the moment the government starts deciding what to pay our doctors, they will be gone. They go where the money is just like the rest of us would.
A great irony I think is that people believe people are just falling dead in the streets because the hospitals wont admit them. Maybe I missed those news bits. Because it seems to be the other way around. In the socialized medicine countries, they have to wait weeks or months for care, even if they need it immediately. But in this country we have immigrants who come into the country illegally, have nothing, but if they need care, they can go to the hospital, and get the care they need.
It seems to me we are going about this in the wrong way. Why are we not working to reduce the costs of health care now, instead of just band-aiding the problem by having the federal government write a blank check to the health insurance industry? I think everyone would agree that health care costs are totally out of this world, so why are we just ignoring this? Isn’t it a better idea to work on bringing them down than just throwing up our arms and saying “oh well, just pay them what they want?”
“Employers have expenses. Here’s an example of the types of things a business has to pay for:
Rent
Insurance
Advertising
Materials (to sell)
Office Supplies
Payroll (which includes all subsets of “things that are required to keep people on the payroll”)
What’s left is profit.”
One big point in the healthcare debate that has been pointed out repeatedly in interviews and articles I’ve come across is that currently insurance companies use 15-30 cents of every dollar they take in on overhead costs–mostly those things you listed above including profit. The other 70-85 cents of each dollar is spent on medical expenses–doctors, nurses, equipment, and medicine. Shareholders in these companies want that profit percentage as high as possible and encourage the companies to limit those medical expenditures as much as possible. These limitations basically mean that they do everything they can to avoid treatment … which sucks if you are sick and need treatment.
The hope is that the government system would be able to drastically reduce that overhead. They don’t have to pay for those expensive TV commercials. Those evil bureuacrats everyone fears have much more reasonable paychecks than the evil CEOs people tend to ignore. The government, as much as you hate it, is not for profit in the same sense as the insurance companies. Most sources I’ve seen assume the government overhead should be somewhere around 3-5 cents on the dollar.
Insurance companies only real goal is to make money, and they are very good at that. However, I think the goal of healthcare needs to be making people healthy. The government can prioritize that in a way that insurance companies cannot.
“There’s a good reason why the CONSTITUTION of the UNITED STATES limits the Federal Government to a specific list of things and then reserves everything else (including health care) to the States or to the PEOPLE.”
Of course their is room for interpretation and such interpretation will depend greatly on your other beliefs, but in Article 1, Section 8 I think it is pretty easy to place healthcare under the category of “general Welfare.” You can certainly argue that governement run healthcare isn’t in the best interest of everyone (I would disagree), but I don’t see the unconstitutional argument.
“The Congress shall have power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States”
“Make no mistake. The Feds don’t care about you. They only care about lining the pockets of favored constituents (ie not you).”
Although you certainly are right about many elected officials I don’t think you are right about all of them, and most people in the government are not elected officials and I think many of those people (again, not all) do care deeply about taking care of their national community.
I’ve rambled here, so in closing, would you agree that some change needs to happen even if you don’t think the government system would work?
WHO Ranking of healthcare systems:http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html
WHO Ranking of % of GDP spent on healthcare:http://www.photius.com/rankings/total_health_expenditure_as_pecent_of_gdp_2000_to_2005.html
WHO Ranking of healthy life expectancy:http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthy_life_table2.html
Right now US healthcare is expensive and crummy by developed world standards. If the government isn’t the solution, what would be?
Regards,
3000 Projects
Blue Table Painting has now completed over 3000 projects. That’s the equivalent of about 500 full armies. Probably more. Yay!
Cruising Speed
QTY
1
The Dark Prince Vladimir
1
Komandant Irusk
1
Karchev the Terrible
1
Old Witch of Khador and Scrapjack (2 models)
1
Fenris Dragoon (2 models)
1
Epic Kommander Sorscha
1
Greylords of Ternion (3 models) L4
1
Behemoth
1
Berserker
1
Destroyer
1
Devastator
1
Juggernaut
1
Marauder
1
Spriggan
1
Iron Fang Ulhans (box of 3 models)
2
Doom Reavers (box of 6 models)
1
Iron Fang Unit Attachment (2 models)
2
Iron Fangs Pikemen (box of 6 models)
1
Kommandos (box of 6 models)
1
Kossite Woodsmen (box of 6 models)
1
Manhunter
1
Manhunter alternate pose
1
Man-o-War Demolition Corps
3
Man-o-War Kovnik
1
Man-o-War Shocktrooper
3
Mechanik Chief & Assistant (2 models)
1
Yuri the Axe
1
Widowmakers (box of 4 models)
1
Winterguard Field Gun and Crew (3 models)
2
Evil v Evil
What’s Hot
Cities of Death: Testimonial
Pandora’s Army Special: Take Two
The Pandora’s Army special was one of the most exciting things we’ve ever done. I’m ready to do a run for August (they should be done near the end of August). Note: I plan on running this special until further notice.
$850 for a 1500 point army (half-down deposit pulls the trigger).
.
Three nixes (specify three armies that it can’t be).
.
Options as follows:
- Plus $250 brings it up to 2000 pts.
- Plus $100 reverses the nixes (you specify three armies, we pick which one it gets to be, we are limited to those three).
- Plus $250 upgrades the painting level to a L4/6 split.
- Save $100 by going with painting L2/4 split.
.
The catch? We pick everything. You only choose 40K or Fantasy. We will produce at least a reasonably competitive list. And nothing weird for paint scheme.
.
Painting Level is L3/5 split (ie L5 for heroes, L3 for everything else– what you mostly see on our site). You can also nix THREE armies; meaning you can pick three armies you don’t want it to be. Point cost includes reasonable upgrades (ie we won’t inflate the point total by giving every piece of wargear possible).
.
I’d be really excited to do anything with this special because I always have a lot of ideas cooking. Artists produce their best work when allowed to operate freely.
.
We accept almost any form of payment you can imagine. Don’t forget that we have a trade-in program (that can take the edge off!).
.
The normal refund options are not available for this. It’s non-refundable. That’s fair, I think, since we are making concession on price in exchange for artistic license.
.
Normal shipping rates apply. That’s $9 flat in US, $25 flat overseas. Overseas pays actual shipping if it’s over $50 (ie we absorb extra cost up to $50). This is rare but it does happen.
.
I will be reasonable. I think that this deal will produce good armies. No “four high elf special characters and two units of archers” or stuff like that. I have full good will in this matter. I really want to have free reign to make some dream armies.
Not Going Back…. to the Wild West
I was watching the Daily Show tonight and the book featured sounds like the exact opposite of what I’ve been reading. So I’m going to get it and read it!
Justin Fox: The Myth of the Rational Market
The thesis as far as I can tell, is that when left to themselves people would make a worse situation than is had with government interference.
Perfect, a book with a counter-argument. I’ll let you all know how it goes.
The Inner Light
Hello all. For some reason people seem to be interested in this blog, so I keep plugging away.
Let’s go back to Saturday. I took the boys out to a burger place and let them play on the little indoor playground thing for a few hours while I takked away on the laptop. I’m constantly working it seems. Does that make me a workaholic? I do make/take time for family and other areas of life, so I suppose not. Then we headed out to Wal Mart to pick up some fruit.
I am working on the Terradons for the Lizardmen army, which will complete that force. Everything is done for the entire 3000 pts, even movement trays. It’s a really nice army. I’m proud of it.
My wife went out grocery shopping Saturday night, which is an all afternoon affair. I am well aware that this is a time for her to get away from her regular routine. She likes to do it. We are always well stocked. She doesn’t shop for shoes or clothes. She shops for food. So that’s a good thing.
I spent a good part of the afternoon making army lists and dreaming of a new army. Wood Elves? Kroot? What would be fun to play? But best to concentrate on a new round of Pandora’s armies. I am very excited for the second run, which I will open the door for this Monday.
The whole house finally conked out around 11pm. We just sort of dropped where we were in random beds or couches. I woke up at 2am, and momentarily refreshed watched my favorite episode of Star Trek ever. It always brings a tear to my eye. The Inner Light.
When I was a boy of about twelve, we had just moved back from Alaska and were living next to my father’s best friend. They had an enormous house, four levels in all. He was a woodworker and was constantly improving the home with decks, balconies, and add-on rooms. During the summer I would go over there and watch Star Trek, a small pile of penny-candy on my lap. The mother, Marilyn, was dark-haired and with a warm face, always kind and ready with cookies and milk and a kind word.
I am hoping that my own kids will discover Star Trek, dusting off my DVD-seasons of them.
For young people reading this I give a word of encouragement. Keep an eye on the horizon. Things will get better in ways that you do not envision at this time. You are worthwhile.
Spirited Away
If you haven’t seen this movie, you’re a dope. Here’s a clip.