Even the Buffalo News hates the Seante Healthcre Bill. And for all the right reasons.
"No to Health Bill:"
It's a good article, make sure to take the time to read it.
I don't know what to do.... *sigh* this issue is so important to me, you guys have no idea how many hours I've spent reading about it, researching, calling my representatives, calling and emailing leaders in congress, talking to people, blogging about it, even working with my church on a statement of conscience about the issue.... damn, it really has been like a part time job. I know way to much about the personalities of moderate US Senators who aren't even in my state, and how much campaign contributions they get from the health insurance industry, and who their spouse works for....
Our healthcare system is just wrong, and the debate about fixing it has been disgusting. We have some shady double dealing Democrats in this Senate, and the Republicans have been no help at all... ok, I don't know if you want to hear my rant, because I'm too tired to be careful with my words. I keep struggling to use language you can play on the radio.
What kind of healthcare system do I want to see? Medicare for All !!!!! But that's just out of the question because nobody will make a profit except for the actual freaking doctors, oh that would be awful. We might actually spend money on medical care.
Don't give me that bull about socialized medicine and the magical free market, unless you can tell me this; What value does the insurance industry bring to the system? They're just middle men, skimming off a few dollars off the top (33%) for no reason except to create a few more millionaires in their corporate offices by denying people care. We spend 16% of our national wealth on healthcare, at least 5% more than every other nation on earth.
You're sick? Pay or die. Oh we're scared of 'rationing care', and 'death panels', too bad that's what we have now! They're called "Insurance Companies" they decide what treatments we all get, and how much to charge for them, but they don't even see the patient! Doctors actually have to hire an extra person just to call the 1-800 number for the insurance company to find out if they can treat their patients or not. oh screw it, I'm ranting.
Why not Medicare for All? They tell me that Medicare doesn't pay enough to doctors and hospitals. Gee, no way we could possibly fix that... uh, maybe, raise the payments? Seriously, I bet it's a lot easier to raise the Medicare payments than it is to get the insurance industry to take care of their customers. How about I take my $360 per month that I pay my healthcare company, I give $200 to Medicare to help pay doctors more, and I take the other $160 and put it in my pocket, because that's what I save by cutting out the Insurance CEO who is making a million a month by trying to deny people care.
We also need to get rid of the Fee-for-Service system, which pays doctors and hospitals to provide more care, not better care. This often leads to duplicating tests, expensive procedures, and excessive prescriptions.
'Take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning' is bad for business. Our system isn't about keeping people healthy, it's about waiting to you're sick and then trying to cure you with heroic and expensive medical procedures.
Why is our system so stupid? and why is it so hard to fix it? I'm just watching the Senate in disbelief.
Truth is, it's not that hard to fix. Just lower the age for Medicare, every few years, until everyone is covered. Get rid of the fee for service billing system. And lower the cost of education for doctors so we have enough of them to go around.
Study that graph for a minute, it says that our government pays more per person than any other government on earth, and that doesn't even count what we pay out of pocket for premiums, or what our employers pay into the system. Over all, we're $2,000 more per person than the next guy, which is Switzerland. Yes, it really is that out of control.
And for all that money we get lame results.
So back to the current bills in congress. I don't know what to do. The bill in the House was mostly better, but in the Senate we have a bunch of corrupt senators who are willing to take us all down for their own greed and arrogance. And I'm angry with the Republicans for not even trying to be constructive. I watched the Senate Finance Committee hearings, don't try and pretend that Republicans give a damn about doing anything, they refuse to cooperate with Democrats on principle (that principle is 'you suck, I hope you fail, and bring the country down with you so we can have power back'). Arlen Specter was already thrown out of the Republican party, and Olympia Snowe is probably next if she keeps talking to Democrats.
alright, I'm rambling. I'm not ready to give up on Healthcare Reform, maybe this is just the first step. But I really think the first step should be lowering the Medicare age to 55.
I'll close with the statement on Healthcare from my church.
"We are deeply concerned that medical treatment currently provided in the United States, is beyond the reach of many people.
Our belief is that every person should be treated compassionately. Each of us has unique value, and all deserve to live to the best of our potential. Healthcare is a basic necessity of life which our society has an obligation to provide. Medical treatment should not depend on one's current occupation, income, race, gender, age, disability, or medical background.
Every person will require healthcare at some point in their lives, and should receive the treatment they need.
We seek a more just, sustainable and simplified healthcare solution."
peace
More Reading:
You guys bring up some of my favorite tangents.
Campaign financing; our politicians spend all their time fundraising, instead of coming up with good ideas. Talk about a waste of money, they spend 90% of their workday fundraising. Our politicians live in a system of money and manipulation, that's the problem. We should be able to demand honesty, and get rid of the money, but the rich and powerful like it this way.
Cigarettes; I found out recently that cigarette tobacco is radioactive.... you wanna know why? because there are radioactive metals in the fertilizer. Nature didn't make it radioactive, but man did. Good luck finding organic tobacco. Perhaps the most infuriating part is that the EPA knows :::link::: and this fertilizer is still legal.
In general; I'm sick of governments trying to balance budgets on the backs of the poor and middle class, while giving tax breaks to people at the top. Cut libraries, cut schools, cut police and fire, but tax breaks for Wallstreet, handouts for big oil, subsidies for agribusiness, no bid contracts for war profiteers... Talk about redistributing income, it's all going straight to the top. You know the top 1% of america owns over 30% of our wealth? And the rest of us seem to cheer them on, as if their selfishness was a virtue we should be proud of. :::link:::
@ (e:libertad): I guess I wasn't thinking about these issues when I said tax cigarettes more. Addiction is a big problem - which is why I think cigarettes don't really fall under the category of "harmless recreation". Smoking cessation programs are effective but they need time, patience and most of all, a will to stop smoking. They are not enough to tackle the level of problems we have with smoking currently. Probably an alternative way would be to treat cigarette addiction clinically like a drug addiction and make it prescription for people who are addicted.
But yes, I never think when it comes to cigarettes. When you look at cancer every day, there is not a single organ system that is not affected by the ill-effects of smoking. It's hard to see the logic in why cigarettes should still be legal. :/
The basic reason why funds are never enough for public-help programs like libraries or even a smoking cessation program is that our politicians (globally) are inept, selfish, greedy and brainless twits. They are even more evil that cigarettes. We probably need a politician-support-cessation program to rid us of our addiction to voting them to power. But someone who is not evil has to step up to manage the system - we desperate need a good bunch of people willing to do this. Till then, we will continue to see internal rot and global financial mismanagement.
I didn't even know about this until I saw your journal. that is a huge cut.
The answer to all of our problems should stop being to tax cigarettes. My thoughts on taxation of this LEGAL product have changed since the latest increase. I can see how much additional suffering this is causing to not only smokers but to their families. Addictions defy logic, they happen in every demographic and people will do what they normally wouldn't in order to continue their addiction. The state is not showing any mercy by their current taxation of cigarettes while at the same time cutting smoking cessation programs. Let's say you are an addicted single mother and your choice is to buy food for your children or a pack of cigarettes, the addicted mother will always choose the cigarettes first and figure out what to feed her children later. If you don't understand that, then you do not understand REAL addiction. People want to stop regardless of the money, if it is only about the money than the chances of not relapsing are pretty slim. These people need more help not higher taxes!
I have an Idea instead of cutting the library why not cut salaries. Here is an idea when someone in office travels make them pay for their own food... If I remember correctly (e:dcoffee) you are anti casino.... There are some good points to why they are bad that isn't the debate right now. If they where legal or if there was to apply to have one this state would be much better off. We have casinos but since they are on Indian land we [state and city or town where it would be] (don't have the numbers) only get a portion the money they make. If it was in the state we would get all the local taxes. The Other factor is that since Niagara Falls USA got the Casino 2nd everyone would come here instead of there.
So because of corruption and mis management the library gets cut lovely!
Oh this is awful! Libraries are the essence of learning and arts in a community. Leave it to these corrupt mismanaging grubby little politicians to target the one institution that actually needs more nurturing.
How can they be this thick-headed?!
I wish they would just tax cigarettes more and slap an incredibly heavy tax on soda as well... oh, and cut back on the evil subsidies on corn and soybean.
You need to read this article: :::link:::