Feed Your Head Archive: 11/19/2009

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The old joke -- I'm from the government and I'm here to help -- is no longer funny. Last week, we had an example of government intrusion in Medical Care: it took a Presidential declaration of an emergency to facilitate the process of immunization for H1N1. H1N1 immunizations themselves are an example of government ineptitude in Medical Care: with over a year's warning that Swine flu was coming, the government was unable to acquire anywhere near the H1N1 vaccine that officials had determined necessary to ward off the disease and people are dying. This during an unprecedented push by the central government to remove your right of choice in Medical Care. It is clear that these are dark times for the American people.
My favorite arguments for government run Health Care are that both Medicare and Social Security are both government run programs and would you prefer not to have them? Hell, we paid for them. Can you believe the gall of the politicians who use this as an argument for government run Medical Care. And both of these programs are in financial trouble. How did this happen? Well, for decades, Congress decided that they could use the money in these programs to fund their other pet projects when tax revenues weren't enough. Additionally, the central government has allowed fraud in these programs to run rampant. Now they want to take over nearly 20% of the country's GDP. Does anyone believe that this practice of using funds dedicated to Health Care won't continue to be pillaged by Congress as more fraud continues to drain resources from it?
How is it that we got to a point in time where Health Care is equated to Health Insurance? Simple; this is not about health care at all. Does anyone wonder why doctors don't contribute their skills for free like lawyers do? Lawyers do pro-bono work for criminals. Why don't we see doctors doing pro-bono work for people who don't have the funds for their care? Doctors do pro-bono work, but it is all done outside the borders of our country or for non-citizens flown in from other countries. Why? Simple. A doctor providing free health care overseas for Doctors Without Borders or for non-citizens doesn't have to worry about malpractice lawsuits. Overseas, these people are delighted to get help that they can't pay for. In the United States, any outcome that does not perfectly match the patient's expectations can end up being the basis of a malpractice lawsuit. Clearly, the greedy doctors are willing to help for free, just not willing to be at the whim of the U.S. legal system.
Government run Health Care proponents in Congress have one thing in common: government run Health Care is of financial benefit to their constituents and the special interests that lobby them. While government run Health Care provides no benefit to the majority of Americans, it bails out states like Hawaii, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Maine (that's right, Olympia Snow's State). It also bails out unions who have mismanaged their own health care funds over the years. As coverage expands, the AMA makes more money off the codes that they contol via monopoly mandate from the central government; the same codes that often result in the reimbursement issues with the evil insurance companies. Walmart would also benefit as the company provides low cost pharmacy and clinic services. And personal injury lawyers like John Edwards become multi-millionaires. The only losers in this game are the vast majority of Americans who are happy with their current Health Care choices.
Let's fix Health Care in America. Let's stop the rip-offs of Medicare where a $1K wheelchair costs $3K and the mob defrauds the government of Billions of dollars each year. Let's make the Medicare and Social Security funds sacrosanct and keep the politicians hands out of OUR PAID FOR benefits. Let's put an end to the malpractice jackpot scam that keeps doctors from volunteering their services to those of us who cannot afford the care they need.

Congress needs to fix the problems we already have, not the problems their constituents and lobbyists created for themselves. Prosecute the crooks, keep Congress's hands out of the benefits we have all paid for over our lifetimes, and remove the central government from interfering with the relationship between the American citizen and their doctor. When that happens, when they have our trust again, then maybe if we still have problems, we might be willing to consider their help and laugh at that old joke again.

BY THE NUMBERS!

Compensation?

  • Median Police salary: $50K
  • FBI agent base salary: $48K
  • Avg 2006 FBI overtime: $12K
  • 24/7 Army Sargent salary: $28K

Stimulus?

  • Stimulus(2) Spending: $775B
  • Average Joe Salary: $50K
  • Stimulus/Avg Joe Salary: 15.5M
  • Total under/unemployed: 17M 
All numbers rounded to simplify comparison

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