Hilary's health care plan and Barack's plan are both scams. They'll drive up the cost of health care and drive down the quality of care. That's not the way they present their cockamamy schemes/scams.
I just told a PUMA ("Party Unity My A-s") from GA that's on board with McCain that it is always a bad idea to look at any politician as perfect or anything close to perfect. They all have strengths and weaknesses. Just saying that should not cause people (Hillaryites) to break into tears or a fit of anger (you don't do either).
I disagree with Hillary's approach to health care, and it's not because I don't believe everyone shouldn't have health care. I'll send you an article I read in The Economist, and it talks about how millions of Americans are going overseas (India, Southeast Asia, South America) to GOOD hospitals, better than most here, to get care that sometimes costs one-fifth as much. It is a form of early competition that is driving down prices a little in the U.S.
Health care in the U.S. COSTS TOO MUCH. My wife suffered a stroke in 1991, and it has been a challenge to say the least. (She's on Medicare as well as Medicare prescription drug.) She takes many medications. We save $800 a year by getting prescription drugs by mail order -- same drugs, no co-payment (except for one drug), delivered right to our door.
Almost everybody you see going to the pharmacy could save significant money. But they don't because "the insurance pays for it all." Well, the insurance fairy doesn't just dole out money. The costs come out of people's pockets -- yours and mine.
Sharon, you didn't hear Hillary (or Obama) tell you about anything I just mentioned. I'm talking about getting health costs down by tens of billions, but there is no real incentive for people to do what WE (wife and I) DO. Also, there is a lot of fraud in Medicare, but nobody really wants to stop it.
I believe John McCain will do these things. If they aren't done and we just declare "universal health care," there will be a financial and health care emergency soon after.
Why are big hospitals (Obama's wife worked at one) pouring money into Obama's campaign? Because they think they'll make less money under him? Why can't somebody like me appear at a Town Hall with Obama (or Hillary) and discuss the fact that I just showed how to save the people in the U.S., say, $50 billion a year? Let me send more people overseas to get GOOD care (until U.S. hospitals drop their prices), and I'll get those savings up to $150 billion. And I'm not even running for anything.
Oh, we couldn't do what I just suggested about a real debate. We need a bunch of adoring cheerleaders in the audience instead.
Who's going to pay for the new doctors, nurses, technicians, supplies, and facilities we need for universal health care? You are, not the insurance fairy -- or "the government," which will pay by using your money. And what will drive costs down? Nothing.
If you are sick and need good treatment under universal care, will you get it? Do they in Canada? No, they don't. They wait years for treatment you would get here in a week.
Does John McCain know these things? I believe he does. In fact, even a dimwit like Obama knows the score, but he pretends not to. It's much easier to blame everything on George Bush.
I do wish I were the nominee for President. Like Reagan, I would demand that I get to take a nap after lunch everyday. :-) Thanks for replying.
If I were HRC, I know damn well what I'd do tonight (in her speech at the convention). Sharon, what would you do?
Showing posts with label Universal Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Universal Health Care. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Democrats Making Health Care Sicker
[Note to candidates and supporters: The new John McCain commercial hits a home run. It emphasizes this year's most important issue -- to our surprise -- is gasoline prices. At one point it has a picture of BHO with his trademark goofy smile, and the voice over asks who's responsible for high gas prices. In the background, a crowd is chanting "Obama! Obama!" It is striking and effective. Consider doing the same with your opponents. When Democrats oppose adding ANY energy to our supply, the costs skyrocket to keep demand in sync with supply. That's what has happened in our country. ]
“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.” - Obama
"The smell of urine and sweat." (Dr. David Gratzer)
You may have heard from Democrats during the primaries what a great plan they have for universal health care. They generally compared US health care unfavorably with the national health plans in countries like Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. The last things they wanted you to know about were the deficiencies of government-dominated health care systems.
The following material is from David Gratzer's book The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care. Gratzer is a medical doctor certified in both Canada and the US and currently works and writes in New York City. His book is a compelling read.
In it he says, "In medical school, I learned my most important lesson not in a classroom, but on the way to one. On a cold Canadian morning about a decade ago, late for a class, I cut through a hospital emergency room and came upon dozens of people on stretchers -- waiting, moaning, begging for treatment. Some elderly patients had waited for up to five days in corridors before being admitted to beds. They smelled of urine and sweat. As I navigated past the bodies, I began to question everything I thought I knew about health care -- not only in Canada, but also in the United States. Thought I didn't know it then, I had begun a journey into the heart of one of the great policy disasters of modern times."
Gratzer points out that he had grown up in Canada believing its "system was better than America's, with its uneven quality and absurdly high cost."After he entered medical school, however, his view of Canada's universal health care began to change.
He says, "The more I was exposed to the system, the more familiar I became with the shortcomings of government-run health care. I trained in emergency rooms that were chronically, chaotically, dangerously overcrowded, not only in my hometown of Winnipeg, but all across Canada. I met a middle-aged man with sleep problems who was booked for an appointment with a specialist three years later; a man with pain following a simple hernia repair who was referred to a pain clinic with a two-year wait list; a woman with breast cancer who was asked to wait four more months before starting the life-saving radiation therapy. According to the government's own statistics, some 1.2 million Canadians couldn't get a family doctor."
What would I recommend to John McCain and other GOP candidates? Please read the above material verbatim to audiences who might have been attracted to the Democrats' false promise of "free health care." In this life, alas, nothing is free. Everything comes at a cost. one that, in this case, is much too high.
Later today (Tuesday) I'll put up more material about health care and the terrible pitfalls of so-called "Universal Coverage." I don't mean to suggest that there aren't some serious problems with health care in America, because there are. But the difficulties exist mainly because of flawed government policies related to the tax code. Those bad policies result in a health system that exists in a nether-world between capitalism and socialism, with the result that coverage is not affordable -- or readily available -- for many people. The Democrats' proposals would make a flawed system much worse. Everything in life reflects the principles of supply and demand, iincluding health care. Disastrously, the Democrats want to increase the demand for health care (needed AND unneeded) without increasing the supply of QUALITY care. The result is going to be higher prices followed quickly by poorer service, just as happened in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, and elsewhere..
“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views.” - Obama
"The smell of urine and sweat." (Dr. David Gratzer)
You may have heard from Democrats during the primaries what a great plan they have for universal health care. They generally compared US health care unfavorably with the national health plans in countries like Canada, Great Britain, and Germany. The last things they wanted you to know about were the deficiencies of government-dominated health care systems.
The following material is from David Gratzer's book The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care. Gratzer is a medical doctor certified in both Canada and the US and currently works and writes in New York City. His book is a compelling read.
In it he says, "In medical school, I learned my most important lesson not in a classroom, but on the way to one. On a cold Canadian morning about a decade ago, late for a class, I cut through a hospital emergency room and came upon dozens of people on stretchers -- waiting, moaning, begging for treatment. Some elderly patients had waited for up to five days in corridors before being admitted to beds. They smelled of urine and sweat. As I navigated past the bodies, I began to question everything I thought I knew about health care -- not only in Canada, but also in the United States. Thought I didn't know it then, I had begun a journey into the heart of one of the great policy disasters of modern times."
Gratzer points out that he had grown up in Canada believing its "system was better than America's, with its uneven quality and absurdly high cost."After he entered medical school, however, his view of Canada's universal health care began to change.
He says, "The more I was exposed to the system, the more familiar I became with the shortcomings of government-run health care. I trained in emergency rooms that were chronically, chaotically, dangerously overcrowded, not only in my hometown of Winnipeg, but all across Canada. I met a middle-aged man with sleep problems who was booked for an appointment with a specialist three years later; a man with pain following a simple hernia repair who was referred to a pain clinic with a two-year wait list; a woman with breast cancer who was asked to wait four more months before starting the life-saving radiation therapy. According to the government's own statistics, some 1.2 million Canadians couldn't get a family doctor."
What would I recommend to John McCain and other GOP candidates? Please read the above material verbatim to audiences who might have been attracted to the Democrats' false promise of "free health care." In this life, alas, nothing is free. Everything comes at a cost. one that, in this case, is much too high.
Later today (Tuesday) I'll put up more material about health care and the terrible pitfalls of so-called "Universal Coverage." I don't mean to suggest that there aren't some serious problems with health care in America, because there are. But the difficulties exist mainly because of flawed government policies related to the tax code. Those bad policies result in a health system that exists in a nether-world between capitalism and socialism, with the result that coverage is not affordable -- or readily available -- for many people. The Democrats' proposals would make a flawed system much worse. Everything in life reflects the principles of supply and demand, iincluding health care. Disastrously, the Democrats want to increase the demand for health care (needed AND unneeded) without increasing the supply of QUALITY care. The result is going to be higher prices followed quickly by poorer service, just as happened in Canada, Great Britain, Germany, and elsewhere..
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