Comments on: A house on a bad foundation WILL collapse.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:24:33 +0000

No, Health Insurance IS the biggest problem with health care in this country. But no one is proposing ANYTHING to address the root cause of the problem.

And that is a GOVERNMENT problem. It is a PRIORITIES problem. And it is a problem exacerbated by 535 +2 people all wanting to grandstand and pretend they are helping. When in fact NONE of them are helping. They are looking for attention. Another example that pops up every few years that really focuses on this problem is the minimum wage. The minimum wage should NEVER have been set by Congress, but it has been to give political points to one party over another. It SHOULD have been indexed, like Social Security is, years ago.

We need to flush the toilet that is Washington, DC.

Attack the causes. Did Colonel Doolittle bomb the Phillipines or Okinawa? No, he bombed Toyko. While that was ONLY a public morale victory, it did go to the root of the problem. And that is NOT happening. Again, I have pointed out in this blog entry where the problems began. No one, not even you in your responses here, have taken these on. Even you brought up a sob story, Judy Welnak, in an effort to score points. What happened to her was both sad and unnecessary, but it is an ancedote. It, again, does not get anyone focused on the core of this issue.

That is the problem with solving this issue. No one wants to focus on the REAL problem and attack it. I cannot believe that I am standing nearly alone on this (with Dr. David Gratzer and a few others). And I find it even harder to believe that few people find it worth the effort to study and address this issue.

Congressman James Garfield’s words from the 1880 Republican National Convention are continuing to be proven true.

By: Margaret Kersting

Margaret Kersting — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:58:25 +0000

Health insurance is part of the health care problem.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:29:10 +0000

You are missing the point. Health care in the United States of America, RIGHT NOW, is the best in the world. Level of care, access to care and quality of care are second to no other nation. The only stats that people look at are ones that do not tell the whole story, such as infant mortality.

Judy Welnak had poor HEALTH INSURANCE. That is NOT Health Care. Apples and Oranges. You NEED to separate the two. Had she been willing and able to pay cash for a liver transplant, she could have gotten it. Is that realistic? Not under our current system. And I illustrated in this blog entry how we got there.

The CAUSE needs to be attacked. This is like a cancer treatment. You don’t treat a cancer by making someone comfortable and disguising the symptoms. You treat the cancer by cutting it out, killing it and treating the surrounding tissues to be sure that you got it all. This bill is feeding and fertilizing the cancer because it expands the causes of cancer. Would you give a lung cancer patient a truckload of cigarettes and a barge load of asbestos?

The Democrats in Congress, and our President, would…and ARE. THAT is the problem.

By: Margaret Kersting

Margaret Kersting — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:38:05 +0000

Matt may be an example of good health care, but I can give you the example of Judy Welnak denied a liver transplant because her insurance company said it was experimental surgery. She died in 1993 and from what I’ve read liver transplantation had become the accepted treatment in the late 1980′s.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:31:51 +0000

I will not agree that our health CARE system is messed up. Health CARE is fine. I think the treatment that my brother-in-law is getting while away from home is proof of that.
I have said all along that the health care costs situation is out of control. And, as I did again in this blog entry, I have pointed to the causes of the problems. This IS truly how we have gotten there.
Banking regulations, specifically the repeal of Glass-Stegal back in 1999 – which was a bipartisan move, even though neither side is willing to take the blame or share the blame, only point fingers – have been a disaster.
Do I believe that companies that operate to earn a profit will improve things without regulation? They could, but it is unlikely. Remove certain restrictions to FORCE competition, like that 1943 Internal Revenue Act change and things will improve because then EVERYONE will be forced to shop it. But that is not enough, because you need to set standards as well.
Medicare and Medicaid did more damage, and continue to do, than they have helped.
As for savings, I have NONE. ZERO. No emergency fund. Nothing. Had them. Lost my job, got help from many people (like you and others you know) and it is all gone. I do not earn enough and, like you 25 years ago, I am hoping for and working for improvement. The Fair Tax would CERTAINLY help me. And millions of others who are also in the working poor.

By: Margaret Kersting

Margaret Kersting — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:51:09 +0000

I am not as well informed as I should be so I will admit to being somewhat ignorant. Will you acknowledge that our health care system is messed up? Do you believe that for profit companies will improve things without regulation? If so you may be naive. Have you noticed the what happened to interest rates when banking reguations were “relaxed”? I have repeatedly said that everyone should be able to have what I had Every year I had at least 20 health insurance policies to choose from. Some were HMO’s some were low deductibles, some higher. Probably they had a lifetime cap on payments. I did not study all the fine print. Policies are written by lawyers for the benefit of the companies and like most of our laws they are uncomprehensible to most of us. I believe the average American reads at the 7th grade level. I believe our laws are written by legislators most of them lawyers trying to keep each other in business. I think income tax withholding is good. most people do not save enough for the future. Most people do not even have an emergency fund and you know how much we didn’t put away for your college expenses-just always thought things would get better. On the other hand I’m starting to lean toward the fair tax.