I’m not sure any of us can really comment on the bill…I know I can’t. I’m fairly confident none of us have read it in full…and even if we have, there have been so many amendments, it’s hard to keep up…not to mention what the media tells us is not representative of what goes down. BUT, with that said…my thoughts to the sitch. in general:
I think we forget to think about why the cost of health care is so high in the first place. Perhaps it’s a reaction to our monetary policy … I think it’s pretty clear what happens when we’re in a giant deficit as it is, then we inflate the monetary supply to somehow fund this new coverage? Which I suppose either means borrowing more $ from China or taxing a certain tax bracket. Which leads to a whole other series of problems…if we are taxing the people who make more money…a good portion of these people are business owners. If they have less $, that means less money for employees…or no employment (hmmm correlation to current unemployment situation!?)
Also, basic economic principle: less competition = higher prices. AKA, the more the government has it’s hands on “regulation” health care, the more expensive it will be. So the problem here is that we’re looking for immediate gratification rather than a long-term solution….
AND, “insurance” doesn’t equal entitlement. For example, we have car insurance for the bigger things: accidents, injuries, etc. Car insurance doesn’t pay for basic preventative maintenance such as oil changes, gas or car washes. However, for some reason, we think that we are all entitled to health insurance, don’t plan ahead and save for basic maintenance (of ourselves), and then expect the government to figure it out.
So, with that said, I’ve always said that if you complain about something, you have to offer a solution. So here’s what I think: Whether or not our elected officials believe gov. regulated health care is the best thing or not, many vote based on what they think the people want (as they should); however, we as the constituents need to take some responsibility and actually take time to educate ourselves on the issue and consider what might be the best long-term plan, rather than a short-term “solution”. I’ll be the first to say our current situation is pretty shitty, but I also think it’s up to us to think about how these proposed changes are going to change things on both a micro and macro level, both short and long term.
Ah. Nothing like a good 8 AM tangent. (;
First, I think you’re right. None of use are probably educated enough to express a solid opinion of the bill. Sadly, a number of our representatives aren’t as educated on the bill as they should be either. But, I always think it’s constructive to try to have a conversation about it in hopes to learn more.
My opinion: I don’t ever think it’s a good idea to compare health insurance to car insurance. There are other options for transportation and for major urban areas, there are public options too. But what I mean is that a car is a luxury. I think that being a human being comes with certain rights, rights are not luxuries. Health Insurance is one of those rights. I am in support of a government option because I think that it actually can promote more competition to private insurance companies who haven’t been held accountable for a lot of their actions. It sickens me to think about people getting sick and having their premiums raised 40% and a lot of times cancelled all together.
I think a better example to use rather than car insurance is education. I’m not saying that our education system is ideal, it’s far from it. But it is available for everyone no matter who they are or where they come from. There are still private education models and when our public education model is broken, we work together as a community to try to fix it. At least I hope we do. I try to.
I also think that having insurance available to you, no matter what your job is provides you the opportunity to have a lot more options in your life, like what job you have in general. That kind of freedom can better your overall standard of living, maybe even allowing you some freedom to save.
I guess what I am most sick of hearing about this debate is that this is going to be some kind of welfare or handout. I think this bill is about human rights. I don’t think it’s perfect, but sometimes we have to fail to succeed and at least we’re trying something.
If we’re thinking of the long term, this isn’t a new debate. It’s been a debate we’ve been having for a long time. And I think it’s about time we try something. Will it be perfect the first time, probably not, but we’ll learn for the next round. It’s important to have a lot of different opinions and ideas. I hope we can do our best to try and solve problems. I think you make a lot of good points. These are just a few of mine.
I completely agree with Ashly, and would just add one more thing about underwriting. At the bare minimum, insurance companies need some type of regulation even if you’re not in favor of a public option. (But then you open the whole government-regulation-of-big-business can of worms)
There is a whole segment of the population that couldn’t access private health care even if they wanted to, i.e. me. My family can afford to pay for private health care for me, but because of a “pre-existing condition,” there is no way any insurance company will approve my application. And it’s not because of a lack of preventative maintenance (oil changes, etc.), it’s just something that happened.
Personally, I’m not looking for a handout or welfare, I just want the opportunity to pay for health care.
ASHLY: I knew you’d reply of anyone reading this (=
Thanks to both for commenting – Love hearing what you think!!
So in reply – Ash – Yup, that’s a good analogy too. The main point wasn’t a literal translations; however, to reflect the idea that we’re using a system for something it wasn’t meant for.
I agree that people should get health care. The main point of wrote was really not about health care at all, but more focused on the process of how we got ourselves into this situation and ideas for the future to make changes.
It’s been really interesting to see how we are influenced by each other / mainstream media / etc. Sure the conversation and options and transparency has increased; however, does this mean that this increased opinions stated as facts, are actually facts?
I was on a walk last night, listening to NPR coverage of the health care situation. It was funny to me, that most of content I heard on NPR (CNN, etc.) was sound clips of Obama talking about how huge this is for the American people, or what a great victory it is. Or sound bites of democrats and republicans with their respective opinions of the situation and how it will affect us.
Of course this is all good information; however, we need the facts too. Not once did any of the news coverage actually break down what the bill entails. It’s a huge document so of course I’m not expecting a line by line breakdown, but going over the major changes was not what I heard. I heard a lot about feelings and victories and finger-pointing, etc.
Also, I would like to know how this change is going to affect other areas of the public sector: the money has to come from somewhere…and unfortunately since it’s not a money tree, it’s got to come from one of the following places: tax payers, corporations, more borrowed money from other countries, or out of the budgets of schools, roads, public services, social security, pensions, etc.
Also, how is this going to change the current system? Quality of care? Incentive for those in the medical field to continue practicing medicine (for the better or the worse). Is this going to be like a giant Kaiser or will we all somehow get superior care?
Also, within this bill was also a change in student loans? How many people know that and how is that going to affect us? I’d like to know how many people actually know what in included within the health care bill regarding student loans?
I’d also like to know how many of the representatives and senators read the bill in full.
So yes, in conclusion – my main point was to talk about the process of how we have found ourselves in this situation and also to think about how the new bill is going to change things – for better and for worse. Or just change…which doesn’t need to be better or worse really!
In terms of me…what am I doing to actually take action, rather than just projecting? Trying to educate myself as much as possible, from all sorts of sources as possible. Write letters to my representatives and senators. Being positive and enthusiastic of what will result. (=