I am a 65 year old Yakima Washington resident. My wife (43 years of marriage) and I have two grown children and are negotiating the turning fortunes of our lives. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life." My desire is to know Him.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Groucho Marx once said "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?
6 comments:
Anonymous
said...
It looks like insurance companies are the latest villains. There has to be an 'enemy' to defeat, a 'disaster' to rescue us from. Don't you understand, Freedom Fighter? We're being rescued! How ungrateful can you be?
Where's the money coming from? OH, that's right, the government is going to give it to us.......The people of the U.S. are going to be "slaves" to the "company store! I think Tennesee Ernie Ford sang a song like that.
Wow Anon Sister. You sound just like Freedom Fighter. Are you seriously defending the insurance companies? Are they the victims?
Strider, allow me to lift the 16 tons of crap you've been getting from your AM radio off of you so you can see the truth. Here it is: YOU'RE ALREADY A SLAVE to the current health care system.
There is plenty of money going around in health care. But too much of it is going to drug companies, HMO's, hospital conglomerates, etc. And not enough is going towards you so you can just walk through a doctors door without having to shell out three digits.
Tell me something, Conservatives. The "liberal media" has me believing that you all think the health care system is just fine the way it is; and Obama should just leave it alone. Do any of you really believe that?
Yes Kevin, you are right. The liberal media has you believing that the choices are Obama's plan or no plan. Actually, Obama is quite good at opposing the straw man. He loves to identify the fictitious opposition by saying something like, "Some people say we should do nothing about health care! But I believe that is not good for America."
Well, actually, no one believes that we should do nothing. So here is a good question. Has the liberal media told you what the rest of the country would like to see in the Health Care plan? I haven't seen them even ask the question - meaning that what is being railroaded down our throats isn't even a real discussion about alternatives. Why not? So to answer your question, Do nothing? No. Do what he wants to do? Hell no! By the way, you mentioned that too much of our money is going to drug companies. Beneath the radar, the Obama administration has linked up with the drug companies to cram this legislation through. He knew that if he got one of the three (drugs, insurance, or doctors) he could do this. Even Democrat leaders in Congress were surprised to learn of this. What people other than Democrats are convinced of is that this isn't about better health care as much as it is about government's control of health care. If this was about better or more affordable health care, the path to that would be much different.
It is a fact that nation-wide there are 1300 health insurance companies. Many are not allowed to compete nationwide because some state legislatures have prevented them. It is a fact that nationwide, the average profit, after taxes for these companies is 3%. In every government program that has ever existed, the government entity wastes more than 3% before they get up in the morning. If profits from an insurer dip 3% they are done, so they scrutinize expenses very carefully. If net revenue from a government entity dips 3%, they celebrate the fact that it didn't dip 20%.
What is being ignored by those in power is the needed discussion of increasing the choices for health insurance, not decreasing it. If we open up the choices to all for-profit insurers, and make each choice of insurance a family decision instead of the employer's decision, and make the insurance portable, then the marketplace eliminates the gougers, just like it eliminates anyone else who tries to get too high of profit. The added benefit of this approach is that each family chooses exactly the type of insurance it wants. Health nuts get less insurance coverage. People like Helen and I get more. The second leg of the alternative plan is tort reform. Tort reform is being totally ignored by Obama. Isn't that a conflict of interest? The third leg is clean up medicare and make it work right. Democrats admit that it doesn't work right but think a bureaucracy 50 times bigger will work just fine. And the uninsured? When you take out the people who just don't buy health insurance, the illegal aliens, etc., you get a much smaller number of people. Let Obama be creative for them.
Our health care system does need to be improved like you would clean a house, do repairs, or some remodeling. But to hand the title deed of that house over to the government is outrageous.
The government should be saying to insurance companies: "Clean up your act or go out of business. Make room for more companies to meet the needs of the people. We were not elected into office to go into the health care business. That's not our job." Why isn't the President saying that?
I don't think the key here is health care. I think it's CONTROL. Health care is simply a place to start.
On paper, Freedom Fighter, your ideas sound GREAT! Are you sure they won't end up like the airlines struggling to fight off bankruptcy every year since Reagan deregulated them?
Anon Sister: I agree with you. It is about control. And I'm happy for you if you believe you currently have ample CONTROL of your health care. Walk into any room and ask for a show of hands of those who don't feel they have control of their health care today.
Really, your views are sound. But who are you blaming for not getting heard?
Obama didn't get voted into office by making up the problems with Health Care.
Everybody is up in arms and attending town halls like never before to hash this out now that the "socialist" is in office.
Were conservatives honking horns and waving flags about Health Care while Bush was in office? Of course not.
What if McCain/Palin were in the White House? Not a chance. Not like this.
Yet the problems were still there.
But now EVERYBODY cares like never before. "He's going too fast." "He's going to make America's Health Care system unrecognizable."
Do I fear it? I'm COUNTING ON IT!
To be fair, I know it has problems. And I hope Republicans CAN get more involved. I'm standing right with you on tort reform. Where is the discussion? I have much more to say about that another time.
But if you conservatives want to get in the game, you're going to have to stop wasting your sound byte time with stupid, wild eyed, angry talk about "Socialism", "Fascism", "Nazis", "Death Camps", "Killing off elderly".
The sooner the decent fiscal conservatives can get ahold of their party and stop blaming Obama (the fairly elected president), or the media (which is like blaming a funhouse mirror for how you look), the sooner America will listen to you.
6 comments:
It looks like insurance companies are the latest villains. There has to be an 'enemy' to defeat, a 'disaster' to rescue us from. Don't you understand, Freedom Fighter? We're being rescued! How ungrateful can you be?
Anonymous Sister
Where's the money coming from? OH, that's right, the government is going to give it to us.......The people of the U.S. are going to be "slaves" to the "company store!
I think Tennesee Ernie Ford sang a song like that.
Wow Anon Sister. You sound just like Freedom Fighter. Are you seriously defending the insurance companies? Are they the victims?
Strider, allow me to lift the 16 tons of crap you've been getting from your AM radio off of you so you can see the truth. Here it is: YOU'RE ALREADY A SLAVE to the current health care system.
There is plenty of money going around in health care. But too much of it is going to drug companies, HMO's, hospital conglomerates, etc. And not enough is going towards you so you can just walk through a doctors door without having to shell out three digits.
Tell me something, Conservatives. The "liberal media" has me believing that you all think the health care system is just fine the way it is; and Obama should just leave it alone. Do any of you really believe that?
Yes Kevin, you are right. The liberal media has you believing that the choices are Obama's plan or no plan. Actually, Obama is quite good at opposing the straw man. He loves to identify the fictitious opposition by saying something like, "Some people say we should do nothing about health care! But I believe that is not good for America."
Well, actually, no one believes that we should do nothing. So here is a good question. Has the liberal media told you what the rest of the country would like to see in the Health Care plan? I haven't seen them even ask the question - meaning that what is being railroaded down our throats isn't even a real discussion about alternatives. Why not? So to answer your question, Do nothing? No. Do what he wants to do? Hell no!
By the way, you mentioned that too much of our money is going to drug companies. Beneath the radar, the Obama administration has linked up with the drug companies to cram this legislation through. He knew that if he got one of the three (drugs, insurance, or doctors) he could do this. Even Democrat leaders in Congress were surprised to learn of this.
What people other than Democrats are convinced of is that this isn't about better health care as much as it is about government's control of health care. If this was about better or more affordable health care, the path to that would be much different.
It is a fact that nation-wide there are 1300 health insurance companies. Many are not allowed to compete nationwide because some state legislatures have prevented them. It is a fact that nationwide, the average profit, after taxes for these companies is 3%.
In every government program that has ever existed, the government entity wastes more than 3% before they get up in the morning. If profits from an insurer dip 3% they are done, so they scrutinize expenses very carefully. If net revenue from a government entity dips 3%, they celebrate the fact that it didn't dip 20%.
What is being ignored by those in power is the needed discussion of increasing the choices for health insurance, not decreasing it. If we open up the choices to all for-profit insurers, and make each choice of insurance a family decision instead of the employer's decision, and make the insurance portable, then the marketplace eliminates the gougers, just like it eliminates anyone else who tries to get too high of profit.
The added benefit of this approach is that each family chooses exactly the type of insurance it wants. Health nuts get less insurance coverage. People like Helen and I get more.
The second leg of the alternative plan is tort reform. Tort reform is being totally ignored by Obama. Isn't that a conflict of interest?
The third leg is clean up medicare and make it work right. Democrats admit that it doesn't work right but think a bureaucracy 50 times bigger will work just fine.
And the uninsured? When you take out the people who just don't buy health insurance, the illegal aliens, etc., you get a much smaller number of people. Let Obama be creative for them.
Our health care system does need to be improved like you would clean a house, do repairs, or some remodeling. But to hand the title deed of that house over to the government is outrageous.
The government should be saying to insurance companies: "Clean up your act or go out of business. Make room for more companies to meet the needs of the people. We were not elected into office to go into the health care business. That's not our job." Why isn't the President saying that?
I don't think the key here is health care. I think it's CONTROL. Health care is simply a place to start.
Anonymous Sister
On paper, Freedom Fighter, your ideas sound GREAT! Are you sure they won't end up like the airlines struggling to fight off bankruptcy every year since Reagan deregulated them?
Anon Sister: I agree with you. It is about control. And I'm happy for you if you believe you currently have ample CONTROL of your health care. Walk into any room and ask for a show of hands of those who don't feel they have control of their health care today.
Really, your views are sound. But who are you blaming for not getting heard?
Obama didn't get voted into office by making up the problems with Health Care.
Everybody is up in arms and attending town halls like never before to hash this out now that the "socialist" is in office.
Were conservatives honking horns and waving flags about Health Care while Bush was in office? Of course not.
What if McCain/Palin were in the White House? Not a chance. Not like this.
Yet the problems were still there.
But now EVERYBODY cares like never before. "He's going too fast." "He's going to make America's Health Care system unrecognizable."
Do I fear it? I'm COUNTING ON IT!
To be fair, I know it has problems. And I hope Republicans CAN get more involved. I'm standing right with you on tort reform. Where is the discussion? I have much more to say about that another time.
But if you conservatives want to get in the game, you're going to have to stop wasting your sound byte time with stupid, wild eyed, angry talk about "Socialism", "Fascism", "Nazis", "Death Camps", "Killing off elderly".
The sooner the decent fiscal conservatives can get ahold of their party and stop blaming Obama (the fairly elected president), or the media (which is like blaming a funhouse mirror for how you look), the sooner America will listen to you.
Turn off the mikes of your lunatic fringe.
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