Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthcare. Show all posts
Monday, March 11, 2013
Let's Fix our Country...
I know how to fix the country. All of these ideas will help to fix economy, solve the debt, end the deficit, and put America back on track to prosperity.
1) Legalize marijuana in all American territories. Regulate it. Then tax the heck out of it. I propose a 90% federal sales tax and a 6% state sales tax on marijuana.
2) Ban all lobbyists. They use money to puppeteer elected officials, causing the average American's voice to be drowned out.
3) Make all unions non-profit organizations who are banned from using member money for the purposes of lobbying or to support any candidate, committee, or PAC.
4) Make it a federal crime, retroactively, for an elected official to use insider knowledge for profit. (i.e. using knowledge of an upcoming bill to inspire certain stock purchases or sales, using government programs that make once worthless land into rich property [See Harry Reid's portfolio...]).
5) Term limits for all elected officials. The founding fathers never intended for public service to be a lifetime career.
6) Only those elected officials who reach their term limit are eligible for pensions and benefits after their final terms. IMMEDIATELY stop paying full salary pensions PLUS full benefits to former Congressmen, Senators, and others who were voted out. (This would include Jimmy Carter's incredible pension as well as George Bush's (41). )
7) Stop ALL ethanol subsidies. This limits the amount of corn available for food, both for human and livestock consumption. When you limit supply, demand requires prices to rise. Food prices rise as a direct result of ethanol subsidies.
8) Stop with the "blend" requirements for fuel. There is ZERO conclusive proof that these "blends" do anything other than drive up the cost of fuel. Go with one blend. Lower the cost of fuel.
9) Reopen and reissue the expired leases in the Gulf of Mexico. THEN, open off-shore drilling on the continental shelf. BP disaster? Ok, let me ask you this. Is a leak easier to control at 100' depth in the ocean...or 5,280' depth?
10) Approve the already cleared, researched, and properly prepared-for 'Keystone Pipeline' project. On July 6, 2008, President Bush announced that he was opening the coasts of Virginia and California to further exploration. Seemingly within minutes, gas plummeted. (Gas was back down to $1.84 +/- when Bush left office...). The sheer announcement of exploration panicked OPEC. The election of kowtowing Obama relinquished that fear.
11) Apply the Texas legislative schedule to the federal government. Texas' legislature meets something like once every other year. If the feds met once a year, and were required to work in their home districts the rest of the time, they would be far less likely to pass stupid laws and would be more motivated to get things done...especially since they would be in their home districts, hearing far more from constituents than from lobbyists.
12) Close the borders. Make the discovery of illegal immigrants employed by your company devastating to your bottom line. Make the attraction to break our laws to come here less attractive.
13) Once the borders are closed, modify and pass the Dream Act. (Read on, conservative...I have not sold out. But, I am a realist. ) In the new Dream Act, there is a sunset date on registration for the program. Here are the details of the program:
-Within 6 months of passage, all illegal immigrants must register with the program.
-One able-bodied member of each immediate family must register for, and complete, either 5 years of Military Service; a Masters Education Degree in a Math, Science, or Arts program with a commitment to work in low-income schools for 5 more years; earn a degree in the field of healthcare and commit to 5 years in high-need areas.
-All adult members of the immediate family must complete 1,000, hours of community service within 2 years of registry (any real community service such as mentoring, reading to children, assisting elderly, etc.)
-All members of the immediate family must learn English.
-All members of the immediate family must take an oath of loyalty to the United States of America.
If you do not register within 6 months of the passage of the program, you are ineligible. Any illegal not registered under the Dream Act within that 6 month period will be deported. If you don't have a deadline, the flow of illegals to take advantage would be overwhelming. Close borders first! THEN, require those here the option of serving this country to stay on permanent VISAs (not citizenship), or they can leave voluntarily.
14) If Congress fails to perform its duties in any calendar year (i.e. not passing a budget, creating a deficit, etc.), all members will be fined 50% of that year's salary, and will work, without pay, until such duties are completed.
15) If the President signs into law a bill that puts the nation in long-term debt, he/she will forfeit one year's salary up until he/she signs a bill that covers that debt. This would include the pension due the President after his/her term.
16) All Higher Court decisions must refer only to US law and the US Constitution. Referring or using the laws or dictates of foreign nations is not to be done and is grounds for impeachment as a Judge or Justice.
These 16 steps would be painful, but mostly to the moochers who live off the taxpayer and dictate to us how to live.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
The Audacity of Hope, Change, and Lies.
Do you get what is happening in D.C. this week? Other than the massive snow storm, which may very well be God's divine intervention to tell America to slow the heck down, Congress might be well on its way to killing America, once and for all.
Yeah, some of you think that idea is extreme and irresponsible. I know some nay-sayers think that an American Congress cannot possibly be THAT bad. You shrug with a hint of apathy and dismiss my claims as an overreaction and underestimation. I wish I could get those nay-sayers to open your eyes, ears, and minds. It is time to wake up and see where we are heading.
In an unheard of act of desperation and recklessness, Harry Reid is going to force the US Congress to vote on Health Care on CHRISTMAS EVE. The bill on which they are voting will not even be made available to the floor to read until December 23, at the earliest, with Reid holding the final amendments and revisions in his back pocket until the last second. No one knows for sure what will be voted on, specifically, just that Reid and Obama call it health care reform.
Obama ran on creating a new environment in Washington, DC, yet this past year has shown to be full of more of the same partisan, closed meeting, back-room politics that hte Democrats have made careers out of. There is no semblance of the transparency Obama PROMISED throughout his campaign. Not even a smidgen of a hint of a vague essence of a crumb of transparency. Instead, most of what is being voted on has yet to see light of day, and definitely has not been read by the 60 Dems in Congress, the 40 Republicans, and certainly not the public.
As a cab driver the last month, I have driven many doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. The uncertainty of what is REALLY in the bill, as well as what has been said to be in the bill, scares the heck out of EVERY ONE OF THEM. I estimate I have driven 25 medical professionals, maybe more, but no a single person is in support of this idea. Oh, and did I mention, I drive a cab in the CHICAGO metro area? You know, the liberal bastion home of Obama, Blago, and Richard Daley? So, if this is such a sweeping, necessary, positive change for the country and the health care system, why can I not find a single medical professional that likes what is happening in DC? Not one!
Let's break down the logic of what we do know is in the bill.
In 10 years, it is scheduled to be deficit neutral. They have not said it is going to be efficient, lower costs to tax payers, nor have they said what will happen in 11, 12, or 13 years. What they have said is that in 10 years, this plan will be deficit neutral, meaning that in the decade following its approval, the plan itself will not add to the national deficit. OK, that might well be true. But here is the trick. For four years, the program will raise taxes, cut Medicare, cut Medicaid, and raise taxes, and raise taxes. And raise taxes. So, as long as everyone doesn't mind paying 60% federal taxes, and can manage to keep their incomes the same for four years, the program will build a stockpile of cash. THEN...and only then...after four years of saving the money from the increased taxes, something the Democrats are historically TERRIFIC at (see Social Security, Medicare funding...), then we will see the gradual implementation of all the wonderful programs and benefits of the plan.
So, yeah, if no one else loses a high paying job and can afford the weight of the ever increasing taxes forthcoming, and somehow doctors already hurting from the current low reimbursements, only to go lower with this bill, from public aid...yeah, this might be deficit neutral in 10 years. But, what happens when the stockpile of cash runs out? Hmmm?
In addition, the main cry from the left is the lack of people covered currently. This is the #1 reason to completely destroy, I mean reform, health care. Yet, even in 10 years, when all the new bureaucracies are in full force and the plan is completely up and spending, I mean running, there will still be millions not covered. Even the people supporting the bill will admit this point.
Huh? I thought that was the hole point, to cover EVERYONE?
Oh, I know...details, details...
I touched on it earlier, but I do want to go further in-depth on the Medicare cuts.
First of all, Medicare was one of those trust-funds, supposedly put into a lock box for those who have paid into the system, and need assistance in their later years. It was these same type of liberal wackos that took bolt cutters to the lock box, put the funds into the general spending funds, and have put Medicare on the route to bankruptcy in the next 20-30 years. This is only expedited by the fact that liberals willingly give yours and mine tax dollars and Medicare benefits to illegals and immigrants who have not paid a damn dime into the system.
Second, in order to stretch the increasingly depleting funds, Democrats keep cutting Medicare reimbursements over and over again. Remember when George W. Bush got blamed for cutting Medicare? Yeah, that was a budget cut voted on and signed into action by the Clinton administration 2 years prior. Was not Bush, so stop blaming Republicans for killing Grandma. Democrats cut the reimbursement this year, too. Some of you might shrug and dismiss thinking, "Doctors and Hospitals make a killing, so who cares?"
They make a killing off of the insured and the self-payers to compensate for the losses suffered due to public aid payments. Whereas an insured person pays a co-pay and has a deductible to pay when procedures eclipse the coverage, by law Doctors and Hospitals have to eat the costs incurred when the government decides that they only want to pay "X" number of dollars for a procedure. You have to think and understand, nurses, staff, building maintenance, equipment, materials, supplies, malpractice insurance, drugs, needles, and all the other things a Doctor or Hospital need...well, they all cost money. And remember, your average ER or Family Practice Doctor is not nearly as rich as you might think. They do well, but are making somewhere near the upper levels of upper middle class, and not always bringing in $250K and up.
For those of you that don't get it still, the liberals are calling you stupid. They are ignoring the majority and forcing a bill down our collective throats that will only kill jobs, kill people, and kill the economy. It is not about reforming health care to better America, its reforming us to control us. They think we are too stupid to have our own money, so they have to take it because they know better how to spend our money.
If this passes and we sit idly by and let this disaster grab hold, we will have allowed the coming end of freedom, economic independence, political independence, and the United States of America. We are at the edge. This Health Care travesty is a turning point. Either we stop it now and give ourselves a chance to survive, or we let it go through, and watch as America becomes a shell of itself.
If this passes unchecked, we will collapse. We will see another great depression. We will see so much poverty, hunger, illness, and suffering, I have a legitimate fear we could break down into a second civil war. Am I being too extreme? I don't think I am. Perhaps, if Obama had kept his word on ANYTHING, and the Democrats in Congress weren't so secretive, I might have hope this won't be as bad as some fear. However, I have NEVER, in my 28 years, heard of a 2,500 page contract being signed without proper vetting, signed in a hurry, that wasn't a tragic mistake. Have you?
Would you sign a 10-year lease on a vehicle not knowing the costs of the vehicle's maintenance? Not knowing for sure what your payments for the lease will be? Would you gamble your family's future like that? I would hope not.
Yeah, some of you think that idea is extreme and irresponsible. I know some nay-sayers think that an American Congress cannot possibly be THAT bad. You shrug with a hint of apathy and dismiss my claims as an overreaction and underestimation. I wish I could get those nay-sayers to open your eyes, ears, and minds. It is time to wake up and see where we are heading.
In an unheard of act of desperation and recklessness, Harry Reid is going to force the US Congress to vote on Health Care on CHRISTMAS EVE. The bill on which they are voting will not even be made available to the floor to read until December 23, at the earliest, with Reid holding the final amendments and revisions in his back pocket until the last second. No one knows for sure what will be voted on, specifically, just that Reid and Obama call it health care reform.
Obama ran on creating a new environment in Washington, DC, yet this past year has shown to be full of more of the same partisan, closed meeting, back-room politics that hte Democrats have made careers out of. There is no semblance of the transparency Obama PROMISED throughout his campaign. Not even a smidgen of a hint of a vague essence of a crumb of transparency. Instead, most of what is being voted on has yet to see light of day, and definitely has not been read by the 60 Dems in Congress, the 40 Republicans, and certainly not the public.
As a cab driver the last month, I have driven many doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. The uncertainty of what is REALLY in the bill, as well as what has been said to be in the bill, scares the heck out of EVERY ONE OF THEM. I estimate I have driven 25 medical professionals, maybe more, but no a single person is in support of this idea. Oh, and did I mention, I drive a cab in the CHICAGO metro area? You know, the liberal bastion home of Obama, Blago, and Richard Daley? So, if this is such a sweeping, necessary, positive change for the country and the health care system, why can I not find a single medical professional that likes what is happening in DC? Not one!
Let's break down the logic of what we do know is in the bill.
In 10 years, it is scheduled to be deficit neutral. They have not said it is going to be efficient, lower costs to tax payers, nor have they said what will happen in 11, 12, or 13 years. What they have said is that in 10 years, this plan will be deficit neutral, meaning that in the decade following its approval, the plan itself will not add to the national deficit. OK, that might well be true. But here is the trick. For four years, the program will raise taxes, cut Medicare, cut Medicaid, and raise taxes, and raise taxes. And raise taxes. So, as long as everyone doesn't mind paying 60% federal taxes, and can manage to keep their incomes the same for four years, the program will build a stockpile of cash. THEN...and only then...after four years of saving the money from the increased taxes, something the Democrats are historically TERRIFIC at (see Social Security, Medicare funding...), then we will see the gradual implementation of all the wonderful programs and benefits of the plan.
So, yeah, if no one else loses a high paying job and can afford the weight of the ever increasing taxes forthcoming, and somehow doctors already hurting from the current low reimbursements, only to go lower with this bill, from public aid...yeah, this might be deficit neutral in 10 years. But, what happens when the stockpile of cash runs out? Hmmm?
In addition, the main cry from the left is the lack of people covered currently. This is the #1 reason to completely destroy, I mean reform, health care. Yet, even in 10 years, when all the new bureaucracies are in full force and the plan is completely up and spending, I mean running, there will still be millions not covered. Even the people supporting the bill will admit this point.
Huh? I thought that was the hole point, to cover EVERYONE?
Oh, I know...details, details...
I touched on it earlier, but I do want to go further in-depth on the Medicare cuts.
First of all, Medicare was one of those trust-funds, supposedly put into a lock box for those who have paid into the system, and need assistance in their later years. It was these same type of liberal wackos that took bolt cutters to the lock box, put the funds into the general spending funds, and have put Medicare on the route to bankruptcy in the next 20-30 years. This is only expedited by the fact that liberals willingly give yours and mine tax dollars and Medicare benefits to illegals and immigrants who have not paid a damn dime into the system.
Second, in order to stretch the increasingly depleting funds, Democrats keep cutting Medicare reimbursements over and over again. Remember when George W. Bush got blamed for cutting Medicare? Yeah, that was a budget cut voted on and signed into action by the Clinton administration 2 years prior. Was not Bush, so stop blaming Republicans for killing Grandma. Democrats cut the reimbursement this year, too. Some of you might shrug and dismiss thinking, "Doctors and Hospitals make a killing, so who cares?"
They make a killing off of the insured and the self-payers to compensate for the losses suffered due to public aid payments. Whereas an insured person pays a co-pay and has a deductible to pay when procedures eclipse the coverage, by law Doctors and Hospitals have to eat the costs incurred when the government decides that they only want to pay "X" number of dollars for a procedure. You have to think and understand, nurses, staff, building maintenance, equipment, materials, supplies, malpractice insurance, drugs, needles, and all the other things a Doctor or Hospital need...well, they all cost money. And remember, your average ER or Family Practice Doctor is not nearly as rich as you might think. They do well, but are making somewhere near the upper levels of upper middle class, and not always bringing in $250K and up.
For those of you that don't get it still, the liberals are calling you stupid. They are ignoring the majority and forcing a bill down our collective throats that will only kill jobs, kill people, and kill the economy. It is not about reforming health care to better America, its reforming us to control us. They think we are too stupid to have our own money, so they have to take it because they know better how to spend our money.
If this passes and we sit idly by and let this disaster grab hold, we will have allowed the coming end of freedom, economic independence, political independence, and the United States of America. We are at the edge. This Health Care travesty is a turning point. Either we stop it now and give ourselves a chance to survive, or we let it go through, and watch as America becomes a shell of itself.
If this passes unchecked, we will collapse. We will see another great depression. We will see so much poverty, hunger, illness, and suffering, I have a legitimate fear we could break down into a second civil war. Am I being too extreme? I don't think I am. Perhaps, if Obama had kept his word on ANYTHING, and the Democrats in Congress weren't so secretive, I might have hope this won't be as bad as some fear. However, I have NEVER, in my 28 years, heard of a 2,500 page contract being signed without proper vetting, signed in a hurry, that wasn't a tragic mistake. Have you?
Would you sign a 10-year lease on a vehicle not knowing the costs of the vehicle's maintenance? Not knowing for sure what your payments for the lease will be? Would you gamble your family's future like that? I would hope not.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Health Care Fiasco
First, let me say that I agree 100% that our health care system needs reform and adjustments. There are definitely gaps and problems within the system. However, we have the GREATEST system on Earth, hands down. The well-to-do in countries like England and Canada (you know, the places who already have government-run health care) fly HERE for basic to drastic medical needs. Why?
So, here is my problem with what is going on in DC regarding health care bills. First, the sheer mass of the bills. In the House of Representatives, over 1,800 pages. In the Senate, over 2,000 pages. How in the world, in a matter of a couple of weeks, can anyone in Congress know what in the world they are voting on? There is no way to completely understand the consequences of their actions, yet they forge through without regard for their careers, the American people, and the future of the nation.
One major issue I have with Obama and the Democrats' plan is that they claim the plan will be deficit neutral. How? By cutting billions of dollars in waste in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-run programs. Really? You need to sign the check to spend that money before you have actually cut the waste? You need to pass a massive spending bill before you will act to cut waste? Why can't the government cut that waste now???
Next, is the issue of abortion. I am not for abortion. At no time. The only time I can see abortion as allowable is if there is a certainty that both the mother and child will die unless the pregnancy is aborted. If there is no other way to save the mother and the baby will not survive no matter what, then I can see the moral argument to abort. However, drive-thru abortions, abortions to cover for an affair or a one-night-stand, teens covering up their own stupidity, and other such birth-control related purposes are nothing short of murder. I believe in Pro-Choice. If you choose to have sex, you choose to live with the moral, ethical, emotional, and physical consequences.
That being said, Harry Reid will not stop until my tax dollars pay for abortions. I absolutely refuse to allow my tax dollars to be used to murder innocent babies. People like Planned Parenthood and their ilk are sick. Abortion is murder. Tax dollars to support this murder is a travesty, and it will be in the bill, despite any claims of an amendment included in the House.
Next, how can the government mandate you purchase an approved insurance program? Where in the US Constitution (you know, the founding document that defines the powers the government, the same document the Democrats routinely ignore and walk all over) does the federal government have the power to force individuals to purchase insurance? Obama promised that if you like your coverage and like your doctor, nothing will change. Hmmm...so what defines government approved insurance coverage? Can anyone voting on this massive spending bill tell me that?
After that, no one has answered the question in a straight-forward manner: will the language in the final bill force jail-time for those individuals refusing to purchase insurance? Will there be jail time for business owners who will not/cannot afford to provide the mandated insurance for all employees? Jail for not being able to afford, or choosing not to purchase, insurance...yes or no? Still no answer on that.
Next, and most importantly from an economic standpoint, the forcing of ALL businesses to provide insurance to ALL employees. From the mom and pop store with 3 employees through Wal-Mart, every employee must be covered. Oh, yeah, this will drive down the unemployment rate. I am sure that Joe-Bob and Sally-Sue Jenkins and their Nickel and Dime Pop Shop will be able to pay their employees the ever-increasing minimum wage AND insurance, every employee from the retiree stocking the shelves 15 hours a week to the high school junior studying Chemistry in-between customers at the register. The pop shop will have to purchase insurance for their employees. Not just insurance, but government approved insurance. I am sure Joe-Bob and Sally-Sue can afford to run their business and purchase insurance for all of their employees. Yeah, small businesses won't be hurt at all. Employers can afford this program without cutting jobs, oh yeah.
This health care fiasco does nothing to lower costs, the deficit, or cover everyone as promised. It is just a massive power-grab and spending bill. The issues of sky-rocketing malpractice insurance, the frivolous lawsuits, and other wasteful and cost-driving issues are no where to be found on the agenda. REAL reform is ignored, and in its stead is a bunch of gobbledy-gook and spending.
So, for the people than bankrupted Medicare and Social Security, partially because they opened the check books for illegal immigrants that never paid into the system, they are about to take over 20% of the nation's economy. I am sure they won't screw THIS one up...
So, here is my problem with what is going on in DC regarding health care bills. First, the sheer mass of the bills. In the House of Representatives, over 1,800 pages. In the Senate, over 2,000 pages. How in the world, in a matter of a couple of weeks, can anyone in Congress know what in the world they are voting on? There is no way to completely understand the consequences of their actions, yet they forge through without regard for their careers, the American people, and the future of the nation.
One major issue I have with Obama and the Democrats' plan is that they claim the plan will be deficit neutral. How? By cutting billions of dollars in waste in Medicare, Medicaid, and other government-run programs. Really? You need to sign the check to spend that money before you have actually cut the waste? You need to pass a massive spending bill before you will act to cut waste? Why can't the government cut that waste now???
Next, is the issue of abortion. I am not for abortion. At no time. The only time I can see abortion as allowable is if there is a certainty that both the mother and child will die unless the pregnancy is aborted. If there is no other way to save the mother and the baby will not survive no matter what, then I can see the moral argument to abort. However, drive-thru abortions, abortions to cover for an affair or a one-night-stand, teens covering up their own stupidity, and other such birth-control related purposes are nothing short of murder. I believe in Pro-Choice. If you choose to have sex, you choose to live with the moral, ethical, emotional, and physical consequences.
That being said, Harry Reid will not stop until my tax dollars pay for abortions. I absolutely refuse to allow my tax dollars to be used to murder innocent babies. People like Planned Parenthood and their ilk are sick. Abortion is murder. Tax dollars to support this murder is a travesty, and it will be in the bill, despite any claims of an amendment included in the House.
Next, how can the government mandate you purchase an approved insurance program? Where in the US Constitution (you know, the founding document that defines the powers the government, the same document the Democrats routinely ignore and walk all over) does the federal government have the power to force individuals to purchase insurance? Obama promised that if you like your coverage and like your doctor, nothing will change. Hmmm...so what defines government approved insurance coverage? Can anyone voting on this massive spending bill tell me that?
After that, no one has answered the question in a straight-forward manner: will the language in the final bill force jail-time for those individuals refusing to purchase insurance? Will there be jail time for business owners who will not/cannot afford to provide the mandated insurance for all employees? Jail for not being able to afford, or choosing not to purchase, insurance...yes or no? Still no answer on that.
Next, and most importantly from an economic standpoint, the forcing of ALL businesses to provide insurance to ALL employees. From the mom and pop store with 3 employees through Wal-Mart, every employee must be covered. Oh, yeah, this will drive down the unemployment rate. I am sure that Joe-Bob and Sally-Sue Jenkins and their Nickel and Dime Pop Shop will be able to pay their employees the ever-increasing minimum wage AND insurance, every employee from the retiree stocking the shelves 15 hours a week to the high school junior studying Chemistry in-between customers at the register. The pop shop will have to purchase insurance for their employees. Not just insurance, but government approved insurance. I am sure Joe-Bob and Sally-Sue can afford to run their business and purchase insurance for all of their employees. Yeah, small businesses won't be hurt at all. Employers can afford this program without cutting jobs, oh yeah.
This health care fiasco does nothing to lower costs, the deficit, or cover everyone as promised. It is just a massive power-grab and spending bill. The issues of sky-rocketing malpractice insurance, the frivolous lawsuits, and other wasteful and cost-driving issues are no where to be found on the agenda. REAL reform is ignored, and in its stead is a bunch of gobbledy-gook and spending.
So, for the people than bankrupted Medicare and Social Security, partially because they opened the check books for illegal immigrants that never paid into the system, they are about to take over 20% of the nation's economy. I am sure they won't screw THIS one up...
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