Health Care and the era of Stupid Politics

Hot air: We are all full of it which is what makes this situation so difficult. Ideology gets in the way of practicality. The fact is that the U.S. has slipped from #1 to unimaginable depths in quality, accessibility of health care, while we have gone to #1 (by a factor of 50% on average) in its cost. We now rank off the list in longevity, hospital beds per 1000 populations, doctors per 1000 population etc. But the argument somehow seems to be change versus no change instead of HOW to change it so that our star begins to rise again.

If people like their health care system in other countries and would never want to trade it (including the doctors and hospitals that work within it) why would you want to change it. That is a goal, not an obstacle nor something to be avoided.  Nobody likes the American health care system except the people profiting from it. We are over medicated, under fed in terms of nutrition safe from harmful diseases, overfed in terms of quantity, dying sooner than most other modern countries and actually getting shorter in our height. These are facts not opinions. Many doctors in our system make less money and have less money at the end of the month than their European counterparts. They also have less room for judgment and are likely to be sued for a perceived or actual bad result even if they used their best judgment. Small wonder that most of the world considers our system to be utterly ridiculous.

Practical fact. add up the cost of medical care for everyone who gets it — including people on or off some health care plan (thus including all those ER visits for a sniffle) and we are already paying enough to cover everyone pretty well — but we are not. “Personal responsibility” is an ideology that has its place and is very important to our culture, our future and our national character. But this is like prohibition of criminalizing drugs — nobody thinks alcohol and drugs are a great thing to do that should be promoted in opur society. But look what prohibition and the war on drugs produced. Failure. And a lot of profits for the now privitized prison system. So many people are making so much money on both sides of the war on drugs that they are incentivized to continue it — and that means putting out brainwashing information scaring the shit out of people so the status quo is maintained while our society becomes incarcerated (1 out of 10) and thugs make billions. Alternatives exist around the world that point to a better way.

It would be nice if everyone velieved and behaved according to your concept of personal responsibility. But here is the catch — first, they don’t do it. So if you make retirement subject solely or partially the responsibility of the citizen that is a good ideological goal. But we already know that most people won’t do it. So what are as a society going to do with all those people that can’t afford food or housing or medical care? Government plans are imperfect to say the least, but they are all we have as a safety net not for the people who receive money but for our economy and our society. It costs far more to deal with hundreds of thousaonds of homeless families than to prevent it. Simple arithmetic. And if it offends your ideology that some people will take advantage — where is your outrage over the farm subsidies, the bloated military budget and medicare PArt D which brought us to the pinnacle of writing a blank check to the Pharmaceutical industry? There is far more expense in their than anything proposed for health care.

We now spend 15% of our GDP on healthcare compared with around 9-10% in other countries. Just using the actually current figures, that percentage is going up under the present system while it stays the same in other countries. Your idea about the citizen paying for the first $15,000 sucks — but not because it isn’t a good idea. It sucks because the only way it could work in theory is if you fabricate available discretionary spending for individuals and families. They don’t have the money. It is one of the many tricks we play on ourselves when we boast lower unemployment than other countries. we have lower unemployment because we count it differently than they do. Our unemployment now sits at just under 25% counting apples to apples — that’s why we have a recession so deep and why the entire society is changing. If our real unemployment was only 9.4% it wouldn’t really be that bad. We have lower taxes because we only count the income tax. When you add up the taxes everyone pays, it is regressive, and it amounts to well over 70% depending upon what you call a tax — which to me is any government enforced payment from the citizen. At the end of the month the average American is broke and under water. Our european counterparts with “higher unemployment” and “higher Taxes” have more money, less debt and less stress at the end of each month. If you want to play with statistics, count the ones that count, not the ones that fit your preconceived ideology.

If you want more personal responsibility start with education and public information programs to change the culture. Don’t expect people to simply change. They don’t do that. You are a perfect example. Your kids are learning about personal responsibility and consequences because that what theya re being taught. So life will come as no surprise to them when they realize that it is up to them. But most people in our culture (which is why you are home schooling) are being taught the reverse. it isn’t right, but that is what theya re growing up with. The current work ethic is that the employee is doing you a favor if they show up — don’t expect any work too. That isn’t going to change through government inspried economic coercion. we have tried both ends of the spectrum on that and it didn’t work — the left produced the welfare multigenerational culture and the right produced homeless people in the streets. On the level of the society as a whole these thigns are true: Most liberals don’t liberate anyone. Most conservatives don’t conserve anything. Most libertarians do nothing to preserve personal liberties. When the day comes that the conversation shifts what we can do practically speaking, maybe that will change. Right now everyone is sticking to their ideological (fabricated) rhetoric and acomplishing nothing.

Everyone wants to stick their hand in the pot of taxpayer dollars and the ones who usually get it are the ones closest to the microphone necaucse they have the most wealth and power. They are also the ones that least need it. take a look at the banks that made trillions off-shore and had the audacity to collude with Paulson in the overnight creation of the TARP legislation. $700 billion pledged mostly under the control of Goldman Sachs which basically has its past leaders and significant officers in most areas of government. These banks didn’t hold troubled assets so they were not entitled to relief even if you put the more sophisticated policy conflicsts aside. The troubled assets were owned by investors who didn’t get very much TARP money. Most of it went to bank holding companies that (a) had no troubled assets and (b) didn’t lend money but owned banking insitutions that did lend money.

So the reality check here is not what is “right” it is what will bring our situation under control against a backdrop of people spending hundreds of millions of dollars to preserve their cash cow at the expense of the medical profession and the quality of our health care.