Boomer
 

I listened to NPR. A sad case indeed. We can never protect everyone all of the time from everything that could happen. Then, you throw in a sleazy insurance company and that makes it double never.

The present system protects most of the people, most of the time, from most of the things that could happen. Is it better to protect all of the people, all of the time from some of the things that can happen? We cannot protect all of the people all of the time from everything that can happen. That's socialized medicine. It does not work. It never has. There is a plan that is used in Massachusetts. It is very expensive but is an improvement. Mitt Romney caught he.. for it. I think it was his baby. Everyone is required to provide proof of acceptable health insurance. If they do not, they must pay into an insurance pool. If you cannot afford health insurance, Massachusetts will provide it. If you can afford it you must have it. This forces the maximum number of people into the insurance pool in order to spread the cost of health care over the largest number of people. I think that is a better way to approach health care than what Obama has in mind.

Boomer. What is your plan?

Yoda

A member of the loyal opposition

I know I am doing this backwards, but here is the part of the quote I am asking about in my post above.

I should never type after midnight and now it has been two nights in a row so no wonder I am losing stuff and leaving stuff out.

Goodnight again.

Boomer

Oh Yoda, I am soooo sleepy. My plan? Yoda, I am not among the elected. I do not get to have a plan. I just want them to admit it's a crisis and try to do something. Try to figure it out. Bring on the thinkers. Stop bamboozling people into thinking it has to be status-quo or socialized medicine.

An early buy-in to Medicare would help quite a few people I know who cannot retire. Think of the jobs that could open up. I bet we all know people our age who are slouching toward Medicare.

Make something affordable and good and available to the self-employed and to small business. We have friends who have a business. Just the two of them. They do display work. One has diabetes. Type I. The only plan they could find was $17,000 a few years ago because of the diabetes. And the cost just goes up each year. Good group plans just aren't out there much. You have to be with an employer with some size. And even then it costs a fortune.

We just finished building an addition onto our house. Hardworking, great guys who do their jobs well. But do you have any idea what these guys go through to try to insure their families? One of them just told me that his wife may lose her job because the company is slow on business. Her paycheck covers their insurance cost through her employer and the cost of a babysitter and that is pretty much it. Now, what happens if she has no job?

I see their faces, Yoda. And I think there are too many who do not want to see the faces.

I keep saying and saying and saying that somebody who can nail down the intricacies needs to come up with a plan that makes affordable access to good group plans available to BUY into. How hard should that be to figure out? Yeah, they might :cus: off a few lobbies. Those lobbyists have been sloppin' those DC hogs for years. That needs to change. Lifers up there in DC. That needs to change.

You see, Yoda, the Republicans that ran me out do not see it as a problem because it is not their problem. They are covered for life. And they can have all the slop they want. And they have Frank Luntz to manipulate the language and program it into those voters who don't want to see. And who are willing to let others think for them and tell them what to say. Repeated phrases. Over and over. Mind-numbing phrases.

So that was my what and why, Yoda.

And now, goodnight for the third time. (Been up late two nights in a row. And hanging out in Political. I must be losing my mind.)

Boomer

Boomer, your posts in Political have really made me think and it is obvious that you are much better informed than me. To become informed is to subject myself to really reading and really listening to what is happening now, and when I do that, I get so stressed that I can't sleep and my health suffers. I can't eat. I get all nervous and jerky. (Mostly jerky)

I appreciate your keeping an eye on the world and on Cincinnati and I would appreciate it if you can tap me on the shoulder and tell me when I should act.

The problems with socialized medicine are twofold.

One - the public expectation of what that care shall provide can never be met at any cost. There will always be situations where care is administered too little, too late or not at all, simply because there will be a finite amount of resources trying to satisfy an infinite demand.

Two - no matter what delivery system is set up to provide care, there will always be a segment of the population which will exploit it to the detriment of others. The best current example is hospital emergency room service - go into any emergency room at any hour of the day, and there are people seeking "clinic" type care for everything from runny noses to gout, and the ER has no chooice but to service them. Add to that fact is that in many of the ERs the a significant percentage of patients are illegal aliens - a problem most obvious in the nborder regions.

Perhaps a plan could be for the US Public Health Service to establish 24/7 open-door clinics in proximiity to hospital emergency rooms, so that ERs can be ERs again. USPHS clinics would have patient responsibility, and if additional services are needed, USPHS might provide vouchers redeemable for more expansive medical services. Anything else would appear to drag the quality of future care to the lowest common denominator - not a comforting thought!

At least, you have a constructive suggestion. Better than whining any day. Enough constructive suggestions and we will have a plan.

Yoda

A member of the loyal opposition