Health Care, Fiddle Sticks, and Ann Coulter (Part Three)
As stated in part one and part two, this is an ongoing series based on an ongoing series by Ann Coulter (again, sounds confusing but what do you do). In part three of her series, she starts right off with some colorful comments about the state of Medicare and how that relates to the current health care reform debate:
(9) If you like Medicare, you’ll love national health care, which will just extend Medicare’s benefits to everyone.
Hey — I have an idea: How about we make everyone in America a multimillionaire by pulling Bernie Madoff out of prison and asking him to invest all our money! Both Medicare and Bernie Madoff’s investment portfolio are bankrupt because they operate on a similar financial model known as a “Ponzi scheme.” These always seem to run fabulously well — until the money runs out.
Ah, right! A “Ponzi scheme”! So, what you’re saying is that the government takes people’s money but doesn’t use the money to actually give people health care benefits? Wait a minute! Isn’t that what health insurance companies do too? I’m so confused.
Not only is Medicare bankrupt, but it is extremely limited in whom and what it covers. If Medicare were a private insurer, it would be illegal in many states for failing to cover hearing aids, podiatry, acupuncture, chiropractic care, marriage counseling, aromatherapy and gender reassignment surgery.
This is funny because private insurers largely refuse to cover things like hearing aids, podiatry, acupuncture, and chiropractic care. Marriage counseling, aromatherapy and gender reassignment surgery? Where the hell did those come from? Last I checked, Medicare doesn’t really cover any of this stuff either so…err…what’s your point?
Moreover, Medicare payments aren’t enough to pay the true cost of those medical services it does cover. With Medicare undercutting payments to hospitals and doctors for patients 65 and older, what keeps the American medical system afloat are private individuals who are not covered by Medicare paying full freight (and then some). That’s why you end up with a $10 aspirin on your hospital bill.
No, you end up with a $10 aspirin not because the hospital doesn’t get paid enough by Medicare but because they don’t get paid at all by the ones without insurance or have claims denied by the patient’s insurance company. It’s easy to blame Medicare for why hospital bills are so damn expensive but that’s simply not the truth. There are a myriad of other factors as to why medical bills are so expensive. The American medical system stays afloat mainly due to the large profits health insurance and pharmaceutical companies receive. The ones who suffer the most are the doctors and hospitals who have to put up with denied claims, failure to pay, a shortage of qualified nurses, a confusing mess of contracts from the insurance companies, and a slew of other things that make the business of practicing medicine downright difficult.
National health care will eliminate everything outside of Medicare, which is the only thing that allows Medicare to exist.
Considering the insane profits insurance and pharmaceutical companies are getting, is that such a bad thing? I don’t know about you but I really don’t like the idea of Mr. CEO of Aetna being able to pay for another yacht just because my dad got a heart bypass. Doesn’t make sense and neither does your statement.
Obviously, therefore, it’s preposterous for Democrats to say national health care will merely extend Medicare to the entire population. This would be like claiming you’re designing an apartment building in which every apartment will be a penthouse. Everyone likes the penthouses, so why not have a building in which every apartment is a penthouse?
It doesn’t work: What makes the penthouse the penthouse is all the other floors below. An “all-penthouse” building is a blueprint that could make sense only to someone who has never run a business and has zero common sense, i.e., a Democrat.
That would be a great analogy indeed if it really worked that way. The thing is that what is being proposed isn’t merely an extension of Medicare to the entire population but rather a segment of the population. In other words, no one is looking to give a penthouse to everyone, just access to an apartment to those who are stuck in the rain with no where to live.
One thing you did get right is that it would make sense only to someone who has never run a business, which is what the current health care industry is…a business. Problem is that that business is profiting severely off the sick and injured of others. So what you could have said was that it would make sense to someone who actually has a conscience but would be confusing as hell to someone who only understands business terminology like growth and profitability. The more we continue to look at our health as nothing more than just a business the more we continue to overlook the very problem. While I agree that doctors and hospitals should be paid for what they are worth, I do not agree with how the rest of the industry is ran. Lots of gross mismanagement and greed at play.
10) National health care won’t cover illegal aliens — as the president has twice claimed in recent radio appearances.
Technically, what Obama said is that the bill isn’t “designed” to give health insurance to illegal aliens. (That bill, the “Health Insurance for Illegal Aliens Act of 2009,” was still being drafted by Ted Kennedy at the time of his death, may he rest in peace.)
First of all, none of the bills were written by Obama. He has laid out his own proposals of what he’d like to see in the bills but it’s up to Congress to shape the bills to reflect his plan. Here’s what Obama actually said in his recent address to Congress:
There are also those who claim that our reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false – the reforms I’m proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.
Which, as we all know, was followed by a rather loud “You lie!” from Senator Wilson. I think the keyword here is insure, meaning that no illegal immigrant will be eligible to obtain any government sponsored health care insurance plans, period. In other words, if a bill hits Obama’s desk that would allow an illegal immigrant to gain access to health insurance he isn’t going to sign it.
But unless the various government bureaucracies dispensing health care are specifically required by law to ask about citizenship status, illegals will be covered. We can’t even get employers and police to inquire about citizenship status, but liberals assure us that doctors will?
Right now, any illegal immigrant can walk into a public hospital and receive care if they are injured or sick. That’s not likely to change any time soon either. The reason is that to deny anyone health care in this country regardless of whether they are a legal citizen or not presents a moral dilemma: Would you want to live in a country that turns away treatment to someone even if it could mean saving their life?
Not only that but I think Ann is confusing access to health care with access to health insurance. These are two separate disparate things. Anyone can get access to health care when they are sick or hurt. But whether they can afford it is a different matter. That’s where health insurance comes into play. When it comes to the debate over whether illegal immigrants can receive health benefits, we’re talking about access to health insurance here, not access to health care.
And by the way — as with the abortion exclusion — the Democrats expressly rejected amendments that would have required proof of residency status to receive national health care.
Umm, probably because it’s not really required in the bill. I mean, if you have to be a citizen of the United States to get health insurance anyways then why would you need to state that you have to show proof of residency status to receive care in the bill?
Beyond that, can you imagine all the problems that would occur in an emergency room if you had to verify every incoming patient and require proof of residency status? A guy shows up after a heart attack and requires immediate medical attention. But, wait! We can’t let him in yet till he proves he’s a legal resident! It’s a moral question: Do you force the issue and run the risk of him dying? Or do you provide him the medical attention he needs and deal with that issue later?
(11) Obama has dropped his demand for the ironically titled “public option” (i.e., government-run health care), which taxpayers will not have an “option” to pay for or not.
Liberals never, ever drop a heinous idea; they just change the name. “Abortion” becomes “choice,” “communist” becomes “progressive,” “communist dictatorship” becomes “people’s democratic republic” and “Nikita Khrushchev” becomes “Barack Obama.”
Yeah, but then again, some names just don’t change. “Bitch” is still “bitch” last I checked. Look, Obama has never dropped his demand for a “public option”. Just the opposite. And he has made it clear that in his own proposals that the “public option” would only be available to those who can not afford health insurance. As he stated in his address, “The public option is only a means to that end – and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal.”
It doesn’t matter if liberals start calling national health care a “chocolate chip puppy” or “ice cream sunset” — if the government is subsidizing it, then the government calls the shots. And the moment the government gets its hands on the controls, it will be establishing death panels, forcing taxpayers to pay for abortions and illegal aliens, rationing care and then demanding yet more government control when partial government control creates a mess.
Which happens to be exactly what liberals are doing right now.
First of all, the “public option” is not something that will result in the government calling the shots. Ironically, when it comes to death panels and rationing of health care, that’s exactly what health insurance companies are doing right now. They don’t want to give policies to those who are old and sick. They’d rather give policies to those who are young and healthy. To them, that’s just good business because it means less claims paid out and more profits. So as far as death panels and rationing of care those two things already exist due to the fact that it is tied into the profitability of insurance companies.
I think it’s highly irresponsible to claim that our government would go out of its way to kill off old people and make taxpayers pay for every abortion and the health of illegal aliens in this country. I would presume that most of the folks in Washington are people who know the difference between right and wrong; people with morals and values. Conservatives like Ann keep telling us that this is a “Christian nation”. If that’s the case, then why all the talk about the government doing evil things? I mean, our government is operated by people, right?
Granted, someone has to pay for the care illegal aliens receive at public hospitals. I wouldn’t want to live in a country that denies anyone health care just because they’re not supposed to be here. Unfortunately, most of the cost for providing health care to illegal immigrants is already taken out of taxes like property taxes and the like.
As for abortion, I’m sorry but there are legitimate reasons for why certain abortions should be covered. If a private insurance company is willing to cover the cost of an abortion under certain circumstance then there should be no reason why a “public option” insurance plan shouldn’t do the same. Now, whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, that’s a different conversation.
Bottom line is that we’re already in a mess as it is and, quite frankly, it’s a mess that wasn’t 100% caused by government control. While one could argue that certain government restrictions have caused the industry to falter, the majority of the problems within the health care industry were cause by the very thing that most “conservatives” keep harping about: free enterprise.
For the past 20+ years or so companies within the health care industry have had free reign to shape the industry as they see fit. As such, costs kept going up as publicly traded companies demanded more growth and profitability. And when it comes to health insurance companies, profitability is far more important than whether your grandpa should be able to get that new heart valve put in. Same applies to pharmaceutical companies. They’re more concerned with getting as big of a return on their investment on a new drug before the patent runs out than whether you can afford to shell out $500 a month for it.
According to Ann, it would seem that either way we’re screwed. Damned if we do, damned if we don’t. If it’s not the government telling us what to do then corporate America will most certainly pick up the slack.
Tags: coulter, healthcare, lies
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September 28th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
ATTENTION!! Senators Jay Rockefeller and Charles Schumer fight for the American people and the Public Option Tuesday Sep 29, 2009 http://bit.ly/Y2PRK SPREAD THE WORD!
Congress Has The Votes Needed To Pass A Public Option – TODAY http://bit.ly/TCq7O
Why A Strong Public Option Is Essential – By jacksmith – Working Class
Robert Reich explains the pubic option: http://bit.ly/dDYSJ
Hollywood Supports The Public Option
http://bit.ly/3XLwPi
It’s not just because more than two thirds of the American people want a single payer health care system. And if they cant have a single payer system 77% of all Americans want a strong government-run public option on day one (86% of democrats, 75% of independents, and 72% republicans). Basically everyone.
It’s not just because according to a new AARP POLL: 86 percent of seniors want universal healthcare security for All, including 93% of Democrats, 87% of Independents, and 78% of Republicans. With 79% of seniors supporting creating a new strong Government-run public option plan, available immediately. Including 89% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 61% of Republicans, STUNNING!!
It’s not just because it will lower cost. Because a strong public option will dramatically lower cost for everyone. And dramatically improved the quality of care everyone receives in America and around the World. Rich, middle class, and poor a like.
It’s not just because it will save trillions of dollars and prevent the needless deaths of millions more of YOU, caused by a rush to profit by the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX!
It’s not just because every expert in every field, including economist, and Nobel laureates all agree that free market based healthcare systems don’t work. Never have and never will. The US has the only truly free market based healthcare system in the World. And as you all know now, IT IS A DISASTER!
It’s not just because providing or denying medically necessary care for profit motivations is wrong. Because it is WRONG! It’s professionally, ethically, and morally REPUGNANT!, Animalistic, VILE and EVIL.
THE REASON THE PUBLIC OPTION IS ESSENTIAL:
The public option is ESSENTIAL because over 200 million of you are trapped in the forest of the wolves. Which is the forest of the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! With no way out except through needless inhumane suffering, and DEATH. While the wolves tear at your flesh, and rip you limb from lib. Then feast on your lifeless bodies like a dead carcase for transplant parts.
At the most vulnerable times of your lives (when you were sick and hurting), millions of you have had to fight and loose cruel, but heroic battles. Fighting against the big guns of the DISGRACEFUL, GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT MEDICAL INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX! in the forest of the wolves. All because you have no place else to go. You have no other CHOICE!
But the PUBLIC OPTION will give you someplace safe to go. And it will give us someplace safe to take you. The public option will be your refugium (your refuge). Where the wolves cannot get at you when your down, hurting, and vulnerable. Where everyone who needs it can find rest, security, comfort and the care they need. Protected by the BIG GUNS of We The People Of The United States. THE MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE AND COUNTRY ON EARTH.
This is why it is so critical that we do not lead another 50 million vulnerable, uninsured Americans into the forest of the wolves, without the protections of a Strong Government-run public option. We The People Of The United States MUST NOT LET THAT HAPPEN to any more of our fellow Americans. If healthcare reform does not contain a strong public option on day one. YOU MUST! KILL IT. Or you will do far more harm than good. And millions more will die needlessly. Rich, middle class, and poor a like.
To those who would continue to obstruct good and true healthcare reform for the American people, and who seek to trap millions more vulnerable Americans in the forest of the wolves. We will continue to fight you. We are prepared to wage all out war against you, and will eagerly DESTROY! you. Time…is…UP! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! No Co-op’s! No Triggers! NO INDIVIDUAL MANDATES! without a Strong public option on day one.
Healthcare reform can be the GREATEST! Accomplishment of our time and century. A time when future generations may say of us, that we were all, AMERICAS GREATEST GENERATIONS.
BUT WE MUST ACT!
I therefore call on all my fellow Americans and the peoples of the World. To join us in this fight so that we may finish becoming the better America that we aspire to be for everyone.
SPREAD THE WORD!
I have been privileged to be witness as many of you fought, and struggled to take your first breath, and your last breath on this earth. Rich, middle class, and poor a like. Life is precious.
Whatever the cost. WE! MUST SUCCEED.
God Bless You My Fellow Human Beings
jacksmith – Working Class
Things You Can Do To Help NOW! http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/09/tired_of_watching_people_die_n.html
No Triggers! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-rosenbaum/a-trigger-for-the-public_b_277910.html
Triggers http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/weve-seen-these-triggers_b_283583.html
Krugman on heathcare (http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/why-markets-cant-cure-healthcare/)
Senator Bernie Sanders on healthcare (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSM8t_cLZgk&feature=player_embedded)
John Garamendi on the Public Option and the Grassroots: http://bit.ly/TJMty
Howard Dean on the Public Option http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SKfW2dUnow&feature=player_embedded
We’re Number 37! in quality of health care http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVgOl3cETb4&feature=player_embedded
Twitter search (#welovethenhs #NHS #hc09 #hcr #healthcar #obama #p2 #topprog #) Check it out.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Our government panders to the 20 to 30 plus (?) illegal immigrants allowing them free subsidies from taxpayers in the US. California–a Sanctuary State has one of the worst records that currently languish under the immense burden of near bankruptcy, instead of –ATTRACTING–ICE to illegal business operations. Certain legislators in Sacramento, led by Gilbert Cedillo-D has authored a lame brain resolution condemning any interference in immigration enforcement. Congressman Brian Bilbray-R Calif. reminds Sen. Cedillo that this resolution breaks the laws of the Constitution. “He should look up the separation of powers section and this resolution is nothing more than political posturing.” Cedillo urges President Obama to declare an immediate moratorium on immigration policies and practices until a comprehensive reform of immigration is enacted. The resolution states ” The State of California values all of its residents, whether they be citizens, legal residents, or undocumented immigrants, and strives to enable all residents to work and live free from discrimination, exploitation, and repressive federal immigration enforcement.” This man certainly has no love for the legal American worker and should be immediately discarded from office as his words are a form of treachery to the jobless people hurting.
Why wouldn’t certain legislators want health care for foreign labor, because they have an over abundance of illegal immigrant families to financially support? Our own government is so absorbed in protecting every other countries border? They remain unconcerned to our poor replica border fence that should have been a two-tier periphery, with border patrol surveillance lanes in between, as originally planned by Rep. Duncan Hunter. Every time a good enforcement plan is written, it’s methodically cut to pieces by pro-illegal worker politicians and open border fanatics. Though we spend billions on our armed forces in foreign lands, the rich countries in Europe just forward token troops and little money: while our nation is literary falling apart at the seams–or its rivets?
Any moment now I expect to hear of yet another collapsing ailing city bridge, deteriorating waterworks, the underground pipes and eroding highway. Our cities are already exhibiting inward decay, but years of neglect by the very people who’s supposed to protect us do nothing? I have reiterated watch “The Crumbling of America” on the History (International) channel in the next few weeks and learn? This is where your tax dollars should be going? We must not allow the Administration as in previous times keep sending our precious tax dollars to other countries. These politicians are deaf, dumb and intentionally blind to the rigors our industrial nation is going through. Not just Democrats, but the Republicans have had their sticky fingers in the bad apple–SPECIAL INTEREST–barrel, where money is plentiful. It’s like they are intentionally trying to turn our magnificent country into a third world nation, while making other cheap labor countries, on an even par with our sovereign society as US wages tumble? Then Again the Council of Foreign Relations have been amplifying its agenda of free movement of cheap labor through North America for years?
Most of these other lands have been at each others throats for centuries, so why do we expect any metamorphism into something any different? Only change can come from within, not by our nation expending billions of dollars, American lives? We must build our own borders fences, tall and strong and meant to keep out drug dealers, criminal aliens, terrorists and the never ending tracks of illegal aliens. Our politician’s noses are involved in too much foreign policy, while our aging infrastructure implodes. Trillions of dollars are spirited out the country, while we gain little in return. Washington–MUST–start giving back to the jobless American worker by placing a 5 year moratorium on all immigration, even legal? The next politicians should deliver us from any new sinister path to citizenship or better referred to as BLANKET AMNESTY? Follow the “Rule of Law” and not twist it into something else for their own convenience, as it will come back to haunt them at the voting booth. Unless ACORN steps-in with another fed contract and handles sign-ups for the ballot box? In that case will still see absentee ballots for the deceased people, pets and anybody who has learned that you need no government picture ID to sign on to vote.
The 1986 immigration reform bill dismally failed last time and all we inherited was 5 million illegal immigrants that still keep on coming with their impoverished hands out. Anti-Illegal immigrant forces are growing in numbers to stop another travesty. They acknowledge it could end up costing billions, perhaps even trillions of dollars. Nationwide we have seen the advent of closing hospitals and emergency rooms that have been submerged everyday by swarms by penniless foreigners and their families. Yes! We need health care reform. Americans are dying, going bankrupt , falling under the spell of debt collectors. The special interest lobbyists are causing mass hysteria by lying to the people. Many insurance companies are under this bombardment in television, radio and mass media. Their Status quo wants no change to their profits or high flying CEO’s making millions of dollars. on patients backs? I want health care reform, for the sake of my step daughter who died of Cancer, because the insurers said it was a pre-existing condition and they couldn’t continue to insure her?
It has become an enigma–THAT THE EMPLOYERS WHO HIRE THEM-LEAVE THE MAJORITY OF SICK PEOPLE ON THE STEPS OF EMERGENCY ROOMS. SO THAT THEIR RESPONSIBILITY ENDS THERE? THEY DRIVE AWAY WITH A CLEAR CONSCIOUS? THEN IS LEFT FOR THE TAXPAYERS CHECK BOOK TO PAY THE BILL? THOSE EMPLOYERS SHOULD BE HUNTED DOWN AND HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR EVERY CENT. We have already been warned by the census bureau of overpopulation in the not too distant future. WE now have a very unique deterrent called E-Verify, that is a part of the SAVE ACT and our lawmakers should stop procrastinating and make it permanent for every worker? Washington knows their walking on quicksand, if the try to under fund or spirit away E-Verify this time around? The corrupting influences from the special interest lobby, have failed to induce many lawmakers to table E-Verify. In our future it could have many other uses other than extracting unauthorized labor from the workplace. Once fully installed it could check state drivers license applicants, insurance, school and higher education registrations and hospital admittances.
Americans have been unknowingly paying taxes to underwrite subsidies for the illegal population for decades. This is the biggest draw to American jobs, because the employers who hire them are sentient that taxpayers will foot the bills for education, health food stamps, housing and other government benefit consignments that even as citizens are denied. Keep the phone calls coming at 202-224-3121 LOOK FOR ANSWERS AT NUMBERSUSA, JUDICIAL WATCH & OVERPOPULATION AT CAPSWEB? These websites can identity politicians who actually work for the American people and others whose immigration grading level is unsatisfactory to stay in office? Have you heard about any large ICE raids lately? ICE got the order to cease and desist from the motley Democratic leadership. They are also using their influence to either weaken the federal training program 287 G that gives local police federal right to hold for questioning suspicious individual’s immigration status and to rescind the no-match-letter capability in determining a person’s right to work?
September 29th, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Man…quite a bit of meat in your comment, Brittancus.! LOL! I don’t have much time to write a thorough response but I do want to mention a few things.
First, in regards to illegal immigration, all I can say is that I agree with you on many of your points. No doubt that employers aren’t helping by continuing to hire undocumented workers. Nor does it help having illegal immigrants flood our public hospitals when they can’t pay for the services they receive. I live in Dallas and I know for a fact that Parkland hospital, one of the largest public hospitals in Dallas, spends millions per year to cover the cost of illegal immigrants. Here’s a startling statistic that even Snopes.com says is true: 70% of the women who gave birth at Parkland hospital in the first three months of 2006 were illegal immigrants.
Here’s the thing though. I personally would not want to live in a country that turns away medical care to anyone, legal or illegal. It’s a moral issue to me. If someone is sick or hurt then we should do the right thing and take care of them. Throwing them out into the street to die just because they’re illegal or can’t pay for treatment shouldn’t even be a consideration.
If we look at the bigger picture, the real problem has to do with the reason why so many immigrants are coming over from Mexico and other South American countries. Simply put the economies in Mexico and other surrounding countries are poor and filled with corruption, so much so that many immigrants feel that the only way to survive is to come to the U.S. to work. I’ve been in some of poor areas of Mexico and, let me tell you, you will never find a single place in the United States that is as bad as the areas I have seen.
If we really want to fix the problem with immigration we have to start by looking at the source of the problem. Ever wonder why there are so many Western Union check cashing places near where Mexican immigrants live? They send a lot of their money back over the border to help their families. If the United States, Canada, and other countries are really serious about strengthening the global economy they would find ways of rooting out the corruption in Mexico, boost the economy up by injecting better trade and manufacturing agreements, and get the majority of Mexican citizens working with good paying jobs. Do that and I guarantee you the immigration problem in this country will be reduced tremendously.
Finally, the other major problem that you hit on a bit is the problem of corporate greed. I won’t go into it but rather will tell you to go see Michael Moore’s new movie Capitalism: A Love Story. I watched Sicko and he hit the nail right on the head. No doubt that his new movie will explain the problems we’re facing with how capitalism works in our country right now.
September 30th, 2009 at 9:54 am
@jwhitfield: In my opinion your response to how we should “fix” illegal immigration while idealistically sound is politically and geoeconomically naive. Your statements of the money transfers from the USA have been common for a long time.
There is no doubt the economy and political situation in the US is dramatically better than most places south of the border. I grew up in a US-Mexico border town and watched the endless flow of Mexican, Central & South American people flow through my town. A majority of my classmates were children of illegal immigrants. Most of the illegal immigrants I knew and grew up with were good people just looking to better their lives. Should we deny them? There are different opinions on that point. There are many farming communities that would probably falter without the labor provided by these workers. I lived in Park City, UT for quite some time and the majority of the restaurant staff in this resort town are illegal workers. The restaurant business in Park City would be in serious danger without these workers. The arguments I’ve heard from the employers in these two industries is that for the most part, the legal residents of the US don’t want to perform the work for the pay that can be afforded…that the illegals are so willing to do. An alternative opinion is that if the illegal immigrants weren’t allowed to perform the labor, while these industries might falter in the short term…eventually the labor would be provided by legal residents of the US.
It is argued that keeping the money and employment in the US by eliminating illegal employment, education, and healthcare would boost are own economy. The loss of employability would decrease illegal immigration leading to a doubly decreased expenditure in our medical, educational, and business systems giving us an additional economic stimulus.
While these are all interesting points of view and talking points that are discussed and debated by intelligent (and emotional) people all over the country, many of the actual decisions seem to be based more on political agendas than what is economically sound. As an employer I try to do what seems fair and equitable for my staff. On the one hand, I worked very hard to make it to where I am. It took me years of singular focus and drive to get here. I sacrificed a lot. My family sacrificed. Should I be compensated for what it took to get me here? My staff…while hard working…did not make the sacrifices nor undergo the journey I did to make it here. Should they be equally compensated as compared to me? If there is a quarter where business isn’t doing as well, should all their compensation packages be equally decreased? That’s not the way it works. In my opinion, if we lived in a world where we all worked equally hard with the talents we are born with, we should all be equally compensated. That’s the thing though…we all don’t work equally hard. As such we should be compensated for the work we do. While this may seem off-point, it segues into my next point. In the world as we know it now, where some people work hard, some don’t work at all, some are greedy, some are benevolent…ad infinitum…business would fail and economies would collapse if we didn’t take what is economically sound and fair into account.
Mexico IS a corrupt and economically unsound country. They also are an independent nation. As such they have their own agendas and plans. If you want to “fix” the root of the problem, we would have to “fix” all of Mexico. We can’t “fix” our own country. Mexico surely wouldn’t let us come in and take over. Even if we did…unless we merged with them and made our economies and governments a singular unit there isn’t much we could really do. At some point…both individually and nationally…we have to look out for what’s best for ourselves. This may seem totally self absorbed and selfish, but going back to my staff example…if I paid them in a manner that would allow them to have a lifestyle similar to mine, my business would fail and nobody would have jobs. In my opinion that would be selfish, shortsighted, and unfair. Should we all get the same compensation packages? Not in this life. None of my staff has/does work as hard or as many hours as me. None lived the life of poverty or sacrificed for the many years I did to build my business. Like I said earlier, if we all worked equally (despite talent) we should all be compensated equally.
Regarding Mexico…if we extend our economy to “fix” theirs, would we survive? Who knows…but it would definitely stress an already struggling US political/economic system. Is that fair to our citizens? No. Is it fair that we are doing so much better than Mexico? Yes and no. Mexico and many other nations are politically and economically unstable due to their corrupt governments. Do the people of these countries deserve the treatment and life they have? That’s a tough question. Mexico is primarily where it’s at in my opinion because of choices they’ve made in their history. They are corrupt because of choices they’ve made and situations they’ve allowed to exist. We are doing as well as we are as a nation because of choices we’ve made. Much of the world hates us because of those choices. We realistically can’t change the geopolitical and economic climate of the world for several reasons. We aren’t a utopia. We’re doing well…but most nations want our wealth but not to emulate our system. Why would we think we can change others for the better when we can’t even change our own situation. Our nation may be doing dramatically better than most others, but we are still in a dramatic state of instability with an uncertain future.
We can’t help other nations…or even ourselves…if we overextend ourselves. We need to make the US a stable nation before going beyond our borders and trying to fix others. There are many different opinions among even Nobel Laureates on this…but I think we should concentrate on local (US) economy first and then extend to regional and finally global economy as we are able. Survival of our country and lifestyle depends on running our government like a business. If we can’t make our own economy stable, why would we want to “franchise” it around the world?
Would you want Canada or China coming in and trying to “fix” our economy?
September 30th, 2009 at 11:06 am
@bpwhistler: Fantastic reply! You made some very valid, good points. Thanks so much for taking the time to write such a thorough reply.
I agree that my ideas for fixing the immigration problem is a bit on the naive side. No doubt that the “fix” is a near impossibility at this time. What I mentioned would be the ideal solution but by no means is it the most realistic.
The main reason I mentioned the economic state of Mexico is because I think most people don’t really think about it. I live in Farmers Branch, a suburban town just outside the Dallas city limit. Thanks to some attempts made by our city officials to pass ordinances dealing with illegal immigrants, I hear a lot of people refer to illegal immigrants in a highly negative manner around where I live. Rarely do I hear anyone talk about the source of the illegal immigration problem. I just think throwing a bunch of immigrants back over the border and building a bigger fence isn’t much of a solution. That may hide the problem but it still doesn’t fix it. It just seems like the ones who don’t like “those damn illegal immigrants” don’t think any further than their own backyard.
It’s quite evident that our economy is quite dependent on the ever expanding global economy. As such, if countries like Mexico are not prospering then that effects not just us but other countries as well. In fact, just about every major issue our country is dealing with is all inter-related.
When it comes to problems with Mexico, I don’t really know what the solution is to solve the problems of corruption in that country. Aside from that, there are still industries that base part of their operations in Mexico. My VW Beetle was assembled in Mexico. My mom’s last car, a Hyundai Sonata, was built in Mexico. Many other care manufacturers including some American car manufacturers have assembly plants in Mexico. That’s all well and good but I’m concerned about how well these plants are contributing to the economy of Mexico. Do these plants provide long-term careers for Mexican citizens? Or is there a constant employee turnover that makes a career next to impossible?
Beyond that, a lot of our goods come from China. When you look at a lot of the products you buy, it’s amazing at just how many are made in China. Why can’t some of these companies get some of their stuff manufactured in Mexico instead? Seems to me that it would be cheaper due to the fact that you don’t have to deal with overseas shipping as much.
Bottom-line is that we’re in a global economy whether we like it or not. As such, in the process of fixing our own economy, we have to think about what impact that will have on other economies in the world. Other countries would do well to realize this as well. It won’t happen overnight but I’m optimistic that things could turn around eventually.
Thanks again for your comments. Much appreciated!
September 30th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
@jwhitfield: While I mentioned your “response” being naive, I did not intend to imply your thought process was naive. It is clear from your articulations and thought processes that you think rationally, clearly, and completely. To be honest…I am a complete idealist at heart. I would like nothing better than to see a world where there are no individual borders or economies. A world where we were interdependent and supporting. A world where we are all equals…and all work equally. A world where there is no “class” distinction of discrimination because those ideas don’t exist anymore. In other words…if you’ve ever read the Communist Manifesto…I think the IDEAL world would be socialistic in nature.
But in practice I’m a harsh realist. I don’t think socialism can function to any degree in our current degree of emotional infantilism as a species. We are selfish, greedy, and completely self serving as a majority. Recognizing these weaknesses limits the degree to which we can realistically change society in large sweeping moves. I support the free market system only in the sense that it seems to be the most effective system of managing our greedy nature in this current millennia.
As a physician it physically and emotionally tortures me that we can’t provide the best…not the most affordable…but the VERY best care possible to every person on the planet. I believe…idealistically…that this should be a right of all inhabitants of this planet. Is this realistic…not in any measure as I’ve seen currently proposed or in practice around the world. How do I reconcile this personally? I support a system that I feel will be realistically feasible while still “supporting” my idealism by volunteering time to the underserved in our country, underserved countries, and disaster relief area.
So while I may throw around words like naive and idealism, I am in no sense berating people for believing in this manner. I also am idealistic almost to the degree of being a dreamer. I wish I could still claim a sense of naivete…however I lost that long ago as a young doctor when I saw again and again that greed and profit consistently won out over human compassion and caring.
Be well and keep up the introspective writing.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I did forget to mention that it is a sad demonstration of the humanity of our citizenship as well as their grasp of the need for these “migrant” workers that they would even imagine referring to them as “those damn illegal immigrants.” Growing up on a border town, we’ve all heard the ugly names that all sides hurl at each other. It’s very sad and unfortunate.
The US used to have a migrant worker program. The employer (typically farmer) would pick his workers up at the border, transport them to the work site, and then return them to the border according to the permits time frame. Some of these were day permits. Some were weekend permits. Others were for the entire harvesting season. The employer was responsible for his workers. It wasn’t a jailers job. The workers went home at the end of the permit because there was no concern about “sneaking” across the border to work. Their home was back across the border, and that’s where they wanted to be. As I remember it, illegal immigration became a huge problem only after the discontinuation of this program. As I remember, it was discontinued because the migrant workers were “taking jobs” from US citizens. The problem was…after the government discontinued the migrant worker program, US workers didn’t want the back-breaking jobs the migrants had been performing. Thus began the onslaught of the illegal alien.
As I mentioned earlier…most of the “illegals” I knew/know/grew up with were good people. The stigma associated with being an “illegal” (or any of the other plethora of malignant euphemisms they are referred to as) is a product of our own shortsighted discontinuation of a valuable service/program.
September 30th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Umm… still reeling from having this turn from healthcare to immigration. I’m not going to get involved too much(let’s hope) in this immigration debate at the expense of our current and most important issue at the moment… healthcare. However, one thing stuck out more prominently than the others… the percentage of “illegals” giving birth at Parkland Hospital. How do they know? It’s not only illegal to ask, it’s illegal for a hospital to discriminate based on race, color, or national origin. They CAN ask whether they are eligible for Medicaid. Just because an individual is of Hispanic decent and has no insurance does NOT mean they are illegal. There are tens of millions of WHITE Americans who are without health insurance who aren’t assumed to be “illegal.”
September 30th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Ah, good point! Yeah, I guess I consider myself more of an idealist than a realist. I think deep down people are moral and good. Greed is definitely the problem in most cases when things turn awry. Would be nice if we could live in a world with no borders or boundaries but, such as greed is, I don’t think that’ll ever happen. We need boundaries and limitations else, as you say, people’s weakness for selfishness and greed tend to take over.
I believe that the main reason why we’re having so many problems with our economy and health care system is due to greed. I think for too long we’ve allowed financial institutions and corporations too much freedom to run their industries as they see fit with very little oversight and regulation. End result? Too many people took advantage of the all the little loopholes and gamed the system for short-term profit and gain. That’s why you have a system where health care costs are rising and not many people capable of affording the ever rising cost of health care insurance.
So, yeah, I can certainly understand the battle to maintain composure in the face of an industry that cares more about terms like growth and profitability than compassion and caring. Granted, I don’t actually believe the industry on a whole is like that; just a certain level of it. A few bad apples spoiling the bunch if you know what I mean. I want to believe that people primarily practice medicine to help people, not to make a bunch of money. Guess it’s just the idealist in me.
September 30th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I’m not 100% sure what Parkland’s procedures are so I can’t say for certain how they know exactly how many illegal immigrants they really get. I would assume that they have to fill out some paperwork and probably have some way of determining their status without directly asking, like asking if they are eligible for Medicaid. Even then, there in lies the rub. While you can certainly ask someone if they are eligible for Medicaid, that still doesn’t mean you can deny them care and yet that’s exactly what some people think you should do. I mean, if a woman comes in and she’s in labor, what do you do? “Sorry, ma’am, you’re not eligible to receive care. We’re gonna have to ask you to leave.” So, you throw a woman who is just about to have a baby out into the streets? Where’s the morality in that? There has to be a better way to handle the situation in a way that is both moral and measurable. Don’t exactly know how though thus the debate.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
@Christine…illegal immigration specifically was definitely a vast departure from the topic of healthcare reform generally. While I personally can’t quote numbers regarding direct and indirect costs to taxpayers regarding care provided to illegal immigrants, many authorities feel that the funding of healthcare for illegal immigrants places a huge stress on our healthcare dollar. I know hospital administrators at all of the hospitals I have worked at mention it when the topic arrises. So depending on your point of view, it directly relates to the healthcare topic. I tend to agree with jwhitfield that I would never turn away or limit healthcare based on nationality.
With regards to you statement about it being “illegal to ask.” That’s not correct. Hospitals aren’t required to ask. There is a big difference between not being required and being illegal. Many latino healthcare advocates feel that if hospitals ask…and especially if they are required to ask…about immigration status, many latino patients will not seek care. Because of this, many hospitals avoid asking these types of questions.
You are correct that patients can’t be denied care based on “race, color, or national origin.” In my opinion, if care can’t be denied based on these identifiers (which is good as far as I’m concerned), why ask anyway? Statisticians love things like that, but as a physician I don’t really care. I’d rather patients came to the ER without hesitation or fear if they feel they need care.
September 30th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
@jwhitfield: you are correct in assuming that the majority of doctors practice for the sake of providing care. That doesn’t mean that they don’t enjoy a nice lifestyle that goes with it after all those years of student poverty.
I can’t think of a physician that doesn’t want sweeping changes to the healthcare system. We all generally feel the current 3rd party pay system is definitely broken. There ends the consensus among physicians…as similarly there ends the consensus among politicians and the general populace. Nobody really knows what’s going to happen with change…which scares all of us. We all have are own ideas and opinions about what would be best, but the reality is that nobody really knows what will happen even if the system they so strongly endorse or oppose comes into being.
I also agree with you that the rampant greed was a major part of the breaking of the system. The fault with this lies with all of us IN the system. Among the healthcare profession, many of us refer to the 70’s and 80’s as the “Golden Years.” The insurance companies paid whatever was billed. Physicians and hospitals made outlandish profits. Then managed care and cost containment came in. By then it was too late…the greed had taken hold and changed a healthy system into something else. That something else is now about the insurance sectors profit margins. It’s almost impossible for physicians and hospitals to make a great living off of insurance. Many of my primary care colleagues have retired because they really don’t need to work anymore…and because insurance reimbursement has become downright painful. The average insurance adjuster is a 36 1/2 old divorced woman with 2 children and a high school education. I read that in one of my journals years ago…so at this point it’s an opinion rather that a fact since I can’t reference it. The point being, they have these huge books that give them guidelines on whether to authorize and/or reimburse a physician for his services. Can you imagine how frustrating it is (for both doctor and patient) when you try to convince an insurance adjuster with essentially no medical training exactly why a patient needs the prescribed service when their “book” tells them to deny it? Like I mentioned earlier though…it was our own greed and dishonesty as a profession that led to these measures. Patients should be just as angry at the hospitals and physicians of yesteryear as they are at the insurance companies.
September 30th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Heh heh…student poverty. Boy, do I know what that feels like! LOL! My wife does too. She just finished SMU with a Juris Doctor in law. Man, nearly killed her.
When it comes to dealing with insurance companies, I know exactly what you mean. I’ve had some personal experience to back it up too. I do believe that doctors, nurses, and others within the medical profession should be compensated well for what they do. But, just like you said, insurance companies aren’t making it easy.
I had hernia surgery last November and my doctor prescribed me this little medicine ball that fed pain medication intravenously into my incision after the surgery. She felt I needed it. Apparently my insurance company disagreed. They gave no real reason as to why the claim was denied and no one I talked to on the phone could figure it out either. Nine months later and I still haven’t worked it out with the insurance company and now I’m stuck with a $1,200 bill for something that should have already been paid for. Ridiculous.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:23 am
Sorry to hear about your insurance experience. All to typical in todays 3rd party pay program. I could spend hours “explaining” the medical reasoning behind an order such as yours. I could explain anatomy, physiology, pathology, pathophysiology, final medical standard of care. If this really happened…usually the adjusters won’t give us the time of day…the adjuster wouldn’t understand or care about 99.9% and just continue with the standard denial. Most companies have quotas that their adjusters are required to meet for bonuses. They are incentivized to not pay unless we can prove it. If you really want to prove it, you can sue your insurance company for non-payment. Unless it’s for a 6 figure procedure, it is not economically feasible for the insured to do this. The insurance companies are aware of this…but are within the letter of the law by denying “questionable” care until we “prove” otherwise. They determine what’s questionable…often arbitrarily at the adjuster level…and then we have to take them to court to prove our case. Not a very patient centered system. It’s a great for-profit corporate structure…and even being the aforementioned free-market realist that I am….but I’m not really sure healthcare should be run by a for-profit governing structure.
October 1st, 2009 at 10:37 am
I personally don’t want to disrupt what doctors, nurses, hospitals, and others in the industry do. I think they should all remain private industries.
I think even pharma companies should remain private. However, I do think pharma companies need some offsets to ensure that research is properly funded and that drug trials are done by separate, non-profit labs. The issues surrounding Vioxx seem to indicate an issue with how drug trials and testing are handled. Too many ways to fudge the system.
The only area I think should change dramatically is how everyone in the industry is paid. I don’t think the current private insurance industry works. I would be more happy if there was a separate, non-profit entity in charge of making sure every claim is paid. Basically, it could be a non-profit organization that is semi-regulated by the government and simply processes each claim and makes sure than none of the claims are forged or illegitimate. It’s like a single-payer system except the organization itself isn’t necessarily government controlled and would receive it’s funding much in the same way that insurance companies receive funding now. Kind of a hybrid approach.