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Sen. Ron Wyden Makes Health Care Reform Funny
The truly funny and risky political ad is a rare beast. This one, from Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, is about as close as they come. Wyden is trying to promote the "portability" of his universal health care plan (they're not just for presidential candidates!), which in human-speak means the ability to keep your health care coverage when you switch jobs, go back to school, or start your own business. Check it out:
That is brilliant. Taking the approach that your situation sucks might work better than the trying to counter the fearmongering that keeps people in sucky situaitons.
That was pretty hilarious.
Awesome, now if we can only make it happen.
Wyden is my senator, and I admire the humor here -- but I have to wonder if this isn't falling right into a trap. I know it's nonsense but there will be people who look at that and say that universal health care is about making people pay higher taxes so that people who photocopy their butts are covered, paid for by people who actually do real work, blah blah blah. I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying that it's a big target.
First consider all the illegal aliens here, and how people whine: "What would we do without them--who would take those jobs..."
Yes, wouldn't it be terrible if employers who can't afford to pay legal wages would have to go out and get a job...
Somehow..., this "tired spiel" translates into stuffing the lower classes' comparative education into a shoebox, then working them till they get sick--with any number of dreadful work-related diseases--then everyone else has to pay the Hellish medical bills...
Look at the cops--they're willing to risk danger in exchange for an easy job (generally--depends on the area and shift) which pays great and includes a million dollar pension...
We're talking lousy rapists here (sometimes!!!)--what are we getting for our money here; why don't we do away with Govt. pensions generally (except cops, firefighters, ect.)--because, generally, they're nothing special and we're not getting our money's worth!!!
Instead, work out a formula that provides pensions for those people who "kill themselves" putting food on the table...
People shouldn't have to pay a thing for medical insurance, instead it should be payment for services rendered...
You pay for a checkup..., if you get really sick, why then you pay the bills...
Isn't it just a little bit strange how, anyway, the majority of bankruptcies are from people who's medical insurance ran out...
The Govt. allows employers and the food industry to poison people..., I'm afraid we're all being had here..., as soon as a law is passed requiring everyone to buy medical coverage, they're bound to raise the rates...
Just like we're supposed to be protected from excessive oil company profits...
Like that's really worked out GREAT...!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember John Kerry?
Well, his Health Care Plan called for the Govt. to pay the bulk of catastropic health expenses (if the employer offered insurance and paid half).
But why pay the insurer's way...
Yet how about a "pay your own way" system, where the Govt. picks up the tab for catastropic health expenses...
It would be a lot cheaper..., when you consider how, in 2005, the average cost for a family health insurance policy topped $10,000 (Average family health policy nears $11,000, USA Today, 09/14/05.
Like, wouldn't you have to be an idiot not to notice how the Govt. is real busy "sponsoring" catastrophic expenses...
Let's tax junk food--why should I have to pay for the fat guy next door to have his arteries cleaned out...
Tax the chemical companies that produce the disease causing chemicals...
Instead we're stuck with corrupt Medical and Drug Industries where:
"Chemotherapy and radiation can increase the risk of developing a second cancer by up to 100 times, according to Dr. Samuel S. Epstein," Congressional Record, Sept. 9, 1987;
"Everyone should know that most cancer research is largely a fraud and that the major cancer research organizations are derelict in their duties to the people who support them," Linus Pauling, PhD (2 time Nobel Prize winner).
Just like we don't need a Govt. that wants to spend BILLIONS subsidizing corn ethanol (and at the same time raise the cost of natural gas by %60):
"The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace...," Study says ethanol use could add to greenhouse gas emissions, not reduce them, Josef Hebert, AP News.
"The Obama plan would reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of worker's premiums," Obama '08 website.
Sound too good to be true--free money for the health insurers--but doesn't this sound all too familar: you know--tax breaks for Big Oil that never actually lower the price of gasoline...
Instead, how about doing away with the entire insurance angle altogether; when someone's medical bills reach a certain threshold, that's when the Govt. steps in...
The costs of medical treatment have soared because of the uninsured...
But isn't that part of the scam--where, now that hospitals have inordinately raised all their prices, these costs are never going to go back down...
Relitively recently, I read that Santa Clara County, CA, used tobbacco settlement money to provide medical insurance for disadvantaged children--eligible were those families who made fifty thousand dollars a year or less...
So..., how can anyone talk of requiring people to buy in. How can you make somone pay $10,000 annually for health coverage--when maybe they're only making $30,000?
Let me guess--otherwise they will be incarcerated...???
Yeah, get rid of the current system, and instead create a database of all doctors who have maimed (or killed) a patient, and then sell insurance against this threat!!!!!!
After all, one can't sue an HMO (not for pain and suffering, but only to recoup the actual cost of repairing a botched operation, ect...)
A consultation with Nader on Health Care Reform might have you realizing how: "Under the current system, hundreds of billions of dollars a year go into insurance company overhead, unnecessary and fraudulent billing and administrative costs for health-care providers, and huge profits and high salaries at large HMOs and other health-care companies. Studies show that savings from a single-payer system would be more than enough to allow us to provide universal coverage for the same amount that we are now paying for inadequate health care," from Ralph Nader Calls For Universal Health Care Plan.
Of course--Obama's wife, Michelle, brought home $316,962 (in 2005) as Chicago University Hospital's vice president for external affairs...
And so..., what about a $10,000 annual cap on "personal health care payments..."
Tax junk food and disease causing chemicals...
As with student loans, make garnishing income tax a standard... You don't have to do anything but sign on the dotted line when released from the hospital...
Finally, consider how, "...drug prices in Canada average between 35% and 45% lower than in the United States," Wikipedia--Canadian and American health care systems compared," and how "The combined profits for the top ten drug companies in the Fortune 500 ($35.9 billion) were more than the profits of all the other 490 businesses put together ($33.7 billion)," The Truth About Drug Comapnies, M Angell, M.D.