tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6344655463026618501.post8607977754490342260..comments2023-10-12T08:46:12.991-04:00Comments on 84RULES: A Look At Some Items In The Socialized Medicine Bill (HR3200)84ruleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03114981487959612297noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6344655463026618501.post-2025404401229396522009-08-05T10:31:56.408-04:002009-08-05T10:31:56.408-04:00Yes, the Democrats are right about the need for he...Yes, the Democrats are right about the need for health care reform, but this bill is a turkey. However, the sky is not falling, nor are we on the march to Marxism. Our duly elected leaders are trying to fix a long neglected health care system. <br /><br />BTW, the Republicans lost. The citizens voted for health care reform as part of the Obama platform. You may recall the Republican side offered no solutions then and to nobody's surprise are offering nothing but the status quo, now. <br /><br />While this bill is not my favorite, I wonder why the Republican alternative is simply to continue to hand over billions of dollars to the insurance industry; you know the guys who have been rationing health care in the United States for decades.<br /><br />My preferred alternative to this bill is the creation of a National Health Service, so we can fire the insurance crooks, once and for all. I disagree with Obama, in that I see no compelling reason to allow the insurance middle-men to continue to extort money from our citizens for no value-added to our health care system.<br /><br />There is not enough space to go item by item here, but if you take a look at health care in other civilized countries, anyone who needs care, regardless of country of origin, gets treated. That is not too different from our emergency room policies here. If the bill is passed as it stands now, the principal change will mean that costs of treating non-payers and non citizens will no longer be hidden in hospital budgets (where the costs are already born by the rest of us) the cost will be part of the budget and tracked in the open; something that even xenophobes on the Right should prefer.<br /><br />As for doctors, the Physicians for a National Health Program (16,000 members) claims to be a growing movement among providers, because the doctors like the freedom to provide care, once they are freed from a profit driven system. A physician who recently joined a federal health system, told me that he likes the fact that he has the option of working a shorter work week, has more time with patients and does not have to deal with insurance, billing and overhead issues that took too much of his time while playing the insurance providers' games. <br /><br />During the summer break, citizens should talk to (not scream at) their Representatives about building a National Health Service and eliminating the stranglehold the insurance crooks have on our current health care providers.<br /><br />Of course the current version of the bill does not go far enough to free us from the insurance oligopolies' tyranny. There are also some key civil libertarian issues, such as government access to your bank account and requiring a national I.D. card; neither of which are necessary if we have a National Health Service.<br /><br />Millions of us view the creation of a National Health Service as a means to liberate the workers from the yoke of the insurance industry, so that workers and businesses can focus on what they do best; produce great products and services.<br /><br />Although the health care issue is important, it is just a part of our governance challenge. We have just endured eight years of un-constitutional abuses of power during the Bush regime. First and foremost we must restore our civil liberties. <br /><br />Whenever you meet an elected official, your first question should always be, 'What have you done to ENHANCE our liberty?"J. Tyler Ballancehttp://www.fireeatersscv.orgnoreply@blogger.com