Democratic Healthcare Plans = Horseshit
Those of you who think the Democratic presidential candidates will solve the healthcare crisis in any way are horribly wrong. The current plans of Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama will actually make the situation worse. The three candidate's plans are similar in that they do not provide universal health care, but rather universal health insurance. One hint that they are bad plans is that the insurance companies are all for them.
The Republicans would like the free market to take over and fix the problem because we all know that business, when allowed to run free, always benefits the common man. That is why unions formed, because the common man was treated so well.
But enough about those corporate whores, lets talk about the other corporate whores. The Clinton and Edwards proposals both contain a mandate, which would force healthy individuals to buy insurance in order to put more money into the system to cover the sick. How great does that sound?
Mandates force patients to sign up for expensive, wasteful, for-profit insurance products without guaranteeing care or protecting them from cost increases.
Edwards' plan is completely retarded. He wants to go with mandated insurance with an option between public and private care. That way, private insurance companies can bounce the really sick and keep the healthy, so public insurance can pick up the tab for high-risk patients. The idea that we can regulate or hope private insurance companies will do the right thing is about as smart as the free market plan. Wait, it is the free market plan, except worse.
Hillary's plan is retardeder than Edwards'. It is exactly the same as Nixons proposed plan on 1974. Wait? Did I just write that? Yes, I did.
Even before Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton unveiled her new healthcare plan, Republicans attacked it as socialized medicine. They neglected to mention, however, that her plan bears a striking resemblance to changes that were proposed in 1974 -- by the late President Richard M. Nixon.
But hey, Nixon would have been considered a liberal by today's standards. Hillary's plan is also exactly like Mitt Romney's plan. And it is like John Edwards plan, except she decided to leave out any sort of enforcement mechanism for mandated insurance. That would make it, uh, not mandated. Although, Edwards' creepy enforcement ideas makes Hillary's non-enforcement look pretty good.
Edwards plan will collect back premiums by using collection agencies and garnishing wages. So he will make you buy health insurance, then send collection agencies after you when you dont. I wonder how much money collection agencies have given to his campaign?
Families who lose coverage will be expected to enroll in another plan or be assigned one. For the few people who refuse to pay, the government will help collect back premiums with interest and collection costs by using tools like the ones it uses for student loans and taxes, including collection agencies and wage garnishment.
Sorry, but the whole thing sounds creepy to me, as well as a regulation nightmare.
Obama makes sure he falls to the right of Clinton and Edwards on just about every issue and healthcare is no different. He has been spending his days bagging on universal healthcare, much like the Republicans. Not surprisingly, his universal health insurance plan is more half-assed than his opponents plans.
Obamas plan only mandates insurance for kids. But under his plan, healthy people could choose not to buy insurance and then sign up for it later when they became sick. How awesome is that? This would result in higher premiums for everyone else.
Still, Id take no mandates over mandates. Obamas is the only plan that doesnt bend over completely for the insurance companies, but it falls very short of taking care of the problem.
All three plans fall way short and will lead to a massive payday for insurance companies. You know, the very companies whose bullshit policies have led us to this very point. Any plan that does not address the simple point that for profit health care does not work will only make the problem worse.
Individual mandates are a step backward
Insurance companies support individual mandate plans because they guarantee them more customers, revenues, and influence over medical decision-making. Whats not for them to like?
Right now Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate with a decent plan: Universal single-payer, not-for-profit health care system. Until the profit is taken out of health care expect more of the same.
Boy Dies From Bad Tooth
So what happens when kids don't have insurance?
They can die. From a bad tooth. Which abscesses. Spreading infection to the brain.
Horrific summary: the boy's brother had several abscessed teeth, the result of a dentist who "discontinued the treatments . . . after the boy squirmed too much in the chair." (Dude needs to lose his license.) It took a month after the abscesses started to find an oral surgeon who'd see the kid, two months to get a consultation, and another month and a half for the appointment. During which time the family's Medicaid lapsed, so they had to cancel the appointment.
Then Deamonte, in the picture, comes home with a headache, ends up in the hospital, has two brain surgeries, and dies after telling his mother to "make sure you pray before you go to sleep."
Poor children are more than twice as likely to have cavities as their more affluent peers, research shows, but far less likely to get treatment.
Serious and costly medical consequences are "not uncommon," said Norman Tinanoff, chief of pediatric dentistry at the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore. For instance, Deamonte's bill for two weeks at Children's alone was expected to be between $200,000 and $250,000. The federal government requires states to provide oral health services to children through Medicaid programs, but the shortage of dentists who will treat indigent patients remains a major barrier to care.
Because Medicaid doesn't pay them enough.
Government Puts Final Nail In New Orleans Coffin
Before Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans levees were built to withstand a category 3 hurricane. They obviously did not do well during Katrina and the city was left in ruins and thousands were killed. The slow process of rebuilding began. The most important piece of the rebuilding would obviously be the levees. The government decided to build levees that could withstand a CATEGORTY 3 HURRICANE. By doing so they killed the city of New Orleans.
Texan Donald Powell, a former banker and Texas A&M University administrator was given the job of being the federal coordinator for the reconstruction. He quickly jumped in with a phrase the White House loves about science.
However, "I'm not sure what the science dictates," Powell said when asked if the levees would be rebuilt to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, as Gulf Coast officials have requested. "Clearly, I think they're going to rebuilt up to a Level 3 but ... they were not a Level 3 when the storm came. And then study and understand what the science is to get to a Level 5."
The nice thing about the current administration is that the science is never in. Feel free to name a time where Bush said, Okay, the science is in and we are moving forward. You cant, because it does not happen. Anytime the word science is used you can be sure no action will be taken. So, the levees have been rebuilt to withstand a category 3 hurricane because the science does not dictate otherwise.
And New Orleans will die a slow death because of that decision. Why? Because to rebuild you need insurance and today the insurance companies began pulling out. Louisiana's largest commercial insurance provider, Travelers Cos. Inc., has decided to cancel all it's commercial property policies in the New Orleans area next year.
Travelers will not renew any property insurance for businesses in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and eastern St. Tammany parishes. Cuts will also affect individual businesses in other parts of South Louisiana, including St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes.
The Louisiana State Insurance Commissioner met with the Insurance carrier on Thursday and was told the policies are being cancelled because of the levee rebuilding. The Commissioner and business leaders expect other insurance companies to follow Travelers lead. Without insurance there can be no business community. Businesses create these things called jobs. Jobs are great for eating and buying clothes and stuff.
"This is going to be a blood bath," said Eagan, who added that Hanover Insurance Group, Lafayette Insurance Co. and possibly Zurich North America have indicated that they are likely to not renew some commercial policies.
Goodbye, New Orleans.
Driving for the Better Half
It seems the image of the driving damsel in distress is finally on its way out, now that the men in charge of everything have decided to patronize, er, cater to the fairer sex.
Take, for example, insurance. It's so hard and confusing. If only a major insurance company would start a division with a snappy name and a pink logo to make things all better. If you happen to live in the UK, Esure is way ahead of you with their specialized outfit Sheila's Wheels. The company has an entirely female management staff and offers special coverage for stolen purses, which will surely come in handy when you wrap your pink convertible around a telephone pole.
But what about the car itself? Like the SAT's, standard automobiles have always been so female-unfriendly. That is, if you're the chick from The Princess and the Pea. But now Volvo has come out with a concept car designed by their female employees for their female customers. The
Volvo YCC (Your Concept Car) features gull wing doors for easy skirt entry and no hood (to avoid all those problems that come from chicks trying to change their own oil and whatnot).
And how about women who just don't like to drive alone? There's always the threat of getting carjacked, not to mention looking silly as you speed along reciting your grocery list to yourself. So now - you guessed it - another British company has come along with a ridiculous solution to both problems. Surely a blow-up man who lives in the glove box is the answer! OK, so maybe he looks more like a giant circus peanut than a real man - and you would look ten times crazier talking to "him" - but these are small concerns when we're talking about safety, people.
As for us Angelenos, this guy might actually come in handy for the carpool lane, but he needs some work if he'll ever be our version of the Real Doll.
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