Bad Medicine

originally posted at: 2BucksWorth.com

Nolanbuck's note: I have worked in health care for nigh on 20 years, and while I am no expert, I do know a thiing or two about how the system works, from both sides of the reception desk. This blog on the current health care debate is long overdue. My apologies to those who I told I would be addressing this issue earlier for failing to do so. But better late than never.

That is....unless of course you are President Obama or the Democratic congressional leadership, is which case later is always a bad idea when right the heck now is so much better. Later would cause so many nasty side effects, like congresspersons actually reading the bill they are voting on, or the "3 days of sunshine" that Mr. Obama promised (but has yet to deliver even once) for every bill before the Congress.

And now again they are in an all-fired hurry to pass a health care reform bill. I guess a bad idea is better if you don't stop to think about it. For crying out loud, even Lyndon Johnson took over a year to pass the legislative kidney stone that became Medicare. Why the big rush?

Why, of course, is because the previous big spending bills and an "apologize-first" foreign policy have this President and his pals in Congress staring at some sliding poll numbers, so better to ram all of the pet projects through before the American people wake up completely from their coma. And now even the so-called "conservative Democrats" in Congress have grown a spine and have started telling Speaker Pelosi that they will lose their job if they keep being led around by the nose toward a big government agenda.

But why not have health care reform, if we can just slow down abit and actually talk about it? Well, it depends on the kind of "reform" you are interested in. Does health care in America need some work? Absolutely it does. Don't I want everyone to have decent health care? Of course I do.

But the bill currently before the Congress does the wrong thing in the wrong way. Government health care coverage plans like Medicare and Medicaid already make health care cost more for everyone by demanding care that patients don't need (like a three day minimum hospital stay before a patient can be moved to an outpatient rehabilitation center) and then setting their own price regardless of the cost of the care they insist upon. And who makes up the difference in the cost? Those of us who have private health insurance or pay out of pocket.

Ask yourself: why can practically everyone afford car insurance (which is required by law) and home insurance (required by the mortgage company) but we can't afford our own health insurance without help from our employer, the government, etc? Because the government is already knee-deep in the health care system, and they are the ones driving up costs. I'm no fan of the insurance or drug companies, but it makes me want to laugh when people blame the corruption of the big evil corporations for the problems in health care, when our own government's health care appendages are rife with corruption, graft, and incompetence, all of which make health care more expensive and less available for all of us.

If this bill passes, you will be required by law to have health insurance. Don't want it? Tough. you will be allowed to keep your current employer plan if you have one. But if you resign or are fired, you will be forced into the government plan. The plan would also hurt those of us who already have insurance by either taxing our previously un-taxable health benefits, or providing a cheaper-per-employee government subsidized plan that would force many companies to abandon their own plan to save the company money. So much for keeping your own plan if you like it, huh?

This bill could also hurt those who currently do not have insurance through their employer, by forcing companies to extend benefits or pay a fine. Either cost will force employer to reduce work force size to compensate for the cost of the new legislation. So some Americans who now have a job but no insurance will soon have insurance but no job. Awesome idea. (Not)

The bottom line is this, health care in America needs some help. It needs to be streamlined, cleaned up of corruption and waste, made safer by increased infection control, and yes, made available to everyone. The question is, do we need the government to spend $1 trillion of our money to fix it? Or do we need to have experts from every discipline of health care and business come together to make a better plan? A plan that includes co-ops for the uninsured to buy insurance at lower group rates, limits on federal manipulation of heath care funding and maybe even an insurance for your health insurance, a few extra dollars a week to make sure you have coverage to bridge the gap if you are out of work or hurt.

What we do not need is a government-run health care system, at a time when countries like Canada and Australia that have socialized medicine are backing away in favor of more private care. We do not need just sit by and trust our very well-being to the government that gave us Social Security (bankrupt), Medicare (bankrupt) and welfare, or to the President and Congress that rushed through a stimulus bill so far has only allowed unemployment to rise higher (9.5%) than they said it would go without the stimulus (8%).

It is time to say no....time to say ENOUGH. Stop spending our children's money and our national prosperity on your own Voltairian social welfare-state dreams and start doing your jobs...which is looking out for the best interests of the people who hired you. The country needs some fixing, but it needs a tune up, not a new paint job and tinted windows. Call your congressperson, call the White House, tell them to slow down and stop trying to pull the wool over our eyes, act like adults and maybe they can do us some good for a change.

Nolanbuck

Just Leave Him Alone

originally posted at: 2BucksWorth.com

Leave Me Alone-Stop It! Just Stop Doggin' Me Around

"Leave Me Alone" - Michael Jackson

First of all, I'd like to apologize for not blogging for awhile, but that's what a full life and a borderline addiction to Mafia Wars will get you. I'm sure some of you wondered if I had given up blogging, and for a few it may have been a welcome respite.

Speaking of welcome respites, I for one will be glad when everyone stops talking about Michael Jackson. I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't a fan back in the 80's, when Michael was the biggest thing in music. I remember when I got Thriller for Christmas and played it from first to last over and over.

But all the talk about Jacko is beginning to make me both fed up and a little put-off. Firstly, it has been incessant for over a week now, and it's gets old. But more than that, the way some people are talking about the man strikes me as way over the top.

Some are hailing him as some sort of demigod, which is of course ridiculous and insulting to my intelligence. Michael was a supremely gifted individual, his talent and entertainment acumen are undeniable. He broke the color-barrier at MTV at a time when they did not play African American artists' videos. He was one of the first black men who could say he was the biggest star of the time. He was not, however, the greatest performer of all time - not even the greatest African American performer - Sammy Davis, Jr was better. And MJ was no Elvis, Jackson was around longer, but Elvis was the most famous person alive for over 25 years. I know it's hard to keep our perspective when we've recently lost someone so talented, but "all-time" is a long time.

Then there are others intent on reminding us of Michael's failings, and they are many. Calling him a weirdo may be close to the mark, but it's more than a bit uncharitable at this point. Michael was an odd-duck, to be sure, but most of it was harmless if distracting. And those who call him a child molester are being unfair to a man who was never found guilty of anything. And no, paying a kid to keep the secrets of a very private man is weird, but not proof of wrongdoing.

Now let me be clear, many of Michael's interactions with youngsters, even those he admitted to like sleeping in a bed full of kids, were very inappropriate, wrong, selfish, and not in the best interests of the kids. I have to wonder where the parents of these kids were and why they allowed their children to be put in this situation, but Michael should have known better and he can't be excused for inappropriate behavior. Did he ever cross the line with these kids? I don't know, and neither does anyone who wasn't there. I hope to God not, but we don't know.

Michael Jackson is neither a god nor a devil, he was simply a very talented and very damaged man who had a very hard time making good choices. He was robbed of his childhood and spent the rest of his life chasing what he could never have back. He was a study in indulgence, a cautionary tale of the pitfalls of no self control. Even though he veered into areas that we find inappropriate and reprehensible, in many other ways he is us, writ large. The reasons why Michael ruined his health, finances and career are the same reasons why America is a nation of overweight, in-debt couch potatoes...our access has outrun our self control. We eat too much, watch too much tv, stay on the internet too long, spend too much money...because we can. Sometimes we too have a hard time making good choices with our time, health, and money.

What we need to learn from Michael is that in this world of instant access and abundance... enough is still enough, too much is still too much, and wrong is still wrong.

Nolanbuck