The Right Way to Overhaul American Health Care....

Let’s be honest and start off by acknowledging that we DO have some problems with America’s health care system – PRIMARILY, it costs too much.

By 2020 it is alleged that America's health care costs will devour fully ONE THIRD of America’s GDP!

The Democrats have offered a plan that expands coverage (and increases COSTS) while doing virtually NOTHING to bring down costs!

And to be quite honest, the GOP has offered very little in true cost containment measures.

That’s simply unacceptable.

What needs to be spoken out loud about is what the Democratic Plan only hints at...that impolitic word which is never spoken – RATIONING.

Like it or not, “free ANYTHING” has always got to be rationed by a stingy group of bottom-line book keepers. Otherwise demand will increase to the point at which that upkeeping the costs of that “free thing” will swamp and bankrupt the entity offering it. THAT immutable fact is called "the tragedy of the commons."

Once we start out by acknowledging that; the PRIMARY, if not ONLY problem with America’s health care system is its cost and that its cost-overruns are directly related to us giving away far too much “free care” to those who do not/cannot pay, the problem...AND the solution become all too clear.

You see, we already have “free, universal health care,” as our hospitals are mandated to care for whomever comes through their doors. In that way every indigent and illegal immigrant is given free, universal care WITHOUT being subjected to ANY costs or rationing at all!

That’s economically unsustainable and counterproductive, as well as morally wrong. A government has no business taking care of those who CAN’T/won’t pay by overburdening those who CAN and DO.

Moreover, we already have a PUBLIC OPTION in the U.S. in the form of Medicare and Medicaid...and they are both already insolvent at this point. BOTH those public options owe hundreds of BILLIONS that cannot possibly be paid!

So what to do?

Simply put, we MUST address the core problem – cost containment.

And that means RATIONING.

But how do we accomplish that and get from here...to over there?

Well, the simplest route would be to create the “expanded public option” the Democrats had initially advanced, while eliminating the existing two (Medicare and Medicaid), something the Democrat plan did not address.

Everyone would be given a basic bare-bones coverage through this new public option, with ONE CAVEAT – you will be restricted to a maximum of three, maybe four physician visits per year and a maximum individual health care budget of say (somewhere around) $10,000/year, with neither visits, NOR budget dollars carried over into any subsequent years.

But what happens if we need more than four visits and $10,000 in care in a single year?

Well, you’d have two options, either buy the necessary “gap insurance” from the private insurers, now able to compete across state lines with this new set-up, OR dig into your own pocket and pay for it yourself.

What about the seniors already on Medicare who’ve paid into Medicare their entire lives and been promised care?

Those already on Medicare could be “grandfathered in” and kept on the books as is.

Those who opted to switch to Medicaid in order to get even MORE “free care” - they, like ALL Medicaid recipients and all other new public option recipients would face some rather severe cutbacks and NOT be immunized from the rationing that comes along with this new “expanded public option.”

How will we pay for this massive new “entitlement”?

Finally, a GOOD question! First, it’s NOT a “new entitlement,” since we entitle all those within our borders, even those here illegally, to unlimited/unrationed FREE Health Care at our emergency rooms.

Second, we roll over BOTH the Medicare and Medicaid budgets into this new program, we strictly monitor those programs for fraud and abuse and make examples of some of the initial fraudsters caught with a series of draconian penalties to discourage further abuse. We also add into this program the estimated $150 to $200 BILLION per year that health care for illegal immigrants are already costing us and we should be able to fund that program without any problem at all and more importantly, with NO tax increases of ANY kind.

In other words, the cost containment wouldn’t come via increasing revenues, but by cutting back access and containing existing costs – that is to say, CUTTING government spending.

Moreover, we’d have eradicated the MOST crucial flaw in our current health care system – too much free care given to those who do not/cannot pay for it.

This plan would greatly boost our economy;

(1) By freeing employers from the excessive burden of providing healthcare for their workers. How much money would GM save by getting out from under their health care costs? How much would Municipalities like New York City, Chicago and L.A. save in getting out from providing their generous health care plans for their Municipal workforces? ALL that money will be there to help American Corporations expand and create new jobs and for Cities and States to save money and run more efficiently. Much of that private sector money would go into paying raises for workers, who’ve seen the bulk of that money plowed into increasing health care costs instead. In the public sector, hopefully that money would be used to pare down budget deficits, etc.

(2) It would, by addressing our system’s primary structural defect (excessive generosity, in the form of giving unlimited free health care to the indigent and illegals among us), SAVE HUGE amounts of money and those savings would start immediately, not eight years from now!

AND (3) It would provide ALL Americans with a very basic healthcare coverage, while enabling them to opt for MORE coverage by simply buying the needed “gap insurance” from the myriad private insurers and paying those premiums.

But we MUST first be honest about what the current “health care crisis” is all about.

It’s about COST.

And cost containment means RATIONING, and that rationing, in a free society, is going to impact those who will not/cannot afford the needed “gap insurance” to circumvent that rationing in a time of critical need.

Physicians would, of course, have to be barred, by penalty of law, from providing pro bono services to those on this expanded public option who’ve expended their allotment of visits and/or annual budget. That care would be needed on the open market – for those who are paying those premiums for all that “gap insurance.”

What if it’s May 6^th and an illegal immigrant is being treated for lung cancer and has already reached his allotment of visits and depleted his annual budget?

Treatment would end at that time and would have to resume, if possible, the following January, or whenever the new fiscal year would begin.

Cost containment will not come without some difficult choices and some draconian decisions like that.

We have to face facts. Right now, we are being confronted with the limits of our overly optimistic generosity, born of a once free and unfettered free market economy and we must adapt and adjust to those limitations.

We simply can’t afford to give away unlimited free health care to all those who “need it.”

Quite simply put, “If you can’t pay for it, then you probably don’t really ‘NEED’ it.” Besides that, we simply can no longer afford to give away the best, most high tech health care on the planet free to all who ask...truth is, we never could.

NO, Not ANOTHER One!...

 

First they buzzed the Statue of Liberty in Air Force One just for sh*ts and giggles, then they decided to try Khalid Sheik Mohammad and the other architects of 9-11 in federal CIVILIAN court a few blocks from Ground Zero, then they rammed through TRILLIONS in unstimulating “stimulus Bills”/“Job Bills” and then they’ve spent the rest of the year attempting to ram a health care overhaul plan through Congress that will expand coverage WITHOUT lowering, or even CONTAINING costs one bit!

What a YEAR they’re having!

But now, it seems that the Obama administration is actually reversing course on those terror trials, which is, in effect, admitting that the initial idea was a HUGE mistake! They're actually looking at holding those "hated" Military Tribunals and very possibly holding them in, of all places, Guantanamo Bay!

How long before the Obama inner circle throws Eric Holder under the bus for this debacle?

Couldn’t come soon enough for me.



Oh....and while we're on the subject of "Not another one":









Seems like some mainstream media dolts have been speculating about the background of Pentagon shooter, John Patrick Bedell - "Tea Partier"???..."Right-winger"???

Thanks to Michelle Malkin and Patterico, it's been proven that John Patrick Bedell was....a registered Democrat...and (surprise!) a Bush-hater and 9/11 Truther!

THIS from Michelle Malkin:

EMID 15324137

STATE SOURCE - California

DATA ACQUIRED 2008, 01, 21

Prefix Title - MR

LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, MIDDLE NAME - Bedell, John, Patrick

SOURCE ID VOTER - 30048

DATE OF BIRTH - 5/20/1973

PLACE OF BIRTH - CA

REGDATE - 2005, 10, 06

GENDER - M

PARTY - Democrat

ACTIVECODE - ACTIVE

STATUS

ResAddr1,ResAddr2,ResCity,ResState,ResZip 110 Georges Dr Hollister,CA

STATEHOUSE 28

STATESENATE 12

USCONGRESS 17

SEE:

http://michellemalkin.com/2010/03/05/about-the-pentagon-shooter/


And from Patterico:

"And Internet research shows that the guy [John Patrick Bedell] was a 9/11 Truther and an anti-Bush nut case.

Via Charles Johnson comes this link to some crazy ranting from the guy. It was recorded in November 2006 — when Bush was president, to belabor the obvious."



A portion of that recorded rant goes;
“This criminal organization would use its powers to convert military, intelligence, and law enforcement bureaucracies into instruments for political control, and the domination and subjection of society, while discrediting, destroying, and murdering honest individuals within those services, that work to root out corruption, and faithfully serve their fellow citizens. This organization, like so many murderous governments throughout history, would see the sacrifice of thousands of its citizens in an event such as the September 11 attacks, as a small cost in order to perpetuate its barbaric control. This collection of gangsters would find it in their interest to foment conflict and initiate wars throughout the world, in order to divert attention from their misconduct and criminality. The true nature of such a regime would find its clearest expression in the satanic violence currently ongoing in Iraq.”

SEE:
http://patterico.com/2010/03/04/pentagon-shooter-anti-bush-nut-case-and-911-truther/

Why Are Some “Known Human Carcinogens” More OK Than Others?....

 

All freedom-loving Americans should take a real interest in the reasons behind the ubiquitous smoking bans all around us, because the primary rationale behind these bans (tobacco smoke is one of approximately 65 known carcinogens) is an open invitation to a greater and greater micromanaging of our lives by an already activist and increasingly incompetent and out-of-control government.

Today the National Institute of Health’s Report on Carcinogens (RoC) lists 246 entries, 58 of which are listed as known to be human carcinogens, with the remaining 188 being listed as reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens. SEE: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/go/19914

And view the current list at: http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/ntp/roc/eleventh/known.pdf

So according to the NIH, there are about 60 "Known Human Carcinogens" and yes, tobacco smoke is one of them.

As are, as you well might expect, asbestos, benzene (a major ingredient in gasoline), Radon, Dioxins, various steroidal estrogens and human papillomas viruses.

However, you might NOT expect to find alcoholic beverage consumption, wood dust, X-Ray radiation, sun lamps/tanning beds and solar radiation or sunlight on that SAME list...and yet, there they ARE!

Can anyone NOT imagine the incredible amount of mischief an activist government could do by “regulating”/limiting access to alcoholic beverage consumption, wood dust, X-Rays, tanning beds and...sunlight?!

The door to doing just that is certainly wide open, in the wake of our government’s justifying its smoking bans based primarily, if not solely on the fact that tobacco smoke is on that very same list of “known human carcinogens” as are alcoholic beverage consumption, wood dust, tanning beds and, yes, sunlight!

Today all our government needs do is to merely step through that already open door.

So, what of the very real prospect of our own government actually limiting access to things like wood dust, X-Rays, alcoholic beverages, tanning beds....and sunlight?

Well, they are ALL on that VERY SAME list of “Known Human Carcinogens” as tobacco smoke is, so there is technically NOTHING stopping them from doing precisely that.

To paraphrase a famous admonition, “First they came for the cigarettes, but I didn’t care because I didn’t smoke...then they came for wood dust and I didn’t care because I wasn’t a carpenter, then they came for the alcoholic beverages, and I didn’t care because I rarely drank such beverages...and finally they came for the sunlight....and the world went dark.”

Is Keith Olbermann on His Way Out The Door at MSNBC???...

The reviews for Keith Olbermann are coming in fast and furious, and few of them are any good.

Andrew Malcolm at The Los Angeles Times says “Obermann is sinking fast”:

“In the most desirable TV demographic of 25-54, which Keith will soon outgrow himself, “Countdown” lost 44% of its audience from the beginning of President Obama’s term until this year. It could have been worse — say, 45%.

“Olbermann averaged 268,000 viewers last month in that sector. That’s just several thousand sets of those eyes more than Campbell Brown over on CNN. According to one count, Keith even finished in that time slot behind Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace!”

SEE: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/02/keith-olbermann-msnbc-glenn-beck-bill-oreilly-fox-news.html

 

Meanwhile Jeff Bercovici at Daily Finance adds:

“There are also more subjective signs that Olbermann’s stridency and lack of proportion are alienating some of his natural allies. Quite a few eyebrows elevated last week when Jon Stewart, in a parody of one of Olbermann’s “Special Comment” segments, called out the newsman for going way over the top in his denunciations of Republican Senator-elect Scott Brown of Massachusetts. The criticism was all the more remarkable, given that Stewart and Olbermann usually take the same side on most issues, especially when it comes to Fox News and the Republicans.

“Olbermann’s overheated rhetoric also drew a sharp response from Joe Scarborough, MSNBC’s house conservative, who called his fellow host’s attack on Brown “reckless” and “sad.” The exchange (and a few earlier, similar incidents) inspired network president Phil Griffin to issue a stern memo admonishing his charges: “We do not publicly criticize our colleagues. This kind of behavior is unprofessional and will not be tolerated.”

And Mark Memmott of National Public Radio notes:

“MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann strongly disagrees, but one of the memes of the day seems to be that Countdown with Keith Olbermann isn’t doing so well ratings-wise and might soon be history.”

“Keith has a habit of flaming out,” says one NBC producer. “It’s happening again.”

NBC insiders are said to be sweating over Keith Olbermann, but not because of his politics. Turns out that Keith Olbermann may have finally become a very real liability for NBC:

Olbermann...went after former MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams Wednesday night, claiming Abrams had been fired and had a grudge against the network.

That tirade left NBC executives red-faced as Abrams, a lawyer, is still employed by NBC as a news analyst on legal issues.

Between that attack on a fellow MSNBC figure and his dismal ratings, Olbermann may have finally made MSNBC’s decision on him easy!

For my money, the folks at MSNBC can’t flush this turd soon enough.

Senator Jim Bunning’s (R-KY) Righteous and Courageous Stand...

Today, one solitary Senator once AGAIN blocked even a 30-day extension of jobless benefits and other expired measures. The measure would also extend highway programs and prevent a big cut in Medicare payments to doctors, that would another $10 BILLION to the Deficit, UNTIL Congress found a way to appropriate the funds needed for those programs...without further borrowing!

Senator Jim Bunning doesn't oppose the bill, just the fact that Congress is once AGAIN spending money without funding that spending.

Senator Bunning has proposed to pay for the extension with unspent money from last year's massive economic recovery package, but Harry Reid objected that.

For that, Senator Bunning is being condemned by dolts for daring to hold Congress to its own words!

Why?

Merely because he’s insisting that Congress pay for this latest spending - $10 billion in an emergency Transportation and unemployment funding measure that Congress has, so far, refused to fund.

Moreover, as Bunning points out, just a few weeks ago Congress passed the "PayGo" law that requires Congress to fully fund all new discretionary spending. Bunning is simply holding them to their own word!

Instead of doing the right thing and addressing THEIR obscene deficit spending, liberal Democrats have instead sought to make some political hay out of Bunning’s courageous and righteous stand. Senator Patty Murray of Washington, came to the floor to attack Republicans for blocking the legislation.

"Today we have a clear cut example to show the American people just what's wrong with Washington, D.C.," Murray said. "That is because today one single Republican senator is standing in the way of the unemployment benefits of 400,000 Americans."

"He's hurting the American people," Collins said when asked Tuesday if Bunning was hurting the Republican Party.

Actually, what Bunning’s stand does is highlight the cowardly hypocrisy of Congress’s liberal members, a group that passed PayGo scant weeks ago, only to refuse to abide by it now.

A Sad Tale of Two Nations....

Chile was recently (Saturday, February 26, 2010) rocked by the fifth largest earthquake since seismic records began being kept in 1900 at 8.8 on the Richter Scale.

The quake, which lasted an interminable 3 minutes, damaged over 1.5 MILLION homes and the death toll is approaching 1,000, but Chile has, so far, eschewed any foreign assistance, because it’s been one of the most earthquake-safe countries, ever since it suffered the largest earthquake since records were kept, back in 1960 with a quake that measured an incredible 9.5 on the Richter Scale.

It’s hard not to notice the huge difference between the way Chile has dealt with an even larger quake than the one that absolutely devastated Haiti about a month ago.

First, while the Caribbean does have a tectonic fault line running through it, Haiti has not been an earthquake prone nation, as Chile has.

Secondly, Haiti has long had a dysfunctional government, and as a result, a population with a 60% illiteracy rate and virtually no entrepreneurialism to spur economic advancement. Moreover, it’s had no sustainable agricultural policies and as a result has depleted much of its once rich soil.

Chile went from an economic basket-case under the Allende regime to the “Jewel of South America” when it adopted the free market policies advocated by the late, great Milton Friedman!

As a result, even though a Center-Left government now rules Chile, there have been few “economic reforms” that tinkered with the Friedman Plan that has served that nation well for decades now!

Because of that prosperity, coupled with Chile’s being so earthquake prone, Chile has been able to not only recognize a problem but had the wherewithal to deal with it effectively.

THAT is the primary reason for the huge difference in the way Chile has dealt with a larger, potentially more devastating earthquake than the one that decimated Haiti.

While We're on the Subject of Hoaxes....

Yet ANOTHER Racial Hoaxer Incident

After New York police arrested Rodney Tanzymore (pictured above) in Queens, N.Y., last Monday, February 22^nd, it now appears that he maliciously reported a completely fictitious incident at a New Jersey Turnpike rest stop in Hamilton Township, NJ on Nov. 21^st, 2009.

On that day, Tanzymore reportedly called 911, after removing the SIMS chip from his cell  phone and reported that, “Three men just hopped out of a black truck with, uh, guns ... It’s a Mercedes Benz. It’s like a van, like a passenger van."

In responding to that call, troopers swarmed the vehicle and Tanzymore, along with 10 other Queens teenagers, who were traveling in along with three chaperones and a driver, were ordered out of the van at gunpoint.

No weapons were found, and the black and Hispanic teenagers all claimed that they were humiliated and frightened when troopers ordered them out of the van one-by-one at gunpoint, implying that they were victims of racial profiling.

All along the State Police suspected the call came from one of the van’s passengers, but it would take them three months to prove it. In the end, authorities said, Tanzymore was not as clever as he thought. He had assumed that by removing the personalized chip from his phone, his 911 call would be untraceable. He was wrong.

The tactic isn’t foolproof — phones still leave an electronic fingerprint, and police used that to track down Tanzymore.

This isn’t the first offense for Tanzymore, “Tanzymore was accused of making phony 911 calls last August — he reported a gunman matching his own description, according to the criminal complaint. Police found a cell phone in Tanzymore’s pocket, which rang when they dialed the number recorded by the police department’s caller ID, the complaint says. He pled guilty on Aug. 5 to a disorderly persons offense to receive 21 days of community service.”

SEE: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/police_traced_bogus_911_calls.html

Acting Attorney General Paula Dow said in a statement. "We will prosecute this matter to the fullest extent of the law."

In yet another hoaxer incident:

Duke Accuser Commits Yet ANOTHER Crime!...

The Duke Lacrosse hoaxer, Crystal Gail Mangum (pictured above) has been charged with a series of crimes, including attempted first-degree murder, five counts of arson, and three counts of child endangerment.

Astoundingly enough, as severe as this litany of crimes are they pale in comparison to the crimes committed on March 13, 2006 when Ms. Mangum falsely charged three Duke lacrosse players with rape...and, even worse, the subsequent malfeasance, prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of authority by then Durham D.A. Mike Nifong and the criminal conspiracy engaged in by the “gang of 88” (a group of Left-leaning teachers at Duke, who not only jumped to a conclusion of pre-trial guilt by accusation, but demanded that “justice” (the railroading of those three victims) be streamlined and completed as quickly as possible.

The left-leaning mainstream media (MSM) jumped right onto the gang of 88’s bandwagon, joining the chorus for a swift conviction based on the lies of a vindictive and obviously emotionally troubled woman.

While no evidence pointed to any of the three accused (a rape kit’s results, filed on December 13^th, 2006 stated that the private lab had found DNA from multiple males in Mangum's body — but none belonging to the accused players), while a ton of mounting evidence pointed toward their exoneration, including numerous surveillance camera videos of at least two of them at other locations at the time Ms Mangum claimed she was being attacked.

For that reason, on April 11, 2007, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped all charges and declared the three players innocent. Cooper stated that the charged players – Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty, and David Evans – were victims of a "tragic rush to accuse." The initial prosecutor for the case, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong, who had been denounced as a "rogue prosecutor" by Cooper, withdrew from the case in January 2007 after the North Carolina State Bar filed ethics charges against him. That June, Nifong was disbarred for "dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation", making Nifong the first prosecutor in North Carolina history to lose his law license based on actions in a case. Nifong was found guilty of criminal contempt, but served merely ONE DAY in jail.

Even worse were the charges of witness intimidation by the Durham POLICE! Defense lawyers suggested that the Durham police used intimidation tactics on witnesses. In one case, on May 11, Moezeldin Elmostafa, a black taxi driver who signed a sworn statement about Seligmann's whereabouts that defense lawyers say provides a solid alibi, was arrested on a 2½-year-old shoplifting charge. He was not the accused shoplifter, but had driven them in his cab.

Mr. Elmostafa was subsequently tried on the shoplifting charge and was found not guilty.

Ms. Mangum was never charged with the felony false report she was clearly guilty of and as a result she was free to engage in the above acts which resulted in her pending criminal charges.

For a well-documented list of other racial hoaxes see: http://www.racismeantiblanc.bizland.com/005/03-02.htm