Senator Cardin and His Path to Socialism
by Big Dog on Aug 13, 2007 at 18:54 Uncategorized
It was only a matter of time before someone at the federal level tried to impose upon us the health care that Mitt Romney gave to Massachusetts. The plan requires everyone to have health insurance and it is going to cost a lot more money than any estimate indicated. Of course, that money will come from taxpayers who already pay for their own health insurance.
Senator Ben Cardin has introduced a bill that will require all citizens of the US to have health insurance. Cardin seems to have some idea that health insurance is a right that everyone has and that those with money should pay for those without. Cardin’s is trying to get a law on the books that will tell people how they have to spend their money. There are many people in this country who choose not to have health insurance. These are mostly younger workers who feel it is not worth what they pay and would rather take that money home. In any event, that is their choice and the government has NO RIGHT to tell people how they have to spend their money.
We are moving closer to socialism and Cardin is leading the way. The Senate has already passed the Children’s Health Program which will use taxpayer money to pay for health insurance for children of families that make up to FOUR times the poverty level. In other words, families making nearly $90,000 a year will be eligible. The government will then turn around and tax the hell out of these very people because they are part of the “rich” in our society. Cardin and his socialist idiot patrol in Congress are hell bent on driving us to the point where the wealthy subsidize every damned thing in life. There are welfare programs and people who cannot afford health care do not go without, they just might not have the same care Bill Gates gets with his money (and damn sure not the same that members of Congress get at taxpayer expense). The others who choose not to have insurance should be allowed to do so and the government should keep its nose out of their business.
Cardin has even imposed a tax on those who do not get the insurance they are required to under the bill or who go for more than 60 days without insurance. Here is how you will be forced into getting the health insurance:
`There is hereby imposed on each individual who for any month (or portion thereof) is required, but fails, to have qualified health coverage in accordance with section 2(a) of the Universal Health Coverage Act of 2007 for any continuous period that is greater than 60 days a tax in an amount equal to the average monthly premium amount for qualified health coverage in the State in which the individual resides (as determined pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Secretary) for each such month.’. Thomas Library
This money would go into a fund to enroll these people into health care plans that they might not want. Additionally, there will be some form of tax that will pay for the people who have no insurance. As if we are not taxed enough and as if we can trust the jackasses in Congress to actually spend the money wisely. Hell, look at that idiot Murtha and you can see where money is wasted and there are many more like him. Look at how these criminals waste Social Security (another from of government extortion) money.
The Democrats have this idea that people are entitled to universal health care. I see no such entitlement in the Constitution and this kind of thinking just creates more dependence where generations of people look at the government as mommy and daddy (or for Democrats just mommy because daddy is not needed). That is why we have so many people mired in poverty today. As for people who have health insurance offered and do not get it, that is their prerogative. If they need medical care then they should PAY THE BILL. Many places will allow people to pay medical bills over time. Start making people as accountable for their medical bills as they are for their car bills, cell phone bills, and their mortgages.
I guess the reality is, we can’t because Democrats are not about responsibility. They view people who have medical bills as the poor downtrodden who should be getting health care for free. Well Senator, NOTHING IN LIFE IS FREE. Besides that, Cardin is involving the government in running health care. The government can not run anything efficiently. There is not one program that the government has run that comes in under budget and saves people money and there certainly is not one single program that government runs that a private company could not run much better and more efficiently. I defy Cardin to show me one program that runs under budget and is efficient. I will be happy to discuss this any time he can come up with one but I won’t hold my breath waiting.
What will Congress come up with next? People MUST own a hybrid car. You must buy US Savings bonds (and if you don’t rich people will pay for yours). People must pay for a prescription plan. How many other things can the government mandate we have and then use tax money to buy those items for the poor. We will have a class war one day because the Congress insists on this kind of stupidity.
Before that happens, we need another revolution to get rid of all these jackasses in Congress and start fresh with new people who are not career politicians. Read the Declaration of Independence and see if the words do not apply as much to our government of today as they did to King George and his oppressive government of not that long ago.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.Declaration of Independence [my emphasis]
In 2008 we need a revolution to break the ties with this government and abolish the reign of those in power and alter it by voting in new people with fresh ideas. The first 100 people who walk into Wal Mart could do a much better job than the Bozos in the Senate.
We can start by making sure this bill is defeated. If it passes then people should refuse to get health care or they should go on the government created system and overwhelm it so that it fails much sooner and we can be done with it. Maryland screwed the country as well as itself when it elected this mush for brains instead of Michael Steele.
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BD, what sort of health care do you have?
Your assertion that the government cannot run health care more efficiently than what we have now is just plain wrong.
Japan has a national health care plan (everyone must enroll) and yet they spend only 8% of their GDP ($2,250 per person in 2003) on health care whereas the US spends 15% of its GDP ($5,571 per person in 2003) for its largely ‘free-market’ health care system. Curiously, Japanese people live longer than Americans as do people in most (all?) countries that have national health care. Even the much dreaded Cuba, a third world nation (!), has a life expectancy roughly on par with the US, a country that has far more modern medical technology (that many Americans simply cannot afford). A large percentage of US health costs go to administrative overhead because you have countless insurance companies performing the same paperwork, which is inefficient by definition. You also have HMO CEO’s making millions – and sometimes 10’s of millions – of dollars per year. That money, again, by definition, is obviously not being used to provide health care to those who are insured.
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm
Even though they have national health care in Japan, they still have private hospitals, & has standard medication is available. The medication is available at less cost moreover because the government buys it all and uses their bargaining power to drive down costs, unlike in the US where the Republican congress has explicitly prevented the Medicare Part D program from doing so (while the VA is allowed to do it). Japanese people are also free to purchase private supplementary health insurance if they want additional coverage. in fact, US companies pioneered the field of cancer insurance in Japan because cancer treatment is expensive anywhere. The primary difference is that cancer treatment doesn’t bankrupt a person in Japan like it does for so many in the US. Wait times for opeations, etc. are basically the same AND you can go to ANY hospital and use basically any doctor you want since almost all, if not all, participate in the national health care program.
I sometimes wonder why the President, a big ‘free market’ supporter, chooses to remain on his ‘socialized’ medical plan. If ‘free market’ plans are so great, it seems he could buy better coverage and set an example for the American people. Same for the Republicans in congress who pay something like $50 a month for their care. They sure aren’t dumping their ‘socialized’ government health care and buying private health insurance instead. Isn’t that strange? Maybe they like it?
I’d sure like to ask them why they remain on their ‘socialized’ health care plans instead of buying private insurance.
Surprisingly businesses also like national health care because it gives them some degree of tranparency: they have a good idea what the costs will be from year-to-year, unlike in the US where costs fluctuate (upwards). Nat’l health care also helps ensure that workers are healthy and that they get regular, preventive care.
The only reason Americans don’t have a national health care system is because they don’t understand how it works and the pharmaceutical and insurance industries flood D.C. with money to keep the gravy train going, at our expense.
I have Blue Cross that I pay for out of my pay check.
Now, I don’t know how much of our health care system you have seen in practice but I am willing to bet I have seen just a little more. I am well aware of how inadequate our government is in running anything. They are piss poor with Medicare/Medicaid and, though not medical, SS is terribly run and inadequate.
Private industry does things much better than government. Before you mess up those words due to your minimal comprehension skills, I did not say private was perfect, just better than government. There is not one plan our government runs that is efficient.
If you are spouting off the Michael Moore statistics, he did a poor job and compared apples to oranges. I understand how health care works much better than you can imagine and I am glad the government does not run it.
If we want to have everyone with insurance then we need to have insurance offered in group plans for people who do not have them through work. They can bundle packages together and offer them through the better business or some other group that people can belong to or associate with. But this should be voluntary. The government should not tell you that you have to buy insurance. That is wrong and takes away freedom. Why can a woman choose to abort a baby but we can not choose not to have health insurance?
The reason America spends more of its GDP is complex. There are lawsuits that drive up costs (what is the rate of those in Japan), America develops many of the drugs used in the world and there is an R&D cost to be made back before the drug comes off patent and most importantly, the GOVERNMENT has rules about what insurance companies have to include in plans. THIS DRIVES UP COSTS. A single man with a single plan has to pay for the abortion services or OB/GYN that is included in that plan by GOVERNMENT mandate.
Plans should be just like a cable package. There is a basic plan that covers wellness and emergencies. Then, you can add on baby services, aroma therapy, drug treatment, alcohol counseling etc. These drive up plans and are mandated by the states before they will allow companies to sell insurance plans in their states.
Additionally, health insurance covers a lot. They usually cover all by $10 or $20 of an office visit. If car insurance was like health insurance your car insurance company would pay for your oil changes (except the $10 co-pay).
Health insurance is not a right and taxp[ayes should not be forced to pay for it for others. We already pay for all the other government social programs.
The Republicans in Congress (who receive as much from drug companies as anyone, as does Cardin) are on the health plans that are offered to all federal employees. They have companies from which to choose (just like any employer who offers health insurance) and they pay bi-weekly premiums. They have the same private companies that everyone else uses and they pay a hell of a lot more than $50 a month. It is more like 200-300 per month (for a family plan).
So before you discuss health care get a license in health care and then get a job working in health care and then see what really goes on.
BTW, in all my years working in an emergency room, NO ONE was ever turned away.
Cardin is from Maryland. Here is the federal employee health benefit cost for a Marylander:
Link
You can see that this is bi-weekly so the cost is anywhere from 240-900 a month.
That far exceeds 50…
I’ll come back later to respond, but in the meanwhile, should we privatize the fire department? What about the police department and public libraries?
These are all ‘socialized’ government-run services that the American public overwhelmingly support. And they work. they work far better than if they were privatized. In fact, fire departments used to be privatized but people decided it was more practical to have them run as public entities and that is how we arrived where we are today.
Billy Joe, Billy Joe, nice try. Police and fire departments are inefficient. They always run over budget (which is expected since emergencies do not know a time clock). However, they are generally way over in budget because of inefficient procedures, though fire is better than police.
Look at the problems that police departments have because of the bureaucracy. The false arrests, the police corruption, the crime by the thin blue line. Come on, get real.
Fire departments are usually better but they have their issues as well. And the majority of fire departments in this country are VOLUNTEER which might explain why they run fairly well. I believe there are about 1.2 million volunteers.
Having been one, I can say they are generally a great bunch of folks who do it for love of community.
Public libraries do not run efficiently. I admit the process is pretty efficient with the way things are cataloged and such but they run an operation that is generally over budget and slow. They run better than most agencies of the government though but they will never be greatly efficient because they give away a service. They spend money for no return, but they are a good service for people who need them.
BD,
I have worked in a hospital. Of course patients haven’t been turned away from an emergency room: hospitals aren’t supposed to turn away people in the emergency room. The problem now is that uninsured people use the emergency room as their sole source of medical care and if they can’t afford their emergency room bills, the government is billed, anyway. It’s not a very efficient way to deliver health care and it causes people to postpone getting treatment until medical problems have gotten worse when they could have been treated earlier saving everyone money and improving American health.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to offer a basic package? It doesn’t need to pay for aroma-therapy, or even your psycho-therapy. For all I care, it could include eyewear, dental and regular medical checks. If people want more coverage, they can buy it from the private sector. As usual, in service to your ideology, you are making this into some big ‘socialist’ strawman.
Regarding pharmaceutical companies. I don’t understand the knee-jerk defense by conservatives of pharmaceutical companies. Have you watched TV recently? How much money do you suppose they spend on advertising? I’ve heard they now spend more on ads than they do on R&D. As it is, you can often purchase the exact same medication, made by the same companies, in countries that have national health care at prices significantly lower than what Americans pay for the same drugs. If it wasn’t profitable for them anyway, don’t you think they would have withdrawn from markets that have national health care?
Why do you think the American people/taxpayers need to subsidize pharmaceutical companies? That’s just about the most un-conservative argument I have ever heard and amply illustrates the fact that Republicans are not at all conservative, in the traditional sense. They’re radical corpratists who, for whatever reason (ignorance? self interest?), are actually happy to give extra money to big companies THAT ARE ALREADY PROFITABLE. It’s called corporate welfare and Medicare Part D is a perfect example. Why do you support the pharmaceutical companies over American consumers?
I don’t disagree that medical malpractice suits may have some influence on medical costs though I don’t think the case is as strong as you think it is. Texas limited awards and their medical costs are rising anyway. While medical malpractice costs may account for a portion of our massive health care outlays, it is simply undeniable that if you have 1000 insurance companies processing 1000 different types of paperwork that they each designed individually, then the money required to support the massive corporate bureaucracies and huge CEO salaries is money NOT being spent on actual health care. What’s more obscene is that for-profit insurance companies have an economic incentive to deny care because it will boost their profits. Some people call it murder by spreadsheet. That’s why insurers limit your care to ‘network’ hospitals, force you to use certain medical providers, etc. Where’s the freedom in that? These restrictions don’t occur in the supposedly ‘socialist’ national health care systems. At least they don’t in Japan and I have never heard of hospital ‘networks’ anywhere but in the US. I think this is a case where blind adherence to free market ideology limits your ACTUAL (not perceived) freedom. You’re wittingly or unwittingly supporting a system that is actually predatory. it’s a giant wealth transfer scheme from the American people & taxpayers to massive companies that are already profitable. Why do you support profitable corporations over the American people?
On a last note, I have a proposal for you. Try calling up one of the many insurance health insurance companies that advertise on television (BTW, money used to pay for ads is again wasted). You could call Humana, for example. They often advertise their senior coverage. I bet they won’t give you any information about their products unless you give them all of the information they need to add you to their marketing list and even then, they won’t give you enough information to make an informed decision. You’ll need a lawyer to work your way thru their contracts, as well. Again, this simply doesn’t happen in countries with national health care. the basic plan is the same for everyone, it’s transparent, you can easily find out what’s covered so it’s basically stress free. Again, this is all proof that government can in fact be more transparent and efficient than private industry. And again, the actual numbers prove it.
Take off your ideological blinders, dude. The answers are right in front of you. There is no reason for Americans to pay more, by far, for health care than anyone else in the world and still have 45,000,000 people without any coverage whatsoever. It’s a huge economic drag on America, as well. The system is broken and the American people are being screwed. Children dying from tooth infections should be a national embarrassment. It’s unheard of in other industrial nations.
Well, if you would actually research here instead of assuming, you would see that I have proposed several things, one of which is a basic package (I believe I did that here as well) and then people could add on (I think I said that too). I also call for people to be able to band together to form co ops so they can afford insurance.
What I don’t call for is using tax payer money to provide people with insurance (except for the most poor). People who make nearly 90 grand a year do not need help. We also need to get away from this idea that people can NOT pay their medical bills and get away with it. Garnish wages, or set up a payment plan. Hospitals and doctors do this.
We should also consider forcing doctors with loans to work them off in free clinics.
There are about 45 million people without insurance. About half of them are offered it and choose not to take it. They should NOT be forced to buy it if they do not want it but they should be required to pay their medical bills.
The big problem is, people want it for FREE because they believe it is their right.
Health care companies and drug companies are in business to make money. There are problems with what they do and that can be improved but they are not obligated to make any drug nor are they obligated to give them away. Lawsuits account (at least when I was in school) for 19 out of every 20 dollars spent. Forget drug and health ads, look at all the lawyer ads asking if you farted because you took a drug. There is a lot of the problem. Remember that we have far fewer vaccines than before because government got involved. Then when something popped back up, oh how terrible.
The drugs can be sold in other countries for less money because they are limited in the legal avenues they can pursue.
You want the government to handle this when they have failed time and again to handle our money responsibly. They spend SS on everything but SS. They put a lot of IOUs in there and will expect us to pay them. Government spends too much money and can not be trusted. The costs of medicare are higher than privately run health programs (the government does not caount administrative costs when they compare so it looks good). The government is not the answer.
Take you nannyism blinders off and learn what individual responsibility is.
If you have a:
1)cell phone
2)cable TV
3)a big screen TV
4)an expensive car (or more than one)
5)expensive clothes
or if you
1)smoke
2)drink alcohol
3)take drugs
and do not have health insurance then the problem is not being able to afford it, it is responsibility and priority. And the belief that health care should be free.