I Rant I Rave- You Read: The Wednesday Edition

• I have watched a lot of horror movies in my life and if I've learned nothing else- when a monster such as the proposed health care reform bill is created someone, somewhere down the line will have to step and kill it- or it will devour everyone in sight.



• "Save money"? Are you kidding? When I heard The President say that- all respect for him on this issue vanished- he didn't misspeak nor was he misinformed, he had to know that was a lie.



• "No matter what they're talking about when a politician speaks he's talking about spending money." "No matter what they're talking about when a politician speaks he's lying." These are very good, always pertinent truisms but, he took both to a new level in that speech.



• What does a politician mean when he says save money anyway? Is it the same as when you and I say it? No absolutely not, ever- they always mean spending less than originally planned (if that even). If health care costs are expected to rise 5% per year, the bureaucrat wanting to make his administration look good will find a way to shave 2% off of spending, subtract the difference then say in press conference,"To all the naysayers-we've saved the American taxpayer 20 teen gajillion dollars this year alone in health care costs since the health care reform act passed. Blah, blah blah..." All the while spending continues to grow until it's some big monster no one knows what to do with- then what?



• They'll figure out a way to blame those who were opposed in the first place.



• What happens when they spend less? Automatically increased rationing of health care- which not really all that bad of a concept in it's purest form (it's necessarily necessary- already part of the reason we actually have docs) but, everyone involved has been adamant it won't happen. It happens and has ever since the first x ray machine was manufactured, there were room for only so many patients, it was far enough away for a doc to have to decide whether it was necessary and docs stopped accepting chickens for their services and demanded cash. The only change? It will and it has to only get worse.



• All the major players pushing for this have used terms like "obscene profits" when talking about the profit margins of the insurance industry. Now that it's clear their margins really aren't all that great compared to other industries, will the message of the activistic politicians change?



• My insurance company (both health and dental) will have to carry us for a quite a few more years before they break even and we're quite healthy people.



• Doctors will get out of the field and will be replaced by lesser qualified individuals- it has to happen since we know it already does- primarily over government reimbursement issues, astronomical costs and narrow margins.



• Healthcare Reform Explained As A Summer Picnic from the youchoobs.



• A very interesting counterpoint of successful plans which specifically talks about Germany's plan- a public option that (supposedly) is not tax funded.



• Regardless of plan- one big, huge, insurmountable problem if you're enamored of the English, the Germans or France's system. We are not Brits, Germans or French.



• John Stossel's take on the issue. Sick In America.



• A lot of the reason politicians push for things like this is to buy votes, another- guilt over their own wealth- both should bother us to no end but, we don't really care.



• 70-80% of Americans are reportedly happy (I bet it's really more) with their current insurance status. Where else would that level of satisfaction be risked to upend a system?



• 800 billion dollars a year is wasted on unnecessary medical procedures in the US, driven primarily by fear of lawsuits. If you could rid the system of this and fraud for government reimbursement plans already in place ( you can do neither) more sweeping reform would be affordable and welcome in my book.



• Just a few short generations from now people will look back in amazement while face palming and head wagging over a health care system in shambles and a country drowning in debt and say,"They weren't smart enough to see this coming?"


• Anyway, let me finish with this, which should solve this issue, help settle all our differences and bring us together as one- united as a race of sentient, compassionate humans not rich, poor or black or white just- people helping people as I always say.