Utterly Meaningless

The frightening thing is that I am starting to get my hopes up. 🙂

Nance

I am encouraged by hearing you say that breaking up a monopoly is a good thing.

But I fear this ‘public plan option’ you speak will end up just taking money away from me, losing 25-50% of it in the eternal government bureaucracy, and doleing the rest out according to unfathomably complex and ever-changing system of injustice and random luck.

Sort of like a smaller and less complex version of the tax code.

Yeah, our current system has severe faults. And yeah, I might be willing to try something different, even though my family and I are setting pretty with some of the best healthcare the world has to offer right now. But dang – when was the last time the government did something this big, the right way?

You’re already losing at least 25% of your health care dollars to insurance company overhead. Personally, I’d rather see those dollars go to actually healing a sick person. But that’s just me.

But dang – when was the last time the government did something this big, the right way?

Social Security comes to mind. Remarkably successful and popular. Runs a huge surplus, too.

We do war good.

You think so? Afghanistan– 8 years and no end in sight. Iraq 6 and counting.

I think we’ve pretty much sucked at war since about 1950 or so.

Rob, I’m happy for you and your family that you have terrific healthcare.

The idea of the plans I have read about is to leave you alone. If you want to keep paying whatever you are paying, you keep on sitting pretty.

OTOH, there is the rest of the country — both the uninsured and the underinsured. And those who think they are sitting pretty only to find out . .. not so much.

I think it is a good thing to try to find a way to help everyone instead of throwing up smokescreens about guvmnt or anything else to prevent progress.

The idea is that all of us should be sitting pretty.

Nance

Here’s a link to some more anecdotes:

storie...s/near

The thing that amazed me was the map at the top of the page. And, of course, those are just the people who have submitted their story.

Nance

I heard part of Obama’s press conference on the radio today. He says that a public plan is on the table and that it is not negotiable. Of course, Congress can do whatever they want, but if he’s coming out that strongly for it, I think chances are good that we’ll see one. And as I understand it, nobody with private insurance would be required to change. The public plan option would have to compete in the marketplace alongside the private insurance companies.

But dang – when was the last time the government did something this big, the right way?

Social Security comes to mind. Remarkably successful and popular. Runs a huge surplus, too.
—————-
I would agree. It has done quite well. Run a surplus. 1% cost of administration.

But I would like to point out, that when I asked you for the last time govt did something this big the right way, you came up with something that happened in 1935.

Is that your final answer? No big govt program has been done right in the last 74 years? And this track record somehow will be broken with healthcare?

I’m not exactly full of comfort over here…

Compare it to the present. Our longtime health insurance with the Blues pays only a fraction of our (not special) health care while it now literally costs my family as much as our annual IRS bill and TWICE our home’s property taxes, which are astromincal here in retiree heaven imo — and it goes up every few months, inexorably, about to break us. And yet I know we’ve been among the lucky who haven’t been forced to drop it altogether yet.

Sorry – astronomical.

That’s a cute response, Rob. But there are many government-run programs that do just fine. They are not perfect. What is? But they do a heck of a good job providing services compared with the for-profit health insurance industry.

Two that have been a help to my family: the FHA mortgage program and the S-CHIP health insurance program for children.

I would cite FEMA, too, and the EPA and other programs, along with bank regulations, etc. But so many of these things were gutted under the previous administration that it will take a while to get back to normal. Although the FDIC was a reassuring voice during the recent unpleasantness. Our local bank was happy to tell all comers about being FDIC-insured.

And my Mom happily lives on her Social Security and Medicare.

These are not ancient programs that have gone the way of the dinosaur. They are an important part of many Americans’ lives — today.

I read an article recently comparing the VA system of healthcare to the various proposals. I can’t find the link yet but the point, as I recall, was that we have government-managed health insurance for vets and for legislators. We know how to do it and make it work. It’s not that we have to start from scratch.

Thinking abut real solutions is more helpful than taking jabs and I am looking forward to the President’s talk about this important issue on Wednesday night.

Nance

Ooh, is that tonight?

For Rob:
Private Insurers Make a Silly Argument

But I would like to point out, that when I asked you for the last time govt did something this big the right way, you came up with something that happened in 1935.

There aren’t too many social programs the size of universal health insurance. Medicare might come close. It’s a 1960s era program and has extremely low overhead. It’s also very popular among the senior set. Yes, the budget is about to explode, but that’s what health care reform will work to avert.