Friday, July 24, 2009

Health Care

Onto the next buisness. Health Care.

Ok, I know that every conservative somehow believes that any government involvement in health care is just socialism and our rights and earnings are going to be stripped away the moment one passes and we'll all become Canadians waiting in line for hours to get our tonsils removed, but I'll get to that topic with the last button. I'd like to just address the whining over Congress' latest foray into this battle-scape.

First off, for any liberals out there that really believed that Barack Obama was going to incorporate every progressive idea from the last 12 years and implement it immediately, you should've been reading my blog then. Had you done that, you might've realized what I was saying during the primaries. Obama is a centrist. He's always been a centrist and his policies will always be more moderate than liberal.(and just to mention those on the right that still believe Obama is the "most liberal politician to ever enter the White House" you obviously haven't done your homework and you also need to quite whining)

Coming back to the actual issue, I personally think the bill in progress stinks. It sucks ass because it doesn't even touch on the possibility of a single payer system that would actually allow for a permanent option for those at the bottom. It also greatly benefits the current insurance system that if we haven't realized it already is a fucking scam.

On the single payer option, I know that many cons feel that would just plunge us into pure socialism, well that's just not a fact. In fact it's pretty far from fact. We already have aspects of this type of system that work very well for elderly and low income families. It's called Medicare and Medicaid. Granted, both of these systems could use some pruning, a bit of updating and probably a decent chunk of revenue, they still work fairly efficiently in allowing many receive necessary care. And to be honest, I don't care what your opinion is of social policy, whether you believe god will solve it all or if you think the government should pick out clothes for you, we really should just be talking about getting care to the millions that need it. It should not be a privelage in such an industrialized society to receive basic care. And by basic I mean good preventative medicine and good treatment programs for those with conditions whether they're classified as "pre-existing" or otherwise.

On the insurance system, I gotta call the red flag or yellow card or whatever alarm you think necessary. Every single person that claims that a government healthcare system would put decisions on healthcare in the hands of beurocrats instead of doctors should really ask themselves what happens during the twenty minutes to an hour they're waiting to see their primary care physician(assuming you're lucky enough to still have such a thing). Look into claims processing. Look at the paperwork you receive on what's covered or not based on the plan you have. Do you really believe those decisions are made by doctors? If you do, please pass that pipe over here, because I too would like to eliminate reality sometimes.

The bottom line here in my point of view is that we will never make any gains in health care without trying. Perhaps the bill in question does suck ass, it doesn't go far enough on the progressive side and it doesn't really sit deep enough in the pockets of the conservative viewpoint, but what it does do and has done is spark some actual debate for once. It's nice to actually hear people talking about it in a real sense and talking about how it would effect them individually.

On that, I'm not talking about the whining... because there's been a considerable amount of that too and honestly I'm sick of it. Stop bitching that somehow altering the way the uninsured get health care will somehow eliminate free choice or make our country a socialist nation, because those are just talking points for assheads like Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Nothing about the current plan or Obama's original attempt do anything of the sort. In fact the plans in the works are geared towards keeping much of the same and I'd like to highlight that for many, that really does equate to eliminating their free choice. If at the end of the day more people are able to get the treatment they need, it's better for America. If it doesn't work, well that's not the President's fault. The President doesn't dictate policy, he makes suggestions for Congress to fuck up on their own. But we'll get to that ...

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