Credo
"Sign on, young man, and sail with me. The stature of our homeland is no more than the measure of ourselves. Our job is to keep her free. Our will is to keep the torch of freedom burning for all. To this solemn purpose we call on the young, the brave, the strong, and the free. Heed my call, Come to the sea. Come Sail with me." -- John Paul Jones
"Pardon him, Theodotus; he is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature" --George Bernard Shaw, "Caesar and Cleopatra"
"And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music."--Friedrich Nietzsche
"A kind Providence has placed in our breasts a hatred of the unjust and cruel, in order that we may preserve ourselves from cruelty and injustice. They who bear cruelty, are accomplices in it. The pretended gentleness which excludes that charitable rancour, produces an indifference which is half an approbation. They never will love where they ought to love, who do not hate where they ought to hate."--Edmund Burke
“You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”--General Sir Charles Napier
"Μολὼν λαβέ" -- Leonidas
"Blogito Ergo Sum" -- Neptunus Lex
Pity ’tis. Krauthammer has become a target of the left, largely because of his appearances on Fox News, but he cuts through all the noise and gets to the nub of the problem. And make no mistake, BOTH of these congressional embarrassments are a mistake and should never become law.
Plus he’s a Doctor and has experienced both sides of the equation. (Not to mention that he’s brilliant.)
It isn’t about efficiency or saving money. That’s just a subterfuge. It is all about control – the preferred drug of the totalitarian.
It makes it easier to understand when you realize that none of these proposals area about health care. It also makes it scarier as well. This is all about control and unless more people wake up it is going to be made law in the next 60 days. They are intent on it and the Congressional opposition is dis-jointed, dis-spirited, and ineffective at best.
You are correct, but that have to at least go through the motions of making it appear to be for the ‘good’ of all. That is the achilles heal, having to actually try to get the control via medical care. Hopefully, people continue to oppose like the Immigration issue under President Bush.
Lex,
I agree that these proposed reforms deserve full and open consideration, but I don’t think it is as simple as Charles Krauthammer would have us believe. Certainly, excessive medical lawsuits cause defensive medicine and inefficiencies; but it is equally as certain that medical negligence and harm also occurs. In those cases, individuals do deserve some form of compensation. Perhaps we might establish a set of “best practices” – the use of which by a medical provider would provide prima fascia protection against law suit. Perhaps we need specially trained magistrates to decide such cases. But, simply prohibiting substantive lawsuits in case of medical negligence is not sufficient.
Allowing competition across state lines makes sense, but again some complexity occurs. The practice of medicine and the rules for insurance companies are regulated on a state-by-state basis, with significant variations between coverage requirements. So, it isn’t as simple as allowing a policy issued by an insurer under Delaware rules to also be sold in California. Such would not allow any competitive buying by a consumer, since the policies would all have differing bases. This is unlike the successful Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, wherein OPM sets baseline rules that all insurers must meet. So, wider competition is desirable, but, to be meaningful, someone (meaning some government regulator) must write common rules for all policies or we would just be allowing insurers to find the most gullible consumers.
Taxing employer-provided health benefits as income also has a down side. If such heath care were taxed as ordinary income, then most employees would demand that they get paid the full amount of the health care benefit, so the employee could then decide if he wanted to spend that income on health care – or on a new HDTV, new car, etc. One can argue that the individual should be responsible for his own life choices, but, giving employees such a choice is unlikely to lead to better or more comprehensive health care.
So, let’s encourage Washington to consider these approaches – but these approaches alone won’t solve the problem, and they involve complexities that will go far beyond 20 pages.
Federally, they could be contolled in 20 pages. It is the state legislatures that have such a differing approach to health care. State legislatures are where the real health care reform should be happening. Less interference by the Federal govt.
An example: Look at Mississippi and what they had to accomplish as they were losing virtually every OB/GYN due to insurance and lawsuit abuse. State passed Tort reform and Insurance legislation. That model has not even been brought to the light of day. Of course, it leaves control to the states.
And, as QM astutely pointed out above…there’s the rub….
They did it with “drive 55mph, or no fed money for you.” They have done it with No child Left Behind, and many, many other programs, where the refusal to implement unfunded requirements at the state level, because Congress said so, leads to withholding of money collected all around the country.
Congress has decided they know best. That 535 people and the hordes of paid staffers, and abused interns are all smarter than real people living in a real world. Sickening, it is. Worse yet, about 65% of the people don’t seem to care, until they see the pragmatic affect on their lives, then they scream…and Congress provides another (equally bad for us, but worth votes to them) solution.
Rare is the moment that Krauthammer isn’t the smartest guy in the room.
Gary-C…”The practice of medicine and the rules for insurance companies are regulated on a state-by-state basis, with significant variations between coverage requirements.”
Well, maybe healthcare insurance regulation should be at the federal level, with preemption of state authority. Although there is much to be said for federalism, it also has its limits.
If regulation of aviation were left to the states, it’s a fairly safe bet that we wouldn’t have much of an aviation industry.
This 2000 some odd page health-care bill wending its way thru Congress reminds me of something a Turkish diplomat was quoted as saying in Mewsweek circa 1982. “You want to know how the world is going to come to an end? Someday the worlds’ pop will swell until everyone gets stuck in a giant world-wide traffic jam. And then some bureaucrat will come along with a form to fill out with instructions as to how to get out of the jam. But nobody will be able to understand it–and that’s the way the world will end.”
chunk … “rare is the moment when Krauthammer isn’t the smartest guy in the room.” Great comment. He’s my hero. Problem is, under new Obamacare rules, he might never have been encouraged to continue his life after his college swimming accident which paralysed his lower body, or even been given the expensive healthcare necessary so that he could. And we would have been denied one of the most brilliant, incisive thinkers we have in our country. His healthcare needs would have been rationed. just as those of the rest of us will be.
Blanche DuBois is wrong. “Depending on the kindness of strangers” is no longer a good idea. It’s even dangerous.
Marianne
MM, interestingly, both Victor Davis Hanson and Charles Krauthammer are on my “A List” of people to read, view and listen to. Both are obviously rather intelligent, educated, well read and versed in history.
Both also base their opinions and perspectives from personal experience (farmer/historian/scholar/author for VDH), (physician, author, commentator, pundit for CK).
Regards,
Ron, may I suggest you add this writer to your considerations: Richard Fernandez, aka ‘Wretchard’.
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/
HIs commentary at the ‘Belmont Club’ is fascinating, stimulating, and wise.
Best regards, Peter Warner.
PS: I admire Hanson deeply, a man who farms successfully knows common sense. Krauthammer is very smart and perceptive, but I part with him on his estimation of Sarah Palin. He famously suggested it would be better for the GOP if she ‘left the room’.