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
Amen to that. As a surgeon, I voted with my feet, and am now out of the system. More to follow…
My Wife’s Oncolology Clinic is already looking at no longer taking Medicare patients (honestly, the clinic loses money on each patient). Adding more Government bureaucracy to the medical system will more than likely reduce the availability of clinical care.
Eliminating caps, preventing exclusion of pre-existing conditions, and extended coverage of 26 year old dependents, all sounds fine and dandy (and to some degree may have been approached in a more logical way under a smaller, bite sized, Republican plan) but if anyone out there can explain to me how forcing insurance companies to increase their pay-out liability will reduce the premiums we all pay… I’m all ears.
The Government will see their error, and scold the Insurance companies, then mandate reimbursement rates that can be paid to Doctors, Hospitals, and clinics to reflect Medicare reimbursement rates… anyone seeing the cascade here?
Net step will be to regulate the Docs/Hospitals/Clinics to say if they want a license they have to take these plans. Slippery slope.
My Solutions:
1. Start with Tort Reform (if there is anyplace to put Caps… this is it)
2. If you are going to nationally mandate anything then you need to open up the pool Nationally!
3. Identify the countries the “Un-Insured” immigrants populating our ER’s are “really” from total up their bills and submit an invoice to their home country, if the country doesn’t pay… I’m sure we have a debt or two to that country that can be reduced.
4. Add limited coverage to Unemployment insurance.
5. Eliminate the Income Tax entirely! Create a “Capped” sales tax for all transactions (personal and business) 12-15% will cover it, while dramatically improving our economy! And then EVERYONE has skin in the game, not just the upper 60%!
6. Pass a law that no amendment can be applied to a Bill that does not directly affect the bill!
Lex … Good advice, especially for the elderly [like moi]. My husband and I are WAAY past the Obama deadline of “just die quickly, dammit!” But you and your courteous and kindly commenters are going to be where we are someday sooner than you think. The absolute best thing to do is to stay out of the soon-to-be-severely-flawed system as much as possible.
I remember a T-shirt legend I saw last year, which amused me at the time — “Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway.” It’s a humbling fact that it’s true. But you CAN stall off the dying part somewhat if you always eat a little less than you think you want, get as much exercise as you can manage, give up heavy drinking bouts no matter how much fun they seem at the time, and try not to be too angry all the time [this last is the one that's most difficult for me].
Downs says he thinks that this “war isn’t over til it’s over,” especially if the Republicans pick themselves up, dust themselves off, grab their rhetorical weapons and get back in the game. And who would know that better than you, dear Lex, and your fellow valiant warriors. We, your devoted if fragile civilian population, who have already benefited so much from your courage, pray that you’re not tired yet.
Marianne
This is the most wonderfullest, splendiferous-est, kewl thang evah!! I get to “purchase” “free” health care!!! Next, perhaps Harry, Nancy, and BarryO will mandate that I “purchase” a “free” Government Motors vehicle. Or perhaps “purchase” “free” high-speed internet access. After all, according to some, I have a “right” to said access.
Sigh. The party was good while it lasted, George, Benjamin, Thomas, John, James, et. al. Mr. Franklin said the Convention had given us a republic–if we could keep it. We couldn’t.
I weep.
Already seen my first hit with this mess. Worked long and hard in private industry, faithfully paying health insurance etc. At 65 was told that Medicare was now the primary and retiree insurance was secondary. My retiree health care premiums were reduced, a bit. Under the deal, my retiree insurance was buying any prescriptions I needed. Didn’t have a choice, but that was that.
Now it appears that big employers will cut drug benefits from their retiree insurance coverage within a few weeks.
Had a little direct experience of what that means when I bought three prescriptions for my wife’s post op treatment after eye surgery last week. At first pharmacy was having trouble getting through to my insurer, so I paid the “uninsured price” for the prescriptions. The drugs were needed immediately, and I figured I could deal with insurer later. Price was $154. Did manage ultimately to get through to insurer, and price magically dropped to $41–got a $113 refund.
As Obama said “You can keep your insurance if you like it.” Yup, and while you’re at it Obama, how about giving me title to the Brooklyn Bridge? The tolls I collect just might make up for my difference in health costs.
This isn’t over yet. I think we are going to find that it wasn’t a good idea for Obama to piss off the Supreme Court.
Then there are those of us blessed with good genetics…Low Blood pressure, low sugar numbers, naturally low cholestrol (even though I eat anything I want) -
Only down side is my wife has the opposite…
I plan out outliving the bastards and enjoying myself all the while….F&ck’em I say….
I agree with the Supreme Court side of things and can’t wait for that action along with watching this Fall for the election bloodbath…Scott Brown was elected by my kinsmen in Massachusetts – The 2nd shot heard around the world.
The shite will be hitting the horizontal redistribution machine in the near future and watching the DEMS fall into the grinder will be pure SCHANDENFREUDE ( A German word for “reveling in the agony of others”) – imagine, the GERMANS have a word for that – Who da thunk it?
Curious to see where this leads in the legal arena.
Come quickly November…
“cast aside vices”
Oh NOOOOoooooo—I’m doomed! Guess I’ll be going “eternal cold mic” sooner rather than later….New Orleans IS the home, after all, of the coffee-table pictorial book about it’s most famous bars (dive and tourist, present and past) with an attitudinal theme expressed by it’s title:”Obituary Cocktail.”
How would that possible, when you life is defined by Vices? Can you be a Military Pilot and not have multitudinous vices? The mid doth reel at the prospects.
My state is arguably the most conservative in the nation, with 52 Republicans to 18 Democrats in the House and 27 Republicans to 7 Democrats in the Senate. The Governor recently signed The Idaho Health Freedom Act:
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2010/03/18/1121452/health-freedom-act-challenges.html
The Idaho Health Freedom Act says “every person within the state of Idaho is and shall be free to choose or decline to choose any mode of securing health care services without penalty or threat of penalty by the federal government of the United States of America.”
The law goes on to say that the state of Idaho is obligated to sue the federal government if anyone in Idaho is forced to buy insurance.
At least 36 other states are trying to do the same thing. It will be interesting to see where that goes. I notice I’m not seeing anything about this on the nightly national news.
Colorado has a similar one that will not see the florescent lights of the Democrat Controlled State legislative chambers.
http://www.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2010A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/021A7B758F46C832872576B30056822F?Open&file=HJR1009_01.pdf
There is no mention of “deeming”, is there?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ
Mr. Franklin said the Convention had given us a republic–if we could keep it. We couldn’t.
It ain’t gone yet, Jim. Wait ’til November.
They think they’re on a roll, and they’ll try to ram even more of their agenda down our throats as fast as they can — and because they’re impatient by nature, they’ll become even more brazen, which will torque folks even more.
Wait ’til November…
What none of the talking heads have mentioned on TV (that I’ve seen) and that I am very interested in knowing is this:
Reading the bullet points of the bill, “Companies with more than 50 employees would be required to pay a fee of $2,000 per worker if the company does not provide coverage and any of that company’s workers receives federal health care subsidies. The first 30 workers would be subtracted from the payment calculation.”
I get a statement each year from my employer (9K employees nationwide) stating that their portion of my family of four’s medical insurance plan is @10K a year.
So…why would any company keep paying that kind of coin, when they can just pay a 2K fee, and now my family and I have to find insurance via some government pool? Are the Feds prepared for the onslaught of suddenly uninsured folks coming their way?
FedGov is stupidity defined. Both parties have rarely thought through what they don in Congress, and this mess is no different.
If they would stick to the enumerated powers, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. But if they did, they wouldn’t have the power they want, and that’s the real problem.
“stupidity defined” about covers it alright.Never attribute cunning malicious evil intentions of forethought to the average member of Congress before checking under the heading of rank stupidity and total ignorance of the facts. The “Gang that couldn’t shoot straight” out of “Boris Badanoff.” The leadership? Now that’s something else. An ungodly mix of the “superb” capabilities of Dr. Evil and Fearless Leader with the aspirations–but not the intelligence–of Dr. NO.
They won’t continue to pay for it. Some will, though not most. IMO
As Jerry Pournelle has said many times, “Weep for the Republic.”
He has also said that despair is a sin. Be of good cheer.