Currently there are many debates taking place around the country concerning the Obama Health Care Plan. Instead of applauding his efforts to ensure all Americans have basic health care coverage, the media and those with financial and political agendas incite the public into refusing a necessity for our nation. Other countries have accomplished achieving a universal health program; why can’t we obtain the same? Currently, I am in
Why would anyone be comfortable paying into such an expensive program? You can see the reasons as you walk around the city; the general health of the people far exceeds that of Americans. The elderly and people using walkers, canes and those in wheelchairs are not hidden away inside their houses. They are out and about enjoying life like everyone else. People move around freely taking for granted that those around them are healthy therefore minimizing their risk of catching an illness from someone else. In the year I have spent in this country, I must admit that I only remember hearing someone cough in public once. Even as a teacher in the classroom, you seldom hear the children coughing. If the children had a slight fever or headache, they were kept home. The parents are quick to take the children to the doctor if they believe the child suffers from more than not wishing to remain at school for the day.
What about people collecting unemployment, you may ask. Everyone capable of contributing to the general welfare of the community is utilized. While collecting unemployment, the individual must work at an assigned job for one euro an hour until employment is found. This program allows people to gain employable skills that are valuable in the workplace. It also brings dignity to receiving assistance until one can better their situation. In addition, it instills the desire to vacate the unemployment roster as soon as possible. Who among us wants to earn a little money for employment when we are capable of earning much more.
Am I in favor of the universal health care; yes, I am. Would it decrease the amount of private health care policies sold by insurance companies? Yes it would; but consider for many, you will not find out that your private insurance plan will not cover your cost until you need the care. Wouldn't it be a blessing to know in advance that your medical needs are insured? Knowledge is much better than playing a deadly guessing game with your life or the life of a love one. In addition, the Medicare, Medicaid programs will no longer be necessary. Both programs can be inclusive in the universal health care program. Thus providing needed funding for the health care program.
Part I
ReplyDeleteI believe socialized medicine is reasonable in theory, but not practical in the US. Its time to stop drinking the Kool-Aid when it comes to Obama Care (socialized healthcare).
It’s not a mystery that most industrialized countries, and many developing countries, operate some form of publicly-funded health care. Some may go as far as saying, “the United States is the only wealthy, industrialized nation that does not provide universal health care”. The truth is subjective. During the Clinton Administration, President Bill/Hill attempted a universal medical program like Canada's, but with America’s current system, it was unnecessary. Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), also referred to as the patient anti-dumping law protects Americans rights to emergency medical care, regardless of insurance status. For those without health insurance, the government absorbs the cost. Medicare and Medicaid provide the same services.
There are a number of factors we need to consider when debating socialized medicine. Significant factors include but not limited too: the percentage of Americans on poverty/welfare, the number of uninsured Americans and who they are, and America’s health status compared to industrialized nations that offer universal healthcare.
Welfare/Poverty
According to census.gov, the nation’s official poverty rate in 2008 was 12.5 percent, not statistically different from 2007. There were 37.3 million people in poverty in 2008, up from 36.5 million in 2007. According to the 2008 data gathered by the US Census Bureau, there is an estimate of 304,059,724 Americans. Please be mindful this number does not reflect Americans below the legal working age, college students, and retirement age person(s). Simple math here, 304M Americans (excluding the above) minus the 37M currently living in poverty and/or without healthcare, there is no way ObamaCare is affordable. We can always resort to our liberal values and tax the heck out of the productive citizens while the “victims” remain disengaged from working Americans.
Number of Americans without healthcare
Several studies estimate the number of uninsured Americans. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, are without health insurance. The large majority of the uninsured (85 percent) are native or naturalized citizens. Nearly 1.3 million full-time workers lost their health insurance in 2007-2008, and without further ado, the percentage of uninsured Hispanics increased to 32.1 percent and overall to 15 million in 2007. If everyday working Americans didn’t have to absorb the cost of illegal immigrants, maybe, just maybe, Americans can take care of Americans. The numbers don’t lie but to a liberal, the numbers don’t matter. Lets take care everyone b/c we are America. Give us your poor because we don’t have enough already.
Part II (Continued)
ReplyDeleteHealthy Nations vs. US
American obesity rates increased in 23 states and did not decrease in a single state in the past year, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies Are Failing in America 2009. In addition, the percentage of obese or overweight children is at or above 30 percent in 30 states.
Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity at 32.5 percent, making it the fifth year in a row that the state topped the list (Grand Champ). Four other states now have rates above 30 percent, including Mississippi, Alabama (31.2 percent), West Virginia (31.1 percent), and Tennessee (30.2 percent). Eight of the 10 states with the highest percentage of obese adults are in the South. Colorado continued to have the lowest percentage of obese adults at 18.9 percent.
Adult obesity rates now exceed 25 percent in 31 states and exceed 20 percent in 49 states and Washington, D.C. Two-thirds of American adults are either obese or overweight. In 1991, no state had an obesity rate above 20 percent. In 1980, the national average for adult obesity was 15 percent. Sixteen states experienced an increase for the second year in a row, and 11 states experienced an increase for the third straight year.
As a healthcare professional, I see firsthand the affects being overweight has on ones health. With 61% of the U.S. adult population considered overweight or obese, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has released a new practical guide to help doctors treat overweight patients. It a 10-step plan to help the nation’s 97 million obese/overweight adults to lose weight and reduce the risk of death from hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions that have been associated with obesity.
Emotional Americans usually compare the US healthcare system to that of other industrialized wealthy nations. This is usually done without comparing the percentage of obesity, the average amount of healthcare actually being utilized by each nation, the average number of citizens diagnosed/living with life long illnesses e.g. hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease. Unfortunately, these illnesses are leading causes of death in the US and the treatment costs are astronomical. Hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease are prominent in middle class America and those who live on or below the poverty line. In other words, those without healthcare are dying from diseases that are extremely costly to treat. Just FYI, these illnesses are also preventable!!!!!!
Here is a snapshot of where the US measures up compared to healthy nations that offer universal healthcare. This is from fattest to healthiest (worldwide):
#9. America
#21. Australia
#28. UK
#35. Canada
#43. Germany
#48. Finland
ENOUGH SAID!!!!!!!
You can see the entire listing on: http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html
References:
http://www.census.gov/PressRelease/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/012528.html
http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2009/
World's Fattest Countries “Lauren Streib” 02.08.07. Retrieved from: http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat_2.html
We can continue to regurgitate numbers that are taken in surveys and continue to deceive ourselves into believing the U.S. can continue with business as usual. Any student that has studied Statistics will tell you that anyone can conduct a survey to achieve the results they seek. In spite of this, I am not going to argue with the numbers. I do agree that the U.S. government should take care of Americans, natural born or legalized, as other countries do for their citizens; but as long as the government are lax on laws which permit American businesses to take their companies out of the country, provide jobs for foreigners in their countries, import the foreign made goods back to the United States, and bring foreigners into the U.S. to occupy jobs that can be filled by Americans, the numbers of uninsured Americans will continue to increase. Whatever happened to on-the-job training programs? Let’s face it, our private insure is not all it claims to be. In the past, I have carried not one, but two health insurances simultaneously. Between two insurances, they argued about which insurance was going to pay what, and I always ended up coming out of pocket. When out of the local area, one had to call to have medical service approved before it was received. Speaking for myself, I received better service when we finally dropped both insurances and joined Kaiser, an HMO; which is the closest service to a government health plan, an HMO. Take a survey on that and I bet you will find more people desiring to drop their private insurance plan in favor of joining HMOs than you have facilities available.
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to convince anyone of joining Obama’s health care program; each person must decide what is best for their families, friends, and neighbors; then vote accordingly. I was for universal health care before Bill and Hillary began the initiative. Do I have insurance and will I continue to have insurance as long as I can afford it? The answer is yes. But I also believe that those between to ages of 18 and 30 should have affordable health insurance. They don’t skip out on insurance because they don’t want it; the majority simply can’t afford health insurance. If there was a plan available that (socialism as many like to refer to it) only cost a small percentage of their salary, these people would have basic health coverage. When I was growing up as a child, we could run over to the local health department and have the general immunization shots given on the spot. The last time I went to a local health department to have a vaccination updated, approximately ten years ago, the clerk told me they didn’t do them; I had to see my family doctor. I’m certain other countries do record more illnesses and doctor visits than in the U.S. People generally see the doctor if they can afford the expense; they have required vaccinations, etc. We must stop looking at our individual circumstances and think collectively on some things. If we all could get the basic service we need, I feel comfortable that the children in the classrooms will not take a virus home to their family. One illness in one classroom can affect 20 or more families; and let’s face it, all children are not insured because their family can’t afford health care. If I could only afford three of the following, going to work (car payment), shelter (house note), food for my family, and insurance; which do you believe I would not have. This is the dilemma that many Americans face; why, because our health care system is out of control and have priced many out of the market. While you’re checking numbers, check the ones before the fall of the housing market. You will find that the number one cause of bankruptcy in American was due to medical expense. No one should have to claim bankruptcy because of illness.
Comment Part two
ReplyDeleteAs for obesity, it is on the rise throughout various countries as they began taking on American standards of living, (fast food, driving instead of walking or biking, eating on the run, video and computer gaming instead of exercising, and increasing sit-down activities). I’m not mad at the people in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia or Florida for being obese. When I was there in July, the first night I thought the thermometer was broken. It was 85 degrees at midnight. He--! It is too hot down there to do anything for almost six months out of the year but go to work, come home and lay under the air conditioning. You needed a shower just to walk from your door to your car. When we have universal health care, everyone can pay a visit to their doctor and have a prescribed plan of action outlined for their exercise and calorie regime. I will end this by saying, I would not give up many of the southern style dishes that I love; if I died from a heart attack, stroke, etc. because of the food I eat, my love ones will know I died happy.
Interesting dialogue. What seems to be missing from the debate is a dose of current reality, statistics notwithstanding. Is it responsible and appropriate for middle and lower class citizens to die sooner from treatable disease than those that can afford top notch healthcare? Is it responsible and acceptable for American citizens to continue to be gouged for drug research, when we are far from being the wealthiest nation, while those that have a much higher wealth derive the benefit at a lower cost (medicine that we pay $300 for they pay $75.) Is it responsible, appropriate and acceptable for sick citizens that have health insurance to be denied coverage, have their insurance dropped or refused because of their illness? Is it responsible and acceptable for American citizens to be subjected to unnecessary and expensive procedures, simply because it is good business for the healthcare industry?
ReplyDeleteTo the above, and many more questions of the same ilk, the avergage American will resondingly respond NO, it is not and it must change. Furthermore, the alternative without change is a healthcare that will continue to eat up more and more of our nation's income to the point that many millions more of our citizens will find it unaffordable, as our nation's majority Congressional leaders and President Obama's administration has already determined for the nation. These are real people with real life and death impact on a daily basis. As a nation, we should be ashamed to allow this abysmal toll to continue and do something about it. Cheers
Gwspoon, anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou both made interesting points and I believe we are in agreement in some areas of HC reform. Do working Americans who can not afford HC deserve government assistance (insurance)? Absolutely, without a doubt!
Who deserves free HC? Do able bodied Americans who are currently abusing the government assistance program qualify? Do illegal aliens qualify? In President Obama’s HC Bill, the answer is yes. We all heard the President say no but if you read the bill, it states we will legalize all illegal aliens so they will qualify for HC, future illegals will not qualify.
Let me be clear: The fight against socialized medicine is not against working Americans; it’s against reform that will allow our tax dollars to provide care to those who don’t qualify and those who abuse our systems. The fight is against the American who lives in your neighborhood, pays $25 a month rent, no physical or mental disabilities, collects $1000 a month in government aid, kids receive free lunches, but somehow afford the best vehicles, best clothing, all on your sweat. We all know these people, yet we remain silent, do nothing, and accept their ignorance as a way of life. This needs to end, the HC fight is our outrage!
Opinion: If we pass socialized medicine without any repercussions to the above, America as we know it will crumble. Our system will not be able to support the largest retirement of Americans in history and still be provide a lavish lifestyle and free HC to Americans who only wants to know what their country can do for them.
So the proper recourse, where there is consensus, is that HC overhaul is an absolute necessity; however the prescription should not be so broad as to subsidize able-bodied freeloaders and specifically, illegal aliens? I can live with that, along with other changes of a similar fashion. However I would posit that so long as there are millions of illegal aliens resident in our country, like it or not if they are not receiving some level of basic HC their very presence undermines the intent of reform towards a healthier general population.
ReplyDelete