Saturday, August 22, 2009

Ronald Reagan's 1961 Address regarding Socialized Medicine

Well worth a listen....quite eerie actually. And be sure you note that this was done about 20 years before he became President. 

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Another point to note: I have heard a lot of people saying things about how 'this bill' does not create Government control of Health Care... okay fine, but what if it opens the door even more like Medicare/Aid have done? What if this is just the first step and each time the govt hold gets a little bit stronger? Isn't that what always seems to happen? Give them an inch and the next thing you know, they've taken a mile and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it? Well if you listen closely to a lot of the Democrats, many of them have already said things like "This is the first of many reforms for the US Health Care system"... oh really? The first of many? Okay - so what are the next ones going to be about? And if they are going to push this one through whether their constituents want it or not, what makes you think they won't pass every health care bill that comes along in the future (possibly very near future) whether you want it or not? How much is too much , how far is too far? I heard a Dem (not sure if he was a senator or not) from Little Rock Arkansas say just last week that this was the 'first step of many'. How many? He is not the only one saying that.

I also noticed that I always heard the President, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank and so on say things about how the Public Option would be affordable --- but I never hear a number. What does 'affordable' mean? How much is this going to be? I don't hear them say it's free - I hear them say an affordable public option. Will it be ten bucks a month? fifty? one hundred? What's it going to be? Is there any real, true valid info out there on what the bill writers mean by 'affordable'? In Alberta it was $88 a month for a family, or $44 per person, plus the 10% provincial income tax and whatever rate each person has for federal tax, plus all the tax money from cigarettes and so on... so what's it going to cost in the US? Is each state supposed to figure out their own figure? What is this all about? People want answers and they are not getting them. And then of course there is the repeated talk about how the provisions in the bill are 'paid for' - that they do not require any more tax dollars. How does that work? I have yet to hear a specific answer about that. That sounds a bit fishy to me........ they talk about diverting money from Medicare/Aid - but that only covers seniors, doesn't it? So how are they going to take that money and spread it through people ages birth to senior? How does that work? Does anyone actually know? 

I saw the lovely clip of Barney Frank telling a woman at his Town Hall meeting that 'having a conversation with [her] would be like talking to a dining room table". Yes, she was holding a photo of Obama made out to look like Hitler - but the question she posed was valid. She asked him something about why he was going to vote for this if his people did not want it. He ended up belittling her repeatedly, then slammed down the dining room table insult, then insulted her some more, and the whole time she was just standing there staring at him. She was not lipping him off - she looked on the verge of tears and in shock over his loss of control and outright nasty remarks. And no - he never did answer her question (Gee what a shock). At least I actually saw that clip on CNN but only once, when it should have been played hundreds of times. I see lots of vids of the 'rowdy citizens', but only once managed to catch Barney and his unreal response to that young American woman. 

Anyway - what is affordable? How many more reforms are there going to be? What is each one going to hold in it? Are they all going to keep passing the bills even if millions upon millions of citizens are burning the phone and internet lines in protest? Even if tens of thousands start showing up at Town Hall meetings? They don't seem to care.

One last remark - a lot of people keep comparing the US to Canada and Britain -- but it's really an unfair comparison. The USA is not meant to BE like Canada, England, Germany, France, etc. It was created to get away from all that, with rules and rights put into place to stop what was going on in those other countries. "The British are coming!! The British are coming!!". It is not even a country like any other in the entire world, so why should it have everything the same anyway? In some ways Canadian provinces can set up their own rules, but it's still not like the American States. It is different for a reason, but the reasons seem to be forgotten.

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I always think of something else after saying 'one last remark' lol.. Anyway so yeah a lot of people have made a big deal out of how the Cash for Clunkers program is over early, needed more money, and how the govt is calling it a success but many others think it means OH OH. You could wonder about the handling of the program - the gross miscalculation of how much money would be needed is a key point in my mind. Many people dashed out to ditch their old cars that they would have been lucky to get a couple hundred bucks for a few months earlier, many many MORE than planned. So okay, let's think about the projections for this Health Care plan/bill/reform. What if they are grossly miscalculating what that might cost? What if a crap load of people have been sitting at home with fairly severe ailments but have not sought treatment because of the cost/copays/etc... you KNOW for a fact that is a very large number of people - so what if the govt is wrong in it's little guesses and projections? What if a swarm of people descend on doctor's offices across the US, fill waiting rooms in ERs and clinics to the brim - and it ends up costing 3 times what the govt expects. Afterall, a simple program like Cash For Clunkers that had a maximum payout of $4500 was THREE TIMES higher than they expected,,,, what if this health care biz costs 3 times more? Or exponentially more because of the high cost of many procedures. What happens then? I know those questions have been asked at Town Hall meetings, I have seen the clips. But do they get answered? NO. 

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