Bear with me as I work through a rough draft of an incomplete concept. With the whole health care debate raging on, I encountered a lady who is in a situation that I think I have an idea of how to help. Please, please correct me if any of the following suppositions or concepts are wrong, as I am woefully uneducated on this particular topic, and could be flailing wildly for something beyond my grasp.
Many Americans find themselves in something of a situation when they work and try to live responsible lives, meanwhile struggling with the dreaded "pre-existing condition", or they make too much money to qualify for medicaid, while their income is insufficient to cover insurance expenses. Here is my question/idea.
What if a new level were added to the medicaid system where people who make too much money to qualify could buy into the system through a voluntary increase of their federal taxes to offset the additional burden they place on the system?
To illustrate, lets say I am a 30 year old male with an existing condition who makes roughly $30,000 to $50,000 (I'm not sure where the numbers would actually work, these are just arbitrary) annually. Now because of my condition, I have been denied coverage by my employers program, into which I WOULD have paid several hundred dollars monthly, and find myself with limited options.
Now lets just imagine that the govt had a program where people in my situation could sign up to have several hundred dollars taken from my salary or paycheck in the form of additional FICA taxes and I would be allowed to receive all the benefits of other Medicare recipients, with maybe some additional co-pays and or deductibles comparable to those I would have dealt with in the private program offered by my employer.
This is not a panacea and I recognize it would not help everyone. I do think, however that this concept could be utilized to allow the government to assist people in need without placing undo financial strain on the system.
Again, this is a rough idea. Something like this may already exist, or it could just be stupid. Pleas let me know what you think.
This page will be a running record of what goes on in my head. Most of it will be gibberish with no value whatsoever, and the rest will be garbage with no value whatsoever.
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Healthcare. Show all posts
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
Hypocrisy Continued
In my last blog, I spoke of how both major political parties were actively engaging in betraying their own position in ways that threaten the liberty and freedom of average Americans. I then went on to illustrate how the Republican party was inconsistent in it's stances, and would now like to move on to the democrat party.
Let us first look at immigration policy. As the "Party of the working man," the democrats should logically take the position that helps the blue-collar workers in this country. Instead what we see are the power players standing side by side with their Republican brethren, albeit for different reasons.
Think about this for a moment. By making sure our borders remain wide open, we allow enormous quantities of people to flood our job market with cheap, often unskilled labor. This helps to fill all those jobs that "Americans wont do" such as farm worker and house cleaning right? WRONG!! People who cross our borders illegally are poor and some are quite desperate, but not necessarily stupid. These people are taking jobs that keep America running. Jobs like sheet metal installers, mechanics, tile settiers, ironworkers and electrician! Jobs that traditionally occupy a significant portion of our middle class are rapidly becoming minimum wage jobs because the Dems work to keep the steady stream of future potential voters pouring in! Imagine, at nearly 10% unemployment what those thousands of jobs could do if the Democrats weren't selling us out!
The next idea I would like to touch on, is tolerance. While we have been battered over the heads for most of my life time with speech about tolerance and peace, the Democrats have been altering the way these words are defined. By describing an idea that stands in opposition to their own as hate speech , the Dems have found a way to silence people. Any idea that they deem inappropriate is called "intolerant" or "closed minded" while they shut down discussion in college campuses and other places all over the country.
While indeed bigoted and racist statements are difficult to hear, the ability to say those things is part of the foundation of our country. People have the freedom to say what they please (with certain limitations) regardless of how offensive or distasteful. The party that has been basking in that freedom for decades by burning the American flag is now working to shut it down by invoking Orwellian thought police whenever a valid political argument arises that they cannot otherwise counter!!! We already have hate crime legislation, and I predict hate speech legislation will come soon.
Lastly, I would like to bring up entitlements programs. By this term, I mean social security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare and the current health care debate. These programs are unarguably strongholds for the Democratic party from which they draw a tremendous amount of voters, but here is the rub. While I am not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, I cannot see the difference between these programs and the illegal pyramid scheme! While the system can function quite well when the people at the top are few, and the bottom are many, everything starts to crumble when the system approaches even, and it completely falls apart when it becomes top-heavy. Now this isn't complicated mathematics that only a brilliant mind can see, but simple common sense that the Democrats are arguing against when they fight to bring more people into the system at the higher level. Why are they trying to expand these programs if they are destined to fall apart you ask? My response is simple. Power. They are seeking to create an entire class of people who are completely reliant on the government and would therefore only vote for politicians who promised to keep the paychecks coming. By expanding these programs and creating more government dependants, the Democrats are purchasing a higher level political power with our freedom as the payment.
Let us first look at immigration policy. As the "Party of the working man," the democrats should logically take the position that helps the blue-collar workers in this country. Instead what we see are the power players standing side by side with their Republican brethren, albeit for different reasons.
Think about this for a moment. By making sure our borders remain wide open, we allow enormous quantities of people to flood our job market with cheap, often unskilled labor. This helps to fill all those jobs that "Americans wont do" such as farm worker and house cleaning right? WRONG!! People who cross our borders illegally are poor and some are quite desperate, but not necessarily stupid. These people are taking jobs that keep America running. Jobs like sheet metal installers, mechanics, tile settiers, ironworkers and electrician! Jobs that traditionally occupy a significant portion of our middle class are rapidly becoming minimum wage jobs because the Dems work to keep the steady stream of future potential voters pouring in! Imagine, at nearly 10% unemployment what those thousands of jobs could do if the Democrats weren't selling us out!
The next idea I would like to touch on, is tolerance. While we have been battered over the heads for most of my life time with speech about tolerance and peace, the Democrats have been altering the way these words are defined. By describing an idea that stands in opposition to their own as hate speech , the Dems have found a way to silence people. Any idea that they deem inappropriate is called "intolerant" or "closed minded" while they shut down discussion in college campuses and other places all over the country.
While indeed bigoted and racist statements are difficult to hear, the ability to say those things is part of the foundation of our country. People have the freedom to say what they please (with certain limitations) regardless of how offensive or distasteful. The party that has been basking in that freedom for decades by burning the American flag is now working to shut it down by invoking Orwellian thought police whenever a valid political argument arises that they cannot otherwise counter!!! We already have hate crime legislation, and I predict hate speech legislation will come soon.
Lastly, I would like to bring up entitlements programs. By this term, I mean social security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare and the current health care debate. These programs are unarguably strongholds for the Democratic party from which they draw a tremendous amount of voters, but here is the rub. While I am not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, I cannot see the difference between these programs and the illegal pyramid scheme! While the system can function quite well when the people at the top are few, and the bottom are many, everything starts to crumble when the system approaches even, and it completely falls apart when it becomes top-heavy. Now this isn't complicated mathematics that only a brilliant mind can see, but simple common sense that the Democrats are arguing against when they fight to bring more people into the system at the higher level. Why are they trying to expand these programs if they are destined to fall apart you ask? My response is simple. Power. They are seeking to create an entire class of people who are completely reliant on the government and would therefore only vote for politicians who promised to keep the paychecks coming. By expanding these programs and creating more government dependants, the Democrats are purchasing a higher level political power with our freedom as the payment.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Obamas visit to Colorado PartII
This is the second part, of a 3 page piece about my experience during the protest outside President Obama's health care town hall in Grand Junction, CO. In the last piece, I wrote about what I found on the "pro-reform" side. Now I would like to cover a few issues I saw on my own side. One thing that became very evident to me very quickly, was the absolute lack of organization. Now I know there is some sort of stigma about conservatives organizing before a protest, ending in people being referred to as "astro-turf", but I don't care what people on the other side say. I saw buses, a stage, a professional sound system, dozens of pre-printed signs and several professional demonstrators leading all the festivities on the other side. These people were coordinated and well versed in setting up these types of events, and in terms of cohesion and sheer volume, they dominated. The next issue I found on our end was any common direction. People were protesting the health care bill, the stimulus package, Obama's birth-certificate, tobacco taxes and religion. While the message came across very clearly that we were very upset, the subject of said dissatisfaction seemed to come across a bit muddled. Lastly,I want to mention the passion of the people I met last Saturday. Indeed a wonderful thing when kept reigned in to some degree, this can serve to undermine any position if it gets out of hand. On more than one occasion, I witnessed individual from the "pro" side come over to engage in conversation. When this happened, instead of viewing it as an opportunity to present a clear, intelligent position to someone who seemed willing to participate in debate, people began shouting insults and demands that the person "go back to their own side". It is my belief after this experience, that the conservatives of this nation need to ignore all the "grassroots" conversations and gather together in order to organize and formulate a clear, concise message which the majority can stand behind. Simultaneously, people on both sides of this argument need to be educated in our constitution, some basic American history, simple economic ideas and, of course, this bill which threatens to unravel the intricately woven fabric of our great nation.
Obamas visit to Colorado
This weekend, I made the 3-4 hour drive to protest outside of President Obamas healthcare townhall, and I thought I would share some of my observations. In the interest of full honesty, I want it understood ahead of time that I am biased against this plan, and that I spoke to roughly 10-12 people, so this may not be representative.
I approached everyone I met from the "pro-reform" side with the same three questions, in the same order.
1- Have you read the bill? The answer to this was uniformly (with one exception which I will cover later) no. The only person I met who said yes was an obvious professional demonstrator, who could not speak intelligently aboput any portion of the bill, and would not answer ANY question in a straight foreward manner.
2- How will we pay for it? Mostly I heard "I dont Know" with occasional "Tax the rich" thrown into the mix. When confronted with the bills statement that the "surecharge" on the rich and the 8% payroll tax would only account for 1/2 of the amount stated, I recieved a look that strongly resembled a deer in headlights.
3- social security, Medicare and Medicaid are broke, the DMV is a pretty widely disliked office due to long lines and gross mismanagement, and by the Presidents own statements, the post office is getting whooped by private industry. What makes you think THIS program would be better when it will be run by the same people who have screwed up all of the afforementioned? From this question, most people chose simply to walk away.
I approached everyone I met from the "pro-reform" side with the same three questions, in the same order.
1- Have you read the bill? The answer to this was uniformly (with one exception which I will cover later) no. The only person I met who said yes was an obvious professional demonstrator, who could not speak intelligently aboput any portion of the bill, and would not answer ANY question in a straight foreward manner.
2- How will we pay for it? Mostly I heard "I dont Know" with occasional "Tax the rich" thrown into the mix. When confronted with the bills statement that the "surecharge" on the rich and the 8% payroll tax would only account for 1/2 of the amount stated, I recieved a look that strongly resembled a deer in headlights.
3- social security, Medicare and Medicaid are broke, the DMV is a pretty widely disliked office due to long lines and gross mismanagement, and by the Presidents own statements, the post office is getting whooped by private industry. What makes you think THIS program would be better when it will be run by the same people who have screwed up all of the afforementioned? From this question, most people chose simply to walk away.
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