Monday, March 22, 2010

Caught in the Crossfire

Yep. That's me alright: caught amongst the ideas that the blame democrats passed a bill that I am convinced is a give-away to insurance and hospitals (I use as a litmus test simple statements ie., if the insurance industry or a politician says the bill won't help them, you can bet the last hook on your brasserie, the bill WILL help them scalp more fees, more rates, more money from you and me). I am also conflicted on this one because I think I see that if our health care costs are not curbed this country remains incapable of being globally competitive. How can we have a "jobs recovery" if our products are so expensive that no one will buy them? Furthermore, I am in a crossfire because I really don't want government in my business any more than the so called 'conservatives" do. But I know for sure that the simpletons in DC have allowed STUFF to get so screwed up that only they can fix it. I can't fix it; you can't fix it: we can't do a damn thing about the lying, cheating, stealing perpetuated by the ones we put in office, one not better than the other. I am not happy that the bill passed, but if you are a republican do not include me on your list of "American people" who agree with you about the failures of this bill. As a republican you did nothing to help solve the problems with which we are faced, NOTHING, and as republicans you are more culpable than folks want to remember: this country did not get this fucked from February 2009 to now.

But, hey, let's look on the sunny side: there are some parts of the bill that address STUFF over which I have complained and heard others complain about for years: in six months kids will be able to stay on their parents healthcare until they are 26 (that's a big deal, a sad deal for it indicates how damn hard it is for a kid to find a job and to move on out on her own. But it is still a big deal to families worried how their children will make out until they can land a job with benefits); in six months insurance companies will not be able to deny children with pre-existing conditions nor dump people when they get sick nor set caps on what folks can get from insurance payments(I know that conservatives would rather put sick kids on window ledges on Wall Street so that the buzzards can have them and that really, conservatives would just as soon drag parents right on up there with their children for having the audacity to have a kid that is not 100 percent well); thirty-two million Americans who did not have insurance will now get it, and those 32 million are probably happy(I know the Constitution does not guarantee health care but it also does not guarantee that you can have a Uzi as your throw away weapon of choice either); the bill closes the "donut hole" that us old folks have groused about and that has really hurt a lot of folks, that's good; small business get a really good 50 percent credit against their costs of healthcare provided to employees for 2009 and 2010 tax years(bet you won't hear Joe Kernan CNBC's resident idiot cheering about that even though it is pro-business). I am sure this is not all the good stuff the bill does, but most of this will be lost on the ones who really wanted this idea to be about one thing: regaining power in the congress. And according to the CBO (pleases do NOT start on this one because both democrat and republican will claim one day that the CBO is either the best accountant since Ross Perot or the dumbest bunch of bean-counters around depending, of course, on how the numbers hurt or help their agendas) the bill will cost 9.4 billion a year, save 1.3 billion a year losing, therefore, in ten years 84 billion BUT in the following 10 years save 120 billion a year (er, ah, 1.2 TRILLION in ten years), and that seems like a pretty good start on getting, "off the hook" those grandchildren the republicans are constantly wringing their sweaty, manicured hands over.

Oh, sure there's going to be a lot of noise about taxes and penalties. People who make more than 200K a year or 250K are going to have to pay .9 percent more hospital tax than I do (in case you don't know that's less than one percent and in case you missed it I never made 200K in a year in my life nor 100K combined but if I did I would not bitch about an extry 1 percent), and unearned income will be taxed an extra 3.8 percent so folks with annuities, rental incomes, dividends, etc will pay more: that will cost me about 6 dollars year which I will gladly pay. And there will be more noise about the penalties for those who don't want to purchase heath insurance, BUT communism only works if everyone plays; insurances are communes of people who spread costs by having lots of folks in the game. And there will be a contingency yapping about federal money going to cover abortions: I agree with them but those folks bitching are probably covered by a "private" plan that is already paying for abortions and they indirectly are paying for them, share and share alike. I have no solution for the abortion issue unless you sword the baby in half, allowing for half an abortion by federal dollars since about half the country is for abortion and half is not.

My complaints still are that this is all happening way too slowly (just like the pace of making Wall Street accountable); except for the items mentioned above it will be 2014 and 2018 before the plan is full blown and that this bill does nothing to eliminate over-charging, corruption, nor does it provide for any competitive markets for getting drugs or insurance. PLUS it gives insurance companies and drug companies even more time to raise their prices in the meantime. Funny how free market republicans won't let me buy my prescriptions from Mexico or Canada especially since the drugs are all made and China and India (China's got a great safety record for sending stuff here doesn't it? So don't even go there with the safety of Canada's drugs.) Funny, that the democrats won't let the market open up so that folks and businesses can get their insurance wherever they want.

I also ain't real happy because I can't figure out what to do about any mess we are in (hell, dumping a democrat for a republican ain't going to work that's like choosing a rat over a leech nor will dumping a republican for a democrat). I know we will have a ton of sewage dumped in our ears about jobs, about banks, about Wall Street, about energy, about education: the task is endless, but I want it all fixed right now. Surely, all that will happen as soon as this blog makes its way around. But what really bothers me most is probably what is bothering you: I just don't trust any of the sonsabitches to do a decent thing for you and me, you know the guys who never make 100K a year but somehow get by.

Oh well, as far as the current health care legislation, the republicans will bail us out; they will have the bill examined by the Supreme Court. That will be peachy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am wating to find out just how much uninsured Americans or employers are going to have to pay to receive coverage. Affordable is a relative term. Scary. Personally I think that all insurance should be socialized and the people taxed accordingly based on income. "From each according to his means to each according to his needs." But I am a political idiot, so whatever............And what is the big deal with abortions??? Are we talking medically necessary ones(as in imminent death for the mother if pregnancy is not terminated?), because regular ones in the first trimester aren't all that expensive. They are a heck of a lot less than a colonoscopy or an unnecessary trip to the emergency room by ambulance.