It looks like we Americans are about to get another bending over. With Al Frankin moving into that "democrats have the unstoppable majority spot", it appears that we may actually get a national health care plan after all.
So why is that a "bending over"? Unlike Canada and every other country on planet earth that provides health care for their countrymen, the United States is going to set up a guideline of rules that will require insurance companies to take you whether you have had a pre-existing condition or not…for the same rate as for those that never had a pre-existing condition…at an equitable rate.
Hey that does not sound like a bending over. That sounds pretty good!
Oh I forgot to tell you…the new law will demand you have medical insurance or the government is going to fine you for not having such. And the fine could be as little as $1,000…and moves up from there.
Yup, welcome to your new American Health Care Coverage System. If you choose the "Freedom" to not participate…because you are broke let’s say and have been out of work for a year and it is all you can do to make enough money to keep a roof over your head"…then your government is going to fine you when you get sick and need to hit the old emergency room if you are not paying for health care insurance. (Right now the federal law states that you have the right to be treated in the emergency room and cared for to a satisfactory result whether you have insurance or not)
I can remember when the government decided that everybody needed to have car insurance. They said it would actually cause insurance rates to go down since it would reduce the amount of accidents where there was no monetary coverage.
The rates have soared upwards year after year. The automotive insurance system has become its own monster to have to deal with since it is a mandatory part of "freedom" living in America today.
The same thing is going to happen when you and I are required to have medical insurance. Think of it. The two greediest industries in our country…insurance and health care….being told that they now have a guaranteed income…by law…that every American must have and pay for health care insurance.
If these industries had a mouth…it would be drooling right now!
Once again, America thinks it has to re-invent the wheel. "Well, we certainly cannot try and replicate the Canadian health care system. The waiting period to see a doctor is very long". This is a summary quote from many in congress.
Okay, I don’t know about you, but when I get an appointment…let’s say 10am…I am thinking to myself…"Okay, it will be about 11am when the nurse comes to the waiting room and calls my name. I will then stand on the scales and be reminded of just how out of shape I am and the shuffled off to a room with two year old magazines to read…that are covered in germs from every other patient before me…and I will wait until nearly noon before the doctor will open the door…my personal file in hand…and ask me why I am there to see him".
He will then spend ten minutes with me…divine some supernatural remedy to my ailments and write out a prescription in a language that only his (or her) nurse can read. The nurse will call it in to Walmart (hey $4 prescriptions).
I will then head off to my Walmart to get my medicine and wait another hour or two. Then, make the journey back home. It is now 2pm and I have been "doing the medical/doctor thing" since 9:30 this morning.
I told this story to a Canadian friend of mine and he said, "Sounds pretty much like out system here".
Hmmm….sounds pretty much like their system in Canada….that their government pays for? What the heck then!
I am pretty sure that requiring me (and you) to have and pay for health care insurance isn’t going to speed things up at the doctor’s office. In fact…since all of us will have insurance…I am thinking that it is going to slow things down.
"Yes sir the doctor can see you. Our first opening is 27 days from now.
If you think the emergency rooms are crowded now…wait until "everybody" has health insurance. At least sitting for ten to twelve hours in the emergency room feels like you are doing something. Besides…if you start to die or something in the emergency room…your wife only has to run down the hall and tell ‘em to come you NOW…that you are dying in their freaking hospital. (That always works in terms of getting you ahead of the line)
How most countries pay for their health coverage? Through taxes…plain and simple. But our politicians get into office promising no new taxes….and then every single one of them increase our tax base. Well…George didn’t did he. He actually gave back money to "the people". Of course he didn’t bother to tell "the people" that the money he was handing out to us was actually loan money that he had gotten from CHINA…and that we owed them that money plus interest…since they were also financing our war in Iraq…since we were freaking BROKE!
Sorry…got off track there.
Speaking of getting off track. How is it that I can walk into a pharmacy in Mexico get the same medicine I would get here for about 10% of the cost that it costs me here. (Made by the same manufacturer)
I drank some jungle water a few years back (ate some lettuce at a café’ in the middle of the jungle) and got sicker than I had ever been in my life! When I finally got enough strength to go into town and see the "24/7 doctor" I was informed that he was not there…he was on vacation. So I headed to a local pharmacy and the 18 year old kid behind the counter "prescribed to me something that cost me $5". Within 12 hours I began to feel like a human again.
Unfortunately I only bought one box of this medicine. When I returned to the United States…the illness decided to come with me. But, here in the good old USA that same medicine cost me…$50 dollars. Of course I had to go to the doctor and told him (showed him actually the medicine box) what it was I was taking. So you can add his $50 visit to that equation as well.
Hmm…Mexico…five dollars and I start to get well. USA, one-hundred dollars to get the same results!
Why is that I cannot buy certain medicines without a doctor’s prescription. But call it "fishmox" or something like that…and I can buy it at any feed store that sells vet supplies for the livestock industry.
Now…we are about to be told. "Folks do we have a plan for you. We told you that we were going to provide health care for every American when you voted us into power. We are about to make that dream come true. We are going to make it a law that every American has health insurance…just like it is a law that every American that drives has to have liability insurance. Only this time, if you don’t have health insurance…we are going to fine you for such".
Of course, my mind works this way.
"So…if I don’t have health insurance and you fine me…and I don’t pay the fine…are you going to put me in jail? The reason I ask this question is obvious…those folks in jail get free medical when they are sick don’t they".
Hey…just asking!
After all, you just spent over a trillion dollars of my tax money and my friends’ tax money and my neighbors’ tax money to bail out a bunch of money hungry crooks.
Let me remind you here…OUR MONEY…not yours.
And, you have spent more than a trillion of my tax dollars and my friend’s tax dollars and my neighbors’ tax dollars fighting a war in Iraq against an enemy that really doesn’t not exist in that country.
OUR money…not yours.
And now you have decided that after giving away all of my darned money to banks and car manufacturers and to fighting an enemy that doesn’t even have an army…now you have decided to bless me and my friends and my neighbors and countrymen with Nation Wide Health Care…by telling me that I either have to purchase health insurance or you are going to "fine me".
Picture this…a young lady…hand above her head…head moving side to side…finger tight against each other…saying.."Un uh…I don’t think so" SNAP!
If this is the best plan for national health coverage our government can come up with. Then I am thinking that I now understand why they just threw a bunch (a big bunch) of our money at the banking and automotive industries and essentially said "fix it".
It is because we are being governed by some of the historically stupid and ignorant and this is the best "plan" that they can come up with. (Guess it never dawned on them to sit down with folks from Canada and figure out how to replicate their health care system. After all…our medical manufacturers provide them with the same medicines that they provide us with at about 50% less cost to their public)
Oops...I forgot to tell you. The government is thinking that this would be a good pricing model for the new National Health Care Insurance...$4,500 a year for individuals...$12,500 a year for families.
We elect the Republicans into office and they run the country into the ground.
We elect the Democrats into office and they run you and me into the ground.
Oh well, like I said…where is the Vasoline! It is bending over time again.