You know, I'm tired of talking about healthcare, and I get sick of writing about politics in general, but when it comes to people throwing out misinformation, I can't stand for it. I think that a lot of times people will believe someone as long as they are convincing and they sound like they know what they're talking about.
I will admit up front that I don't know all of the facts. I read, I do research, but I don't keep a file of that to show people. It's not a passion. Here are my basic tenets on healthcare:
- I believe that everyone should have access to health care.
I don't think anyone should be denied because they have a pre-existing condition, or be dropped because they suddenly become afflicted with a terminal illness. Yes, in some instances people bring healthcare issues upon themselves because of their habits or their lack of understanding, intelligence or poor upbringing. This happens in every tenet of life. Care of people should be non-judgemental.
- I believe that everyone should also be educated in caring for themselves.
I realize that in some instances, even though people are educated, the way society is structured could influence people to eat fast food more than they take time to make a healthy meal. I still think that Public Service Announcements should be put on TV, radio, billboards and even in grocery stores. Health and Nutrition classes should be mandatory in schools at all levels.
- I am okay with taxes on cigarettes, alcohol and even fast food.
You have every right to live the way you want, but I think we have enough data that will show people who partake in these "sins" (for lack of a better term) are often less healthy than those who do not. Ante up! (Note - I partake in one of the above 3 often, and another one at times)
- I believe the people who work in healthcare should earn a fair wage.
If you work in healthcare, you should be able to earn enough money to own a house and live comfortably. I don't think you need two or three houses, including a vacation home, or an abundance of expensive items. I have this ideal that no CEO (regardless of the company, product or industry) needs to make more than $350K per year. Who needs to make more money than that? Sure, if money is an incentive, put incentive bonuses in people's pay. EVERYONE should get a bump if they are better than others at their job, or do exceptional things. From CEOs to Janitors. But in this country, the priority of insurance and health care companies is to turn a profit, rather than focusing on actual caring for the health of people as the main priority. This doesn't seem appropriate to me.
According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. health system is ranked 37th in the world. There are some reasons for this cited in another page there.
The one thing I don't understand is that our current president/administration/government wants to make health care available to everyone, and people are against this. Why would anyone be against someone getting health care? The answer I seem to be reading into people protesting this is that they don't want to be taxed for it. This just baffles me. I think a lot of these people aren't ultra-rich, and at times I think that they may be in lower tax brackets, and thus will have to pay lower or no taxes in this instance.
I've heard people say that our government can't run it properly. We are ranked 37th...are they concerned with dropping to 40th or even 50th? Would you even notice the difference?
I think that the first step is to pass a bill and then improve what is wrong with it. The one thing that I don't like about the bill is that it seems to force people to buy insurance from the same insurance companies that are out there now, and I've read that if individuals don't pay, they will be fined $750. I don't think this will stand up in court, as basically, you are being told to buy from a monopoly, or an entity not subject to anti-trust laws.
The White House has put together a cool website about this, and you can actually see how it will help your state. I would like another website that points out the issues with the items on this site; for instance, in my state, it says:
76,800 small businesses could be helped by a small business tax credit to make premiums more affordable.
What I'd like to know is if this is truly affordable for small businesses? This doesn't sound like the Single-Payer or Public Option we were told we would get.
Anyway, I'd like to hear other opinions or websites that could credibly point out the issues with the current bill.
I just wish people could learn to work together to achieve this.