Considering how in the past few days a number of representatives who voted "aye" for this monstrosity have had bricks thrown through the windows of their offices and one such congressman had a coffin dumped on the lawn of his house, I have to ponder aloud if such "knock-knock, zoom-zoom affirmation" might result in more than a few of them finally "getting the message" that the American people DO NOT WANT this crap!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Once more with feeling? House to vote AGAIN on healthcare bill tonight
Because of two items in the reconciliation bill - one of which having to do with Pell grants, which alone made people scratch their heads in wonder about why it was in the legislation to begin with - the House of Representatives will be voting once more on Barack Obama's socialized medicine in order to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions.
8 comments:
Chris, as someone from the UK who benefits from a national health service I am somewhat confused as to why such a thing would be viewed so negatively in the States? The UK NHS has its flaws, the postcode lottery for instance that operates in some areas for more expensive and experimental medicines but on the whole the NHS is very effective and provides health care to the social strata that could not afford private health care. The UK NHS is investing in laser therapy for cancer sufferers that targets only the Cancerous cells, something that would render chemotherapy for certain cancers obsolete. To have free access to such health care can only be positive, especially if it catchs on in your neck of the woods ... or ... am I missing the point in my verbosity?
Simon (Si-Napses)
P.S - hoping to knock something together again very soon blog wise, will keep you posted.
P.P.S - Keep up the good work
Whatever you believe, using violence to spread your message just links you with the mob. Not with republican ideals.
Yeah Simon, I've been visiting your own blog, waiting for you to do new stuff with it. Don't be like some people I know (yeah I'm looking at you Chad :-P)
Re: the health care "reform" fiasco. I'll be the first to admit that our health care system is NOT perfect. I don't know if it ever could be... or any health care system for that matter. But this is just going to make it WORSE. As one friend of mine put it the other night, this legislation will create a huge demand for more doctors without doing anything to provide more doctors.
My biggest beef with it, however, is how the law was "passed", and how it could be very strongly argued that this is not constitutional.
I'd dare say that this is why the vast majority of people who are admittedly against Obamacare are honked off about it.
"Chris, as someone from the UK who benefits from a national health service I am somewhat confused as to why such a thing would be viewed so negatively in the States?"
Because of the many horror stories that eminates from the NHS. These sort of stories are unheard of in our system, even for the uninsured.
http://www.angelfire.com/pa/sergeman/issues/healthcare/socialized.html
"The UK NHS has its flaws"
Thats putting it mildly.
"A U.K. grandmother has been waiting 13 years for a hip replacement"
http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=161366&command=displayContent&sourceNode=161855&contentPK=14055165&folderPk=88503
a 4-year-old girl with several absessed teeth has been waiting in agony over a month for "urgent" dental care:
http://www.leedstoday.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=39&ArticleID=1349493
10-month wait for cancer treatment
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/675968.stm
Cancer patients 'wait too long'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/uk_news/scotland/4377583.stm
Cancer Waiting Times
http://www.performance.doh.gov.uk/cancerwaits/index.htm
http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/about-cancer/cancer-questions/waiting-times-for-tests-and-treatment-after-cancer-diagnosis
Waiting 13 years for a hip replacement? Thats unheard of here, even for the uninsured. A 19 month wait for cancer treatment? Do you think the cancer waits to spread?
Forced to Wait 5 Weeks for Cancer Operation Until it Was Too Late
Mavis Skeet, 74, had been waiting for five weeks to find out if her cancer of the oesophagus had spread.
However, a shortage of beds at Leeds General Infirmary led to the repeated cancellation of her operation.
An earlier scan had been hopeful, showing the cancer had not spread, but five weeks later the scan revealed it had spread to her windpipe, rendering an operation impossible.
Health Secretary Alan Milburn told the BBC he had ordered an full report on the case. The operation might also have allowed Mrs Skeet to eat and drink rather than being fed through a tube.
Her daughter Jane told the BBC: “Had they operated five weeks ago the tumour was operable and could have been removed. Now they can’t operate. “My mum and dad have paid all their lives into the NHS. At the moment they feel totally let down.”
http://www.drgov.com/?p=136
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/602393.stm
"The UK NHS is investing in laser therapy for cancer sufferers that targets only the Cancerous cells, something that would render chemotherapy for certain cancers obsolete."
Congrats on catching up with the US, but we have been doing that sort of research for decades and have been providing that sort of treatment for years now.
"To have free access to such health care can only be positive, especially if it catchs on in your neck of the woods ... or ... am I missing the point in my verbosity?"
You dont have free access. You pay for it through taxes every year. If you dont see a doctor for years, you still are paying for it. Here, you pay when you use the system. You dont have to pay it when youre not using it.
After hitting the floor running, life caught up with blogging! I'm hopefully going to be back in the game soon, I'm designing my new blog and *hope* to be able to write 'stuff' that is interesting to all and sundry as well as myself.
Just to let you know Chris, Doctor Who starts again in the UK Saturday 3rd of April - Youtube should have the new trailer recently broadcast by the BBC. I'm already being won over by Matt Smith (who incidentally is on a UK talkshow tonight, Friday night with Jonathan Ross)
Hopefully my first posts will be Doctor Who based in the coming week
Chris the NHS has it's problems. Thee's no disputing that.
But our current health care system is just as bad. If you have a pre-existing condition, you are screwed. Have cancer before they think you should? You get no coverage.
At the moment, healthcare companies only pay 66 cents of every dollar on care. The rest of that is profit. But that isn't enough to cover for the most expensive of operations. Guess who has to come in to cover it?
That's right, the government. At the moment, the US government spends the most money on healthcare, and not with the best results. Most baby death rates per 1000 births, lowest median lifespan, etc.
Chris, we have the best emergency care. But we have some of the worst overall healthcare in the world. The World Health Organization placed us at 37 on healthcare. Those with Universal Healthcare plans are much higher. France is No.1.
There is a lot of evidence to support a revision of the current healthcare system.
Now, this Bill is not the gift from heaven. There are a lot of flaws. But it is a first step towards a better system.
Despite all negative stories that surround the UK NHS (and I've heard worse *first hand* than the examples provided), the majority of the 60+ million population would not want the NHS scrapped in the UK let alone begrudge paying for it in taxes - waiting lists for cancer sufferers or not.
Its too easy to be negative and paint the exceptions as the norm, its old fashioned scare mongering.
Give the bill a chance before hanging it out to dry.
"But our current health care system is just as bad. If you have a pre-existing condition, you are screwed. Have cancer before they think you should? You get no coverage"
And yet America is number one in the world for cancer survival rates.
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba649
"At the moment, healthcare companies only pay 66 cents of every dollar on care. The rest of that is profit."
False. Their profit is two cents on the dollar. Book publishing companies make more profit than health care companies.
"the US government spends the most money on healthcare, and not with the best results"
Wow. what a revelation. Throwing taxpayer money at something doesnt make it go away.
Most baby death rates per 1000 births, lowest median lifespan, etc"
No. number 46 out of a couple hundred countries isnt bad.
"Chris, we have the best emergency care. But we have some of the worst overall healthcare in the world. The World Health Organization placed us at 37 on healthcare. Those with Universal Healthcare plans are much higher. France is No.1"
The WHO organization ranking has been exposed for the fraud it is.
"Philip Musgrove, the editor-in-chief of the WHO report that accompanied the rankings, calls the figures that resulted from this step "so many made-up numbers," and the result a "nonsense ranking." Dr. Musgrove, an economist who is now deputy editor of the journal Health Affairs, says he was hired to edit the report's text but didn't fully understand the methodology until after the report was released. After he left the WHO, he wrote an article in 2003 for the medical journal Lancet criticizing the rankings as 'meaningless.' "
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125608054324397621.html
So what's wrong with the WHO and Commonwealth Fund studies? Let me count the ways.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/08/why_the_us_ranks_low_on_whos_h.html
WHO's Fooling Who? The World Health Organization's Problematic Ranking of Health Care Systems
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9236
"There is a lot of evidence to support a revision of the current healthcare system"
Yes there is. But wheres the evidence that your way is the right way?
"Now, this Bill is not the gift from heaven. There are a lot of flaws. But it is a first step towards a better system"
No its not. Its a step in the wrong direction.
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