Friday, December 11, 2009

Nationalized Heath Care

I know this is a touchy subject, but I just can't help myself. I really want to talk about why I am not for this health care bill that is being passed. I'm not trying to convince anybody to think the way I do; I just really want to share my opinions because I feel strongly about them, and the only people that have time to listen to me go on an on about it would have no clue what I'm talking about (my kids, if they're even old enough to be called kids....) So here are my thoughts, just as they come:

-I'm all about more people having health care, but I think it's really important to look at the root of the problem. People not having health care is just a symptom of the root problem which is that heath care is unaffordable for most people.

-The government is less efficient with money than any private business. This is a fact, not an opinion. I can't remember the numbers that have been quoted to me about how much of every dollar in a government is wasted on the needed red tape, but I do remember it was very shocking to me. So, why would I want the government to try and solve a problem that is, at it's core, about health care expense? It doesn't seem wise to me.

-Why is health care so expensive? Well, obviously there are a lot or reasons, but I think the main reason is the liability insurance/injury lawsuits doctors are forced to deal with. Do you think they are paying out of pocket for these things? No, just like any business would do, they are passing the cost along the consumers.

-So, It would make sense to me to first make health care more affordable through "tort reform" (aka making laws that deal with how much money people are able to get from these types of lawsuits. Obviously still leaving enough to pay for needed expenses, but lets not let people get rich off of these types of things.) This would make health care affordable to most of the population without ever needing a national public option. If nothing else we could just reevaluate at that point, right?

-There's the obvious reason that they are changing the law that prohibits federal dollars from being spent on abortion, and even going so far as to give money to private insurance companies that cover abortion.

-Looks at Canada and England who already have this type of government plans, their life expectancies went DOWN not up!

-In the first version (they have changed it so much, I don't know for sure if this part has been changed or not) they were able to deny elderly people and disabled people.

-By interfering into the free market the doctors offices will overwhelmed. Let me say, I am currently on medicaid, so I'm obviously not against government aid at the sate level. But just to give you a glimpse into my world, when I called the dentist due to a tooth ache I was told that the next available appointment was in two months! Now, this is just a tooth, but imagine if it were something more serious, like say a cancer screening test that I had to wait for. This is what we're looking at if we just add on a bunch of people to an already overloaded system.

Are you still with me? I'm almost done...

-So, let's be logical: You have people finding caners and tumors later, overcrowded hospitals, and sick elderly and disabled people suffering. What would be the "compassionate" way to help them? Euthanasia. No, it is never mentioned in the bill, but it would lead us in that direction, and people will feel the need to have it. (Oh, and did I mention that they want elderly people to have a government official to come to their hose and have a mandatory "end of life counseling" session? I don't know about you, but I don't like that...)

-Of course we know that most of the way we live our lives affects our health. What we eat, how much tv we watch vs how much time exercising, and the list goes on and on. With government in charge of paying for our health, they will want to make sure we are living as healthy as we should be. But who sets those standards and who sets the limits as to how far they can reach into our lives? It's just a little too shady of an area for me to like.

Anyways, there are more reasons I could talk about, but I think those are my main issues. I really do want people to be covered. I don't want people to be sick or suffering, I just think there are smarter ways to go about it than what is being discussed right now. I don't like being painted as a meanie because I see things differently than a lot of the newscasters or vocal democrats. Anyways, no need to pout about it, now I'm just rambling. Like I said at the start of this whole thing, I'm really just trying to get off my chest all my views on this thing that I can't see to find the time to talk to anyone about face to face. So that's all...

No comments:

Post a Comment