Obama’s Fast Track to Socialized Medicine
April 24, 2009 by cmmiller
Filed under General, Health Care
With the nation’s attention diverted by the recession, bailouts, and war, Obama and the Democrats have seized upon these diversions to try and shove through healthcare legislation that will drastically alter healthcare in America, most likely for the worse. Universal healthcare legislation, a linchpin of Obama’s domestic agenda, has recently been approved to be fast tracked by the House in a 227-196 vote, which, enact rules that block Republicans in the Senate from being able to slow progress of the legislation — or even stop it, through a filibuster. Odd, I could have sworn that Obama pledged to eliminate partisan politics in Washington. I guess that only applies to issues that already have the support of both parties.
While I am not a doctor, I do have some insight into the current problems with the health care system in America, and the issues that arise when health care is socialized. I know a doctor, a general practitioner, who has been in the business for over twenty years, and the key term here is business. He once accepted Medicare and insurance, however, over the years his business suffered significantly due to two factors. One, Medicare payments have been steadily decreasing over the years and insurance companies dislike paying their bill until the 89th day. So what was his response? Cash up front. He will not see a patient until he is paid in full. Is this cruel, inhumane, a violation of the Hippocratic oath? No. He has been forced to institute this measure in order to stay in business, which is the business of helping others.
As for the issue of socialized medicine, I have, what I believe is a revealing anecdote that illustrates the perils of this system. A friend of mine came over from England three years ago to work with his father, who owned a couple of businesses here in Florida. Unfortunately, he had been suffering from bouts of severe, and sometimes debilitating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and vomiting, for a number of years. While in England, he had gone to the doctor numerous times and each time they passed it off as indigestion, bad curry, stress, and so on. However, once he was in the United States, he once again went to the doctor, and, much to his surprise, he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease.
So, what might be the moral of these two stories? Well, one, socializing medicine will only serve to drive the best doctors of of the field due to the fact that they can’t afford to run a practice on the meager ammounts that the government is willing to pay. Two, by driving out the qualified doctors, the standard of care will drop significantly, which will lead to more mis-diagnosis and untreated healthcare problems for patients. So obviously, as Obama has claimed, this program will in fact reduce the national deficit, since by providing Americans with the illusion of health they will be even happier and more productive.
Transparency, The Rearview Mirror, and the Not So Secret Service
April 23, 2009 by cmmiller
Filed under Civil Rights, General, Politics
President Obama built a campaign on the bedrock of change in Washington. No more lobbyists, no more pork, no more special interests, no more cronyism, no more Guantanamo, full transparency of government, looking to the future, and so on and so on. Well, he’s only fallen short on a few of these promises, but he is human you know. While I fully expected campaign promises to be broken, (promises are, after all, easy to make as a junior Senator from Illinois, but much more difficult to keep once in Washington) I never once in my wildest dreams believed that he could blunder so badly in the arena of foreign affairs and national security. No, I am not an intelligence specialist or a foreign affairs expert, but I am aware of what is going on in the world around me, and as I see it, President Obama has chosen to turn a blind eye to the reality of the world around us in favor of the Ivory Tower’s academic and idealistic view of the world.
Transparency, the idea that the government will make available and disclose all of its dealings and affairs is a noble idea. However, can this idea be taken too far, well, I’ll let you decide. In his decision to release Bush administration memos regarding the use water boarding and other intense interrogation methods on known terrorists, President Obama has proclaimed to the world that America has blundered in the past, it is now the beacon of morality and upstanding values. This in turn, is reinforced by the constant assertions by the administration that these tactics will never be used again. So, why did Obama feel the need to release these memos, in spite of the general outcry from the intelligence community and Obama’s own intelligence director, why not just exclaim to the world, as he has so often done recently, that America has been arrogant, wrong, and vile, but that we are changing our ways for the better and that we will once again lead the world with our Moral Compass? What did he gain from this action beside total coverage on every news channel that the CIA “tortured” some terrorists hundreds of times and an open playbook for terrorists on resisting interrogation techniques? Nothing, other that a further tarnished image abroad of the United States and a slap in the face of the Bush administration. However, this decision became a political boomerang when Obama’s own intelligence director said that intense interrogation techniques did produce significant information that helped the nation to fight terrorism. But then again, what does he know; he’s not the president.
This brings me to the next point. Obama has repeatedly proclaimed that he was not interested in looking back, but rather he wanted to look ahead. So why then has he repeatedly waffled on the issue of possibly prosecuting Bush administration officials for their role in the decision to use these techniques? Why did he say recently that it would be up to the Attorney General to make the decision to push forward with an investigation? Why did he suggest that a 9-11 type bi-partisan panel be arranged to look into the matter? Why hasn’t he roundly condemned the Spain for entertaining the possibility of seeking to charge six Bush administration officials with crimes against humanity? If this is looking forward, then Obama must be staring into the rearview mirror.
