20 Responses to “Who Needs Socialist Health Care?!”

1. pelmo says:

   Friday, August 14, 2009 at 6:35 am

   It seems you leave no doubt on where you stand on this issue.

   Reply
2. JoeC says:

   Friday, August 14, 2009 at 7:14 am

   Yeah, I’m trying to remain open-minded, but the more I actually read and hear about it, the more I’m favoring a public option. OPTION being the key word. Some say the competition will kill private health insurance, but the competition with the U.S. Post Office hasn’t killed FedEx or UPS. What it will do is likely kill the double-digit million salaries of Private Health Insurance company CEOs.

   One of the big arguments is that if there is a public option we won’t have a choice, however, I don’t have a choice now. My employer gives me a choice of one plan. Each year, us employees have to pay a higher percentage of the cost (which keeps skyrocketing) and the copays go up. There’s 5 people in my family, and that’s a LOT of copays…I’m tired of the mess…honestly, I don’t think the government can screw it up worse than it’s already screwed up…it’s gotten that bad. Despite the propaganda the private insurance companies are paying to blanket us with, most folks in Canada, England, France…most are happier than most Americans with the health care system they have, and each of those countries has a longer life expectancy, and folks don’t go bankrupt when they get sick. Those two facts, to me, are the proof in the pudding.

   So, yeah, I guess after sitting silent for a while and observing and listening to folks like Bill Moyer and sleeping on it…I’m ready for things to change — even if it makes things worse…if it gets better, that’s good; if it gets worse, that’s good because more people will get upset and it will lead to revolt; it’s keeping the status quote while there are clearly better options that I’m not comfortable with.

   But, I gather you’re leaning against any public option, and Pelmo, you’re a great American and I respect and enjoy and value your opinion; you’re always free to disagree and disagree strongly here…criticism is welcome, and I’ve got my flame suit on, and am always interested in hearing other sides of the argument (even if they’re wrong :-) Hahahha…)

   Reply
3. Xman says:

   Friday, August 14, 2009 at 11:14 pm

   Since we pay twice as much as any other country and are behind in what we get for our money…even infant mortality is worse…and since family and friends in Canada, England, Germany, France and Austria are all happier with their plans…and healthier……….I guess I’ll go with facts over subsidized fear (lobbyists).

   There is also far too much latent racism laced into the issue. Anger at paying for lazy blacks, anger at paying for illegal mexicans, unwed mothers for being careless, anger at paying for hippies, liberals and any other group of demonized american’s.

   Yet, these same “courageous” people who want to demonize people in our own country don’t seem to spend much effort fighting against all the aid we give to other countries…all the debt we forgive owed by other countries…the ridiculous expense of over 700 usa military bases around the world….a usa presence in 145 of 192 countries in the world, etc. etc. etc.

   I guess I’d rather pay for all the demonized american’s (illegal or otherwise) health care…just because they ARE american’s (mexicans are north american’s too). I completely reject those who try to drive a wedge between american’s and say one side deserves health care and the other side doesn’t.

   I’m happy to pay for grannies who still do eat cat food and….while I stand in line at the pharmacy…overhear that they can only afford 1/2 their prescriptions. I’m happy to pay for vets who get shoved aside at the va….because of inconvenient illnesses or denied illnesses.
   I’m happy to pay for breakfast for kids…totally innocent and dependant on me and the kindness of other strangers.
   I’m happy to pay for every hungry and homeless soul……until every fat F#$% in congress looks like Dick Gregory and is happy with a 77 cent frozen Banquet tv dinner meal.

   Reply
4. pelmo says:

   Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 10:25 am

   I agree we have to fix our health care system, and there are many things wrong with it.

   Say we have a car which just needs a tune up, an oil change and a new head light. Do we go out and fix that and have a good running car or do we go and buy new tires with fancy rims, when the tires on the car are still good. Do we put a new stereo system in it when the old system is good, etc etc.

   That is how I feel about a thousand page bill that will probably double by the time it’s done. I say fix what is wrong with the system instead of adding a lot of bells and whistles as government loves to do.

   Xman I am not heartless, but I saw more food thrown away at school lunch programs then eaten. I wouldn’t mind paying for immigrant’s legal or illegal, but I do take a stand when my grand kids have to step back behind them and don’t get a 10th of the benefits we dish out to them. When I go to the river boat gambling boats 75% of the people are seniors. But I do get mad as oh hell when I see how we treat our vets. Wave a flag, give a few speeches and the hell with their health care.

   As far as facts on this issue both sides are lying through their teeth, and who are we to believe?

   Reply
   • Xman says:

     Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 11:01 am

     Hey Pelmo,
     I understand your analogy to the old car. But no matter what you do to the old car…you won’t be able to substantially up the mpg or the reduce the emissions or improve the handling or reliability….beyond it’s designed capabilities. Maybe an anology to trying to make a 4 year old computer perform like a new one, helps to make my point better. You can sink all the money you want into an old computer and it will still be an old, clunky machine…simply unable to handle current demands. Borrowing a couple phrases from my grandparents: “Pennywise and pound foolish”…”Spending a dollar to save a dime”….might apply to any old, outdated system.

     I know there is all kinds of abuse out there. All kinds of inefficiency. Unfairness, too. But I can’t use those examples..anecdotal or otherwise…to justify punishing one group over another.

     On your last statement: As usual, I’m trying not to base what I believe on what anyone says…but by what I see as concrete examples of widespread neglect, abuse, profiteering, etc.
     It is pretty easy to see for oneself that costs are going up and care is going down.

     Reply
5. 2Truthy says:

   Saturday, August 15, 2009 at 10:29 pm

   Pelmo, You ask “who are we to believe?” and my answer is Ralph Nader. Of course, he has no power but people now of both major parties are getting desperate. This is a class struggle now, not an ideological one.

   This country, unfortunately, racks up gazillions of trillions of dollars via the “YOU STAB ‘EM WE SLAB ‘EM” mega healthcare industrial complex business model of insurance/supply chain corporations, unlike any other country in the world. Obama is a member of this club.

   We would be damn lucky to have a Socialist healthcare system. What other way to remove these Doler’s of Death (aka the Insurance Industry) whose for profit business is to first make you sick, then treat you with Big Pharma cocktails and other assorted, oft unproven medications and treatments and THEN have the power to off you by pulling your insurance if you get in the way of Wade Worthinton’s liver transplant.

   If only we had Single Payer!

   In the meantime, the best way to start this revolution is for everyone to drop their insurance policies and pay out of pocket for what you can. Why support these legalized thugs any longer?

   Reply
   • Xman says:

     Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 8:18 am

     Since I don’t know what to do about it…I think I’ll bribe a mythical entity with a goat and ask him to save me.

     Reply
6. pelmo says:

   Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 8:57 am

   Today I watched Sunday Morning on CBS and they had someone explaining some of the innovative things that make the health care system work in France.

   For example they have doctors answering calls for ambulances, and they determine if an ambulance is needed. They have a doctor and nurses respond to the call and treat the person on the scene, and saving time and money.

   Would we do something like that? I think not, since no one wants to upset the apple cart, so all we will create is another wasteful tax eating system and accomplish absolutely nothing.

   The president sounds like a broken record as he keeps repeating the same thing over and over again. There are no new ideas thrown out so skeptics like myself could grab hold of them and believe that something new and efficient would be created.

   The thing I fear most is the number of pages to this bill. We know it will increase as every congressmen adds his two cents, and will be filled with perks for the drug and insurance companies that will only suck up more of our tax dollars.

   i will repeat again, let’s fix the things that are driving up the cost, and not go for a wholesale change. Besides do you really believe that people who receive millions in donations from drug and insurance companies are going to kill the golden goose.

   Reply
7. 2Truthy says:

   Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 2:57 pm

   Pelmo, You’re right about France. I was there a few years ago and got violently ill from food poisoning around midnight. My husband called the front desk. Within 15 minutes, a local doctor was there treating me - comprehensive diagnosis and the right drugs to fix me up STAT. It was an excellent, cost-effective response.Honestly, I was so sick I could not have moved an inch, let alone climb in a car to go to an emergency room. When we checked out a couple days later, a reasonable, nominal charge for the physician was tacked onto the hotel bill.

   If the same happened to someone in a hotel here, they’d be been hung out to dry until the paramedics showed up, shipped them across town to some ER left to wait for hours to be seen. Oh, and that charge would be well north of $1,000 conservative estimate…When it comes to healthcare, we can use all the socialism we can get! Socialized medicine is humane, intelligent and far superior to this mafia-ish, industrial military complex private insurance model.

   Reply
8. Xman says:

   Sunday, August 16, 2009 at 4:13 pm

   Well Pelmo, I think France is for us.
   Except I think their jails are bit rough…so our herb use might be in jeopardy…..

   Speaking of herbs…I know they have great gardens…and that includes your goose berries. I also heard they have more castles than any country but Poland.

   btw, I’m renting a house starting September 1st…in elk country. Yep, going to hunt elk this season.
   Strange part of this story is that the guy who used to own it…hung himself in the garage….and I’m the first tenant in the 3 years since.
   I guess it’s my opportunity to meet a ghost.
   Not sure how to tell my girlfriend about it….might let the ghost do it.

   Reply
9. pelmo says:

   Monday, August 17, 2009 at 7:49 am

   2thruthy I would be a 100% behind the health plan if we did common sense things to fix our health care system as they did in France. But we all know we will not rock the boat and keep all the archaic things in place and not improve it one bit. We have gotten on this track that throwing money at things will fix them.

   Look how much money was saved by being treated on the scene without involving an ambulance, the emergency room and all the wasted time waiting for service and possibly making the situation much worse.

   Xman, a word of advice, STAY OUT OF THE GARAGE, and don’t play with any rope. I wish you a lot of luck with the elk, and know you will have a great time. I have two ghost stories that happened to me in the last couple of years.

   I have 40 acres in Central Illinois that my wife and I purchased six years ago. I was there one morning about 4 am when I rolled over in bed and felt that my father and mother were standing by the bedroom door, even tho I didn’t see them. I just looked in the direction and told them “it’s about time you came to visit the farm”. I then went back to the most wonderful sleep I have had in years.

   The other is having a friend pass away from a heart attack a few years ago. Every so often as I am riding my power mower, I feel as if he is sitting behind me, and actually turn around and look. Never see them, but sure feel their presence.

   Reply
   • Xman says:

     Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 7:23 am

     Hey Pelmo,
     Do you take Ambien?
     I did for a while to try to get some sleep.
     Boy, did I have warm and cozy sleep!
     I also had the most realistic hallucinations.
     Personages of both present and past.
     Conversations with them…all accompanied with a great feeling of well being.

     For me, Ambien seemed to open a door into my subconscious. I suspect it does for others too. I think there are cases in history that suggest diet..or lack of food has done the same for others, ie: Salem witches and their visions. Joseph Smith and his starving himself into his visions.

     Much as I’d like to believe in the supernatural, I’m more interested in running through all the natural causes first.
     That said, I am a little spooked by the thought of sleeping in that house. Must be the horror movie conditioning…..

     Reply
10. pelmo says:

    Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 8:21 am

    Xman I don’t like to take medications. The only thing I have taken in years beside aspirin is the stuff they give me when I play around with poison ivy.

    I am still open on the subject of the supernatural, since there are many things that have occurred during my life time that I can’t fully explain. The one that drives me crazy is when you do something the same way a thousand times, but today you check and do it different and find that you just prevented an accident by checking or doing it different.

    Or for an unexplained reason you suddenly take a different route to get somewhere. Was it impulse, or was there a reason for it.

    Reply
11. La Sirena says:

    Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 9:09 am

    I think you guys should publish a collection of the Joe/ pelmo/ x-man messages a la Simone DeBouvier and Sartre, etc. It would be a best selller.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:

      Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 8:42 pm

      Interesting thought, La Sirena.
      Except that none of us are communists (I probably lean that way a bit though) or are in love with each other (though I do like ‘em quite a bit….awwwww), we do have a sort of long distance relationship…and are interested in improving the world for the common good….I seem to remember that was what they were about.

      I guess I have to go read them again. It has been many years…in school I guess….so I know I didn’t appreciate them fully.
      Thanks.

      Reply
12. xman says:

    Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    oops. forgot my name again….anon is me.

    Reply
13. pelmo says:

    Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 9:16 am

    We have to get Joe more involved. He feels it’s enough to come out of his mountain top retreat, make a profound statement, and retreat to his cave and sparse surroundings, to snooze and contemplate his next earth shattering opinion. He leaves the fine tuning to others.

    It is fun joking, reminiscing and trying to solve problems in our own little way.

    Xman the use of a name tag would solve the problem of who you are when posting.

    Reply
    • xman says:

      Friday, August 21, 2009 at 8:09 pm

      Yeah, Pelmo.
      If you have solutions to diminishing attention span, memory, taste, smell and interest in the opposite sex…opposite or otherwise….let me know.
      2. I’d just like not to have to go back into the house 2 or 3 times to get something I forgot, when I’m trying to go somewhere.

      Reply
14. JoeC says:

    Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 6:12 pm

    Here I am, Pelmo! Down from the mountain! :-)
    La Sirena: I ditto what Xman says about the book idea (awwww…) and I have to admit that I had to look up who DeBouvier and Sartre were…I suppose it’s a gaping hole in my education (if you have a hole in your education, it’s missing a ‘w’ (get it…hole, not whole, and definitely not Dubya…)) but I digress…

    Ok, I guess I’ve been neglecting the blog waaaaaay too much. Part of it is really coming to believe deep down that the whole shebang here IS really all just a dream, and so why get so upset and take it so seriously, and then other days I’m really pissed off at the world, but then trying to figure out a way to post some input without doing it in a negative way…and it’s hard, because when I stop being negative out there I’m usually left talking positive to myself…so why post?

    Other thing…Facebook…I guess that has snuck up on me and been taking up some of my computer time. And it’s sort of brought me back to why I started this blog in the first place…just putting anything and everything on the page…so, I’m going to try to start doing more of that here again…thanks for hanging around, and stay tuned…

    Reply
15. libhomo says:

    Saturday, September 5, 2009 at 9:14 am

    We need to enact single payer and be done with it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Name

Mail (will not be published)

Website

CAPTCHA Code (enter the letters displayed above).