SO, I've gravitated away from politics in an effort to keep my head on straight. Unfortunately, all the garbage going on today has forced me to run back and complain somewhere.
First of all, this healthcare "debate" is... stupid. Protesters (Republicans) are "scared" about how the big bad government is planning to make "death panels" to judge whether or not your grandparents will be allowed to live or killed off. OBVIOUSLY, there is no such plan, nor was there EVER a plan to have death panels.
What they are talking about doing is lowering costs of healthcare and offering people the *OPTION* of a low-cost government healthcare program. Let's be real about this. My dad takes a diabetes pill. One a day. Because of his condition, he pays over $800/month to be insured. This is a "BENEFIT" to him, from spending years with and retiring at a well-known major corporation. Example 2, my Grandpa.. same deal, "better" benefits... paying $1300/month to stay insured.
What about the 50 million+ people without coverage?! I'll tell you what, those people don't get checked, don't get meds... they go without healthcare and have to go to the emergency room when a friggin emergency comes up. THEN, because they are most likely poor, they cannot afford to pay for the services that stablize them...
DO YOU SEE WHERE THIS IS GOING? That cost gets picked up by EVERY taxpayer, by every hospital visit... and the rest of us pay SO MUCH MORE than we would have originally... to pay for all the holes. In the next 20 years, this cost is expected to double to enormous costs.
AND THAT is why you HAVE TO REFORM HEALTHCARE.
I'm willing to bet that these narrow-minded, flag-waving morons protesting the healthcare plan have not done ANY actual research. More likely, they probably got an email talking about how "Obamacare" was going to "take away their healthcare." How do I know this? Because many of the looney-tunes have been showing up chanting slogans such as "KEEP YOUR GODDAMN GOVERNMENT HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE!!!" Medicare, that successful program which is... oh... already government-run. They just have no clue what they are talking about.
And, all of this economic consideration aside, we are talking about lives here. Why do you care so much about giving people the option to purchase low-cost government insurance. It won't compete with private companies anyway, they just want to make sure those poor people are covered so that we're all not paying out our asses to cover them indirectly.
When you look at the budget as a whole, this will not cost very much money at all. In the end, it will CLEARLY save money.
The partisan difference in opinion over health care shows you just how un-American Republicans can be: They would stick to a narrow-minded ideology that costs the lives and money of their countrymen.. before even considering a reasonable compromise on this issue.
It's interesting... these people who "hate big Government" also reap the rewards.
Not including DC, here is where federal tax money came from in 2004 (figures in parenthesis show how much each state receives for each dollar it pays to the government):
1. New Jersey ($0.62)
2. Connecticut ($0.64)
3. New Hampshire ($0.68)
4. Nevada ($0.73)
5. Illinois ($0.77)
6. Minnesota ($0.77)
7. Colorado ($0.79)
8. Massachusetts ($0.79)
9. California ($0.81)
10. New York ($0.81)
Not including DC, here are the states that reap the biggest benefit from "big government" in 2004 ("red states" are starred):
1. North Dakota ($2.03)*
2. New Mexico ($1.89)
3. Mississippi ($1.84)*
4. Alaska ($1.82)*
5. West Virginia ($1.74)*
6. Montana ($1.64)*
7. Alabama ($1.61)*
8. South Dakota ($1.59)*
9. Arkansas ($1.53)*
Hmm, isn't that strange? All of these are "red states," except for New Mexico. Additionally, I believe this was also the year where the Bush Administration spent a lot of money on the "border fence" down in New Mexico, so I'm willing to bet that was considered federal spending.
They hate the Government, but they can't exist without it? Keep on preaching personal responsibility, you're doing a great job, guys!
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