Time magazine's Joe Klein doesn't like Rudy Giuliani's health care plan for three reasons. Well, one really, but three manifestations of the same beef: It's not socialistic enough.
What follows are Klein's complaints from his August 1 "Swampland" blog post, followed by my snarky translation:
--it doesn't mandate that insurance companies cover everyone at the same rate, regardless of pre-existing conditions (community rating).
Who cares if you're a chain-smoking, trans fat-loving, Burger King-is-your-second home kinda guy with diabetes, high cholesterol and a coronary bypass under your belt? Health insurance companies shouldn't charge you a penny more than the marathon-running vegan next door whose idea of splurging is a little extra sugar in his mango strawberry soy milk smoothie.
--it doesn't mandate that everyone participates in the system.
You should be forced in the system if you want it or not, Rudy should know this. Everyone should have equally shoddy health care, like they do in Canada!
--it doesn't seem to be progressive enough, although I haven't read the fine print. The tax benefits should be on a sliding scale, according to income and refundable to the working poor.
The rich don't get soaked enough! I haven't decided who exactly is rich and who exactly is working poor, but there's got to be a class warfare angle here somewhere and dammit I'm going to find it.
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The main reason that Klein
August 1, 2007 - 16:32 ET by Chris NormanThe main reason that Klein doesn't like Rudy Giuliani's healthcare plan is it was proposed by...Rudy Giuliani.
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
I for one could care less
August 1, 2007 - 16:53 ET by bigtimerI for one could care less what the little leftist spewing Joe Klein thinks about anything.
Period.
I wished the leftist bozo's who think they are self-important would just get a life.
Pompous self-aggrandizing useless idiots...who do not have a real clue about real life in the real world.
Btw...as I was posting this Michael Moore was just shown in a clip on Hardball complaining about the same thing with Giuliani and his health plan...
Typical fat slob that he is...him saying anything about a health care plan is just rich in itself.
Get it all out BigTimer !!!
August 1, 2007 - 19:20 ET by VT Con ManI think your distaste is clear as a bell, and exactly right on.
If it isn't a commie tax slam on the "rich", paying for a bloated government beurocracy, "overseeing healthcare" "for the good of the people", these idiots will not like it. Especially if it has anything to do with personal responsibility, or god forbid, taking care of your own family, my gosh, not that! And you cannot have evil insurance corporations selling health insurance, they are evil!
Speaking of the "rich", soon there will be one mega gazillionaire in the world, with 100 gazillion people suckling for and demanding their "rightful share" of his disgusting profits.(or hers) ; )
Health care solution: Pay What You Can
August 1, 2007 - 20:08 ET by Lame CherryI have been challenging Michael Moore and every liberal complaining about health care as they are all millionaires to quit complaining and go back to 1950's medicine where everyone could afford Health Care.
That of course was before Kennedy and company started inflating all these prices to force EVERYONE into a commie health system. Ronald Reagan exposed all of his in his diary.
The costs of health care are lawyer suing doctors, hospital conglomerates in it for money and the ever lovely insurance industry kickback operation...........as an example, my Mother had an appendix out this past year and got a bill from an oncology lab where it was sent to be "tested". This is the scam this multi billion dollar industry pulls in running up tests which have no purpose. That was like sending out a sliver to see if it had cancer.
Doctors are held hostage to this by their hospital employers system as you have to over charge patients and you can not treat patients unless you are part of the Rockefeller complete medical connected establishment. Most people do not know that all hospitals are interconnected.
Doctors used to be able to accept chickens from farmers and groceries from people in town to pay bills. That is how you make health care for everyone. The rich can always afford it and will like now pay extra in taxes. Employed people will always carry insurance for their needs and poor people honestly are honest for the most part and will always pay a bill they consider fair if linked to how much they have for income. That is pay what you can and what Democrats should be pushing as that is what America always was until the cartels got hold of the money making venture.
The system goes back to that and those huge insurance bills will stop, because the lawyers will be stopped and unnecesary "tests" will stop in running up bills.
Everyone knows that it does not cost 100,000 dollars for a heart operation. Meds are not that expensive, nor are hospital rooms, nor are doctors and nurses.
If auto mechanics are regulated, then doctors and hospitals can face the same reality.
Of course phone companies screw people over on "long distance" when there is no such thing nor no such extra cost for them just like hospitals charging so much for CAT scans. Sure it costs to buy and maintain systems, but when it is necessary for life there can be a whole lot cheaper rate found.
Start challenging all the Democrats for the "pay what you can" solution which has proven in the past to work. It will expose them they do not want a solution but a communist grab over America's last resources.
The solution would work though.
*HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS
To put it simply, Klein is
August 2, 2007 - 11:28 ET by BeowulfTo put it simply, Klein is an frikkin' moron, who doesn't see the world through rose-colored glasses - he has rose-colored contacts surgically attached to his eyeballs.
You want to "fix" our health care system? Start with tort reform. Put a lid on frivolous lawsuits where the lawyers make more than the client. Mandate that 80% of the award goes to the client - that would cause a major drop off of medical lawsuits immediately.
Enact mandatory case review by medical professionals before allowing a medical malpractice suit to proceed. Many winning medical malpractice lawsuits are over situations where the doctor had no real control. People die or their condition worsens because of issues other than malpractice. A medical review could determine if malpractice was potentially at fault.
Limit awards to a reasonable amount ($20 mil for a pinky toe mistakenly cut off is what I would call unreasonable). In addition to reducing the attraction to sueing, it would drastically lower medical malpractice insurance, thus reducing medical costs to patients, insurance, and government assistance.
Regulate hospitals to ensure rates do not vary between insured and uninsured patients. Currently, hospitals charge FAR more for uninsured patients than they do those with insurance (kickbacks perhaps?). A medical procedure should cost the same regardless of coverage. Would people sit still if car repair costs were based on your auto insurance? Or your cable rates were based on your homeowner's coverage? Why should your insurance determine how much you are charged for anything? This is about the clearest and most blatant example of the corruption in the system.
Pull the license of any doctor who loses his or her third malpractice suit (after the law suit reforms mentioned earlier). Eventually, the "corporate" doctors who run a patient production line instead of a medical practice will be a thing of the past and patients will receive better care from better physicians. Any doctor who screws up three times probably shouldn't be a doctor.
Finally, mandating participation is simply socialistic, and I don't live in a socialist country - yet. I am (recently) retired from the Air Force, and I have more than adequate health care. I am also able to get additional health coverage through my work if I so choose. I should not be forced to participate in this socialist venture so others can benefit.
Those who cannot afford insurance and those who so choose can have at this program. Those who choose to forego any health coverage should be permitted only emergency life-saving medical aid, unless they fork over their checkbook. Absolutely nothing else at taxpayer's expense. They should be made to live with their own choice and bear responsibility for that choice. The same applies to illegals. No emergency room visits for a headcold, or even a broken bone. Or pregnancy/delivery. Women had babies for thousands of years without hospitals, they can do it again, unless they have medical coverage. I shouldn't have to pay for someone else's child to be born. If they know they don't have healthcare coverage and get pregnant anyway, then they should bear the cost of that decision. If it isn't life threatening, they're on their own.
Hard-core, but too bad. I paid my dues, I benefit from my labor. No one else should. If you want what I have, THEN EARN IT!
The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers
Who is Joe Klein?
August 2, 2007 - 12:21 ET by buddycWho is Joe Klein?
You know, that could just
August 2, 2007 - 12:34 ET by BeowulfYou know, that could just be the answer to all these moronic talking heads...
Who is Katie Couric?
Who is Keith Olberman?
Who is Larry King?
Who is Christopher Cuomo?
And the list goes on and on and on...
I can't think of anything that would be more hurtful to these morons than to be ignored. And nothing more satisfying than to hear their screams for attention.
The Closed Mind Erects Strong Barriers