Posted by ( Jody Lee ) on April 03, 2008 at 12:33 pm

Here is an observation - I was just looking back over my own notes where I wrote that government spending on Medicare went up 18.7 percent in 2006.

Then I looked at some of my W2s for last year and noticed how much I am spending on Medicare each year. 

Theoretically Medicare should not be “costing” the government anything.  We are paying for it ourselves during our entire working lives, then cashing in on it in our senior years.

Given that a large number of people never live to “cash in” on their Medicare investment, and that even those who DO contributed for an average of 40 years and use Medicare for only 10-20 years, and that most working people pass away before they have taken out of Medicare all that they put in to it, and that no one’s beneficiaries ever get a “refund” if their relative dies before using all the money he or she contributed - - given ALL of that, there should be more than enough money in Medicare to take care of every senior citizen in the country and it should not be “costing” the government anything.

But it is. 

THAT is what happens when you put the government in charge of health care - even a small part of it, like Medicare.  I am flabbergasted that ANYONE would want to put the government in charge of ALL health care. 

Stupid.  That’s an ugly word.  I don’t use it often.  But there it is.

Jody Lee

Posted by ( Chris ) on April 15, 2008 at 7:30 am

What evidence do you or Robert have that the “free market system” will correct the health care crisis we have in this nation? Do you really expect further de-regulation will lead to a miracle in which the millions of people who have no health insurance will suddenly be able to afford it? Give one example of coporate responsibility on this level. There is no such thing as a “free market” in this nation. We have a mixed economy and for good reason. Unchecked and unregulated markets lead to monopolies. It’s that simple. We have seen the failures of de-regulation with the S&L;scandals in the 80’s and the current mortgage crisis. The seven years for a dental appt. is a fallacy pure and simple. You really need to research Medicare a little more. Obviously you did not know that it is the most efficient run entity in term of administrative costs. If private insurance companies used Medicare as a model then our premiums would decrease. Check for yourself and see where private insurers have most of their operating costs. This free market drivel as an answer to everything is quite frankly ludicrous and lacks any objectivity.

Posted by ( James Wilson ) on May 21, 2008 at 7:58 pm

Well lets see here. If the Government ran healthcare, then the Government would have area supervisors run many hospitals at the same time, and not 1 gruop or manager making hundreds of thousands per year in each hospital. 

Hmo’s would no longer take 25% to 32% of the health care dollars out of the system each year as profit for not providing health care.

We could then pay Doctors and Nurses more and the staff, because the paper shufflers would no longer be taking the lions share of those health care dollars away from those who actually provide the health care.

Unless you have actully been treated by European Healthcare you should not lie and pretend you know. It is very good. We make appointments here just like they do there. They have emergency rooms too. One thing I found different - there are not a lot of people doing nothing but collecting your private information to sell to insurance companys working there.

(Note from Jody:  It took awhile to correct the punctuation and spelling, as well as get rid of the single run-on paragraph here.  Not picking on you personally, James - lots of folks do it.  I really want to post your comments, folks, but PLEASE take the time to make it coherent and easy to read, and run a spell-check on it.  I appreciate it, JL)

Posted by ( dadw5boys ) on June 23, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Well Jody the V.A. gives me some pain meds that allow me to walk and sit up but they have yet to get me meds that control my passion and anger when I see my fellow citzens supporting things that only serve in the end to harm them.

When you see first hand the effect of the Forgien Policys of our government on the people of poor countries it is hard not to shout to the rafter “ NOT IN MY NAME “ because people around the world think American ALLOW thier government to do thiings they don’t know we are runover and left out of the decision process with late night passage of laws and bills.

Please DELETE any of my post if they are unreadable. You can make it my fault that spell cvheck is not available on your blog if you want.