Order to President-Elect Barack Obama: Cut Health Costs
Reader Comments
Who makes up the multiple choice answers?
1. Your first question pertained to what chief elements got Obama elected, but didn't include the most obvious answer which was the mainstream media adoration for almost 2 years. Here's a guy who looked chocolate enough and, as long as the media didn't vet him and he didn't say anything too stupid that they couldn't cover up, all he had to do was "show up", again and again and again. American citizens had to "vet" Obama themselves, and those who did the research found him wanting. Journalism is truly dead in America, at a time when we need it to be the best it can be.
2.Your second question about what the third priority of Obama's administration should be is also wrong about the first two stated priorities (again, who makes up these multiple choice questions?). A push for energy independence will solve the issue of threats from abroad, the economy, the climate, the unemployment rate, et cetera. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE should be Barak's first priority!
Don't underestimate these guys ability to take on the economy and health care at the same time. The high cost of health care actually cuts into an individual's (especially the millions of unemployed paying COBRA) discretionary income which directly affects consumer spending, aka, the economy.
The reason things didn't get done in the past is because there wasn't a genuine motivation combined with a Democratic leaning congress. Listening to Barack's story about his own mother's struggles with her own health care, "arguing with insurance companies" is telling that there is a strong motivation.
He feels a sense of duty because he understands what people are going through right now.
He's stated they'll be offering the same plan that congress has access to. So they're not reinventing health care here. They're just offering the plan congress has to the American People that want it. Practical first steps are:
1. Determining the cost for the participant.
2. Determining hospital participation.
3. Getting people their plastic insurance cards.
4. Creating new jobs for the administrative work.
Sometimes it's simple when it's not that complex. There could be a lot of good jobs to come from a new health care plan.
Lack of health care in America also prevents many bright individuals from starting a small business as they can't attain health care for themselves or provide it for their employees.
Wrong number
Hang up and dial again.
Obama does not set the rates for health care.
He can propose insurance ideas to congress and hope they and the lobbyists come up with something workable that he can sign into law.
But he cannot even control that.
Slashing defense spending would be a huge mistake
One of the lessons of the past few years is that our military is not large enough to deal with the crises it has been called on to handle.
so much is wrong - where to start
I think the economy should be at the top of the list, as I am sure it is. With so much that needs to be fixed, I am sure the health will not be addressed until next year but that is ok. To walk you have to put one foot in front of the other, so this is going to take so time.
There is no magic wand or a quick fix. Thanks to Bush, it will take a couple of years, at the least, to get things straight enough for Barack to address the programs he talked about during the campaign.
Have patience, good things are worth waiting for.
Medicare
Do we really want to reduce health care costs? Considering that insurance companies spend 15% of their income on overhead, and make a 10% profit, we can immediately cut 25% of health care costs by elimination health insurance.
No socialized medicine? So presumably that means you want to eliminate Medicare?
